164th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese
YESTERDAY marked 164 years since the Portuguese first set foot in Guyana. In commemoration of that historic day, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports has taken the opportunity, through the historical account which follows, to salute all Portuguese descendants in Guyana. THE abolition of the Slave trade in 1807 was the prologue to Emancipation of Slavery on August 1, 1838. Thus, in the first two and a half decades of the 19th Century, the planters of the Caribbean and British Guiana were aware of the acute need to find a substitute labour force that was both cheap and reliable to fill the ranks of the soon-to-be-liberated Africans. On May 3, 1835, 40 peasants arrived from Madeira on the ship, `Louisa Baillie'. The arrivals were brought in through the private enterprise of the planters who were apprised of the great poverty and political instability in the island. The hard-pressed Madeira peasants were most likely eager to seek their fortune in a land being referred to as `El Dorado'. The agricultural capability of the Madeiran peasant could hardly have been questioned, since he was born and bred in a small and mountainous island, where every square inch of the soil was precious. The first arrivals did suffer from deficiency in diet, poor accommodation and, above all, overwork in a rigorous climate in order to improve their economic status. Yet, suffering, and even death, did not deter them, for 30 of the original emigrants returned to Madeira with their earnings and encouraged their families, relatives and friends to go to Demerara. The later arrivals from Madeira seemed to be less impoverished, acclimatised better, and suffered little from sickness. By the end of 1841, 4,297 Madeirans had arrived. The year 1841, however, proved to be a bad year for the immigrants as yellow fever was raging in British Guiana and, among the children, measles spread rapidly with fatal results. Concern over the mortality of the Portuguese led to the setting up of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the reasons for the sickness and mortality among the emigrants. Based on the results, instructions were duly sent to the agent to discontinue the sending of emigrants to Demerara after March 1, 1842. Despite the mortality and the resultant stoppage of emigration from Madeira, more than 1,200 Portuguese trickled in, between 1842 and 1846. The Madeirans would continue to come to British Guiana from 1846 to 1882. In the period from its inception, 30,645 persons would arrive as indentured labourers from Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verdes and some from Brazil. Meanwhile, the Portuguese had moved off the plantations and on to their small plots of land as well as into the huckster and retail trade. They supplied the plantation workers, who were by this time Indian indentured labourers, with basic supplies and were importing their own goods from Madeira, including their famous wines. The British saw the Portuguese as a buffer class between the non-white population and the white British expatriate population and in many ways, their existence helped to define and divert pressure from the British Colonial presence. The Portuguese made a significant contribution to the economy of the country as they moved into every type of business. The existence in Guyana today of Banks DIH Limited, which has grown from the Demerara Ice House to investments in beverages, ice-cream, bread and pastries, snack foods, restaurants, dry cleaning and catering services, duty free shop and most recently the acquisition of a commercial bank; John Fernandes Limited, providing shipping and insurance services, and the firm, Central Garage, are testimony of the invaluable contribution the Portuguese have made to the development of Guyana. 
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