A Brief History of Portuguese in Buxton/Friendship:
By:Rollo Younge. –youngefitzroy@gmail.com or 274 0572 (Guyana).
| In the late 1834, a small group of Portuguese were recruited from the poverty-stricken island of Maderia, off the west Coast of Africa, to work on a sugar plantation in Demerara. On May 3, 1835, 40 indentured peasants arrived on the ship ‘Louisa Baillie’. Not only did they bring their agricultural expertise (especially sugar cane farming) but their faith as well. They were profoundly religious which brought new life into the Catholic Church in British Guiana. By the end of the year about 553 others had arrived and were contracted to various sugar plantations. |
These “Madeirenses” as they were called, rarely remained on the sugar plantations after they completed their period of indenture. As soon as their two or four-year period ended, they moved off the plantations and on to their small plots of land as well as into the huckster and retail trade. Many were employed by white merchants in Georgetown and adopted very quickly to Commerce. By 1851 in Georgetown 173 out of the 296 (58.4%) shops belonged to Portuguese. In the villages they had 283 of the 432 (65.5%) shops.
About 55 years ago, the center of gravity of business in Georgetown was along Water and Lombard Streets and the greatest number and biggest businesses were owned by the “Madeirenses.” Firms such as D’Aguiar’s Imperial House, G. Bettencourt & Co., Demerara Pawnbroking & Trading Co., D.M. Fernandes Ltd.,The Eclipse, J.P. Santos, Ferreira & Gomes, Guiana Match and Rodrigues & Rodrigues once dominated the water front area. They are all gone now. Elsewhere, Portuguese owned many bakeries, pawnbrokeries, retail and rum shops. Between 1835 and 1882, over 30,645 persons of Portuguese descent were brought to British Guiana from Maderia, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands and Brazil. [more] -> go to link below
[A_Brief_History_of_Portuguese_in_Buxton] by Fitzroy “Rollo” Younge.
Also read:
Portuguese Immigration from Madiera to British Guiana – from the January 2012 Guyanese Online Newsletter)
— Post #1182
Comments
What an excellent and very informative article. All Guyana can be thankful for the great contributions by the Portuguese people. Banks DIH LTD is a shining example of the outstanding success in business and just plain decency by the Portuguese of Guyana.
The drastic failures of all the Government run Company and business since 1966 can look at the business skills of Banks DIH as a shining beacon to emulate. Banks DIH outstanding products and services continue to benefit both share holders and customers alike. Guyanese needed just six more Peter D’Aguiar and it would have continued to be “the great place it once was-” of course minus a few “self serving political disasters” of the past
The rich and historical contributions by the many Portuguese of past and current Guyana are held to the highest level of recognition and praise. “This is the direction that Guyana should point its compass” if it hopes to recover and make life a resounding success for all its peoples.
ALL I can say Is well said
Thank you so much for this very enlightening contribution of history of the Portuguese and their journey to British Guiana. I am very interested in the subject as my grandmother was of Portuguese extraction and always said that she had family back in Portugal. She never mentioned Madeira so if you know of any information you may have on the DePivas I would be very interested to hear about it. In the Dr Cheddi Jagan’s book “My fight for Guyana’s freedom” he referred to the Portuguese as being very wealthy and that really stirred my imagination.