World History
Chinese in Guyana: Their Roots Information about the introduction of the first Chinese immigrants to Guyana (then called British Guiana) between 1853 and 1879.
From the site:
In 1834, the slaves who had been taken from Africa to the colonies of Britain were set free. In British Guiana a significant proportion of the freedmen chose to live off the fertile land and sought paid employment on an irregular basis. The resulting reduction in the labour force caused the sugar plantation owners to search for replacement workers. They obtained large numbers of labourers from Madeira (Portugal), India and China each bound by a contract of indenture. The Chinese were the smallest group of these indentured workers.
When they came
The first batch of Chinese landed in Georgetown, British Guiana in 1853, and for the next few years all were men, most being taken forcibly. To curb the excesses of this trade in human cargo the British and Chinese authorities in Canton agreed to a formal supervised recruitment process and families were encouraged to emigrate. Chinese women began arriving in 1860, but in small numbers. The period from 1860 to 1866 saw a relatively large influx of immigrants, bringing the local Chinese population to a peak of 10,022 in 1866. Subsequently only two boats arrived with Chinese immigrants, one in 1874 and the other in 1879. After this Chinese immigrants came of their own free will and at their own expense.
How they came
The 39 ships that brought the Chinese labourers were chartered by recruiting agents based in Canton, China, with the cost of shipping shared between the colony's Immigration Fund and the plantation owners. The ships travelled by way of Singapore and Cape Town, arriving at Georgetown after a journey of between 70 and 177 days.
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World History
Chinese in Guyana: Their Roots
Chinese in Guyana: Their Roots Information about the introduction of the first Chinese immigrants to Guyana (then called British Guiana) between 1853 and 1879.
From the site:
In 1834, the slaves who had been taken from Africa to the colonies of Britain were set free. In British Guiana a significant proportion of the freedmen chose to live off the fertile land and sought paid employment on an irregular basis. The resulting reduction in the labour force caused the sugar plantation owners to search for replacement workers. They obtained large numbers of labourers from Madeira (Portugal), India and China each bound by a contract of indenture. The Chinese were the smallest group of these indentured workers.
When they came
The first batch of Chinese landed in Georgetown, British Guiana in 1853, and for the next few years all were men, most being taken forcibly. To curb the excesses of this trade in human cargo the British and Chinese authorities in Canton agreed to a formal supervised recruitment process and families were encouraged to emigrate. Chinese women began arriving in 1860, but in small numbers. The period from 1860 to 1866 saw a relatively large influx of immigrants, bringing the local Chinese population to a peak of 10,022 in 1866. Subsequently only two boats arrived with Chinese immigrants, one in 1874 and the other in 1879. After this Chinese immigrants came of their own free will and at their own expense.
How they came
The 39 ships that brought the Chinese labourers were chartered by recruiting agents based in Canton, China, with the cost of shipping shared between the colony's Immigration Fund and the plantation owners. The ships travelled by way of Singapore and Cape Town, arriving at Georgetown after a journey of between 70 and 177 days.
- History Of Macau
History of Macau. This is a short history of the former Portuguese colony which is now a Special Administrative Region of China. A map can be found here. The Encyclopædia Britannica notes, "Special administrative region (Pinyin tebie xingzhengqu; Wade-Giles...
- Heeding Sun Or Mao?
Heeding Sun or Mao? - Essay about China's military thinking discussing ideas of Mao and Sun Tzu. The article is a bit dated (from 1998) but it still brings up good examples from Chinese history and how that might impact the thinking of Chinese leaders...
- History Of China
History of China. This is a decent summary and overview of the history of the Asian nation of China. From the site: China is the oldest continuous major world civilization, with records dating back about 3,500 years. Successive dynasties developed...
- History Of Barbados
History of Barbados. This is a short but informative essay on the history of Barbados. From the site: British sailors who landed on Barbados in the 1620s at the site of present-day Holetown on the Caribbean coast found the island uninhabited. As...
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Teaching about China. This is an essay on teaching about China. It includes some information on Chinese history. The essay is a bit dated but still good. From the site: Contributing to the misunderstanding of China is a condition of political ambiguity,...