Spotlight on the History and Heritage of the Afro-Guyanese People | Guyanese Bank
In this article, we explore the history and origins of Guyana’s Afro-Guyanese population, looking at their history in the country and the key members of the Afro-Guyanese community.
They were transported from the west coast of Africa to work on local sugar plantations.
Historians are unclear about when the first enslaved Africans arrived in Guyana, although it is believed that Dutch settlers brought the first group when migrating from Tobago in the mid-17th Century.
As more plantations were built along Guyana’s coast, an increasing number of African slaves were brought in from West Africa by the West India Company.
When the slave ships arrived at various ports in Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice, planters came from across Guyana to bid on slaves at auctions. Friends, relatives, husbands, wives, and even entire families were commonly separated from one another and sold to different plantations.
The plantation owners established a common language
White plantation owners followed the principle of “divide and rule.” By separating tribes and sending members to different plantations, owners disrupted communication between tribe members and effectively stopped them from plotting a rebellion.
The separation resulted in difficulties, however, with plantations often featuring groups of slaves who spoke different languages and were unable to communicate with each other. The planters found a way for men, women, and children of the plantations to make themselves understood, developing a new language called “Creole-Dutch,” which became a common language for African slaves. When the British assumed control of the country in the 19th Century, they interjected English into the language, which created the basis for Guyanese Creole.
Many Afro-Guyanese converted to Christianity over the centuries
Many enslaved Africans were Muslim, while others maintained their own tribal beliefs. The European Christian plantation owners viewed all non-Christians as pagans. They ensured that men and women could not gather to worship as they had in their African homeland.
In later years, Christian missionaries ventured onto the plantations, preaching to enslaved Africans on Sundays. Over time, many slaves converted to Christianity. The plantation owners believed the converts to be more docile and less likely to support a rebellion.
A class system was created among the Afro-Guyanese population
The class system was established by plantation owners, who used it as a means of control. Those who worked the fields were considered to be the lowest group, even those with special skills. Next came factory workers, who undertook the sugar-boiling process. Above them were artisans, such as carpenters, masons, and blacksmiths, who plantation owners often hired out.
Later, as children were born out of unions between white men and black women, this resulted in successive generations of lighter-skinned slaves. Individuals with lighter skin were favored by white planters and placed in supervisory positions in the fields, thus creating the start of color discrimination in Guyana.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, there were several major uprisings
On February 23, 1763, the Berbice Uprising began. Viewed as a major event in the country’s anti-slavery struggles, it lasted until 1964. Around 3,000 enslaved African men rose up against European settlers. They were led by Cuffy and several other key figures in Afro-Guyanese history, including Accara, Accabre, and Atta.
The rebels set fire to a plantation house, moving from one plantation to another to mobilize other African slaves. As one plantation after another fell to rebel hands, Dutch settlers fled to the north, with Africans seizing control of the region and maintaining it for the best part of a year. It was not until troops from neighboring British and French colonies arrived in the spring of 1764 that the uprising was quashed.
Another major uprising in 1823 had a serious financial impact on Guyana’s British rulers, costing what would amount to billions of dollars in today’s money. This put pressure on Britain to accelerate the emancipation of Guyana’s African slaves.
Slavery was abolished in Guyana in 1834
Former enslaved Africans abandoned the plantations and were replaced by Indian indentured workers. Emancipation created massive social mobility in the country’s Afro-Guyanese population, establishing a new Afro-Guyanese middle class. Afro-Guyanese communities invested in agriculture, grew and sold food, and established retail businesses.
Guyana celebrates Emancipation Day on August 1 each year
The commemoration is extremely important, as it marks a major event in the country’s history that had a fundamental impact on the nation’s beginnings. Emancipation resulted in social, political, and cultural developments, paving the way for the arrival of other ethnic groups from Portugal, India, Africa, and China as a labor force to replace enslaved Africans on Guyana’s sugar plantations.
As Guyana’s oldest bank, GBTI supports all of the country’s ethnic communities and provides a wide range of different financial services to meet individual needs. GBTI is committed to giving back to communities across the country by supporting and presenting a variety of initiatives, including the annual GBTI Calendar competition, in celebration of ethnic diversity in Guyana today.
Originally published at https://guyanesebank.com on February 13, 2020.
