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feature
week ending june 2, 2013 | guyanatimeSinternational.com
New book follows Guyana’s history from earliest settlement to independence
“T
Dr Odeen Ishmael
he Guyana Story: From earliest times to independence” by Odeen Ishmael traces the country’s history from thousands of years ago when the first indigenous groups began their settlement in the Guiana territory to our independence in 1966. In an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine Dr Odeen Ishmael, recalled how “The Guyana Story”, started: “It all came about when I realised that very little was known of our history of the many years before 1950,” he said. “When I began writing short essays on our history, I concentrated at first on the period of Dutch colonisation
of Guyana. After these were posted on the web, I received numerous email requests from students – Guyanese and non-Guyanese – for other aspects of our history.” The essays he speaks of form a serialised edition on a webpage, also called The Guyana Story (From Earliest Times to Independence) on the website guyana.org, copyrighted in 2005 that features a collection of short essays which, according to the site, the author hopes would “build an awareness among young Guyanese in particular, of the rich heritage of the people of Guyana.” It appears to have done just that, and “[t] he result,” Odeen continues, “was that after
a period of almost seven years, I managed to put together more than 180 chapters from the earliest period of our history to the attainment of Independence. In doing my research, I was able to examine thousands of documents housed in Spanish, Dutch, and British archives as well as the Library of Congress.” Ishmael is described as a veteran Guyanese diplomat, and is currently Guyana’s ambassador to the State of Kuwait and the State of Qatar, having previously served as ambassador to Venezuela (2003–2011) and to the United States of America (1993–2003), where he was also Guyana’s permanent representative to the Organization of American States, and was dean of the diplomatic corps for Latin America and the Caribbean in Washington DC. He has written extensively on Guyanese history, education, and culture as well as political developments in Latin America and the Caribbean, and particularly on the political integration movement in South America. He was decorated with the Cacique Crown of Honour in 1997, and honoured with the Martin Luther King Legacy Award for international service in the USA in 2002. Divided into six parts, “The Guyana Story” first examines the “earliest inhabitants”, before
leading to the period of early European exploration and Dutch colonization and the forcible introduction of African slaves to work on cotton and sugar plantations. In a March review, the book was described as also scrutinizing the effects of European wars, and the final ceding of the territory to the British who ruled it as their colony until they finally granted it independence in 1966. It includes the Indian, Chinese, and Portuguese indentured immigration, showing how the cultural interrelationships among the various ethnic groups introduced newer forms of conflict but at the same time, brought about cooperation in the struggles of the workers for better working and living conditions. The final part describes the roles of the political leaders who arose from among these ethnic groups from the late 1940s and began the political struggle against colonialism and the demand for independence. This struggle led to political turbulence in the 1950s and early 1960s when the country was caught in the crosshairs of the cold war resulting in joint British-American devious actions that undermined a democratically elected pro-socialist government and deliberately delayed independence for the country until a government friendly to their international interests came to power. “As I point out in
Preserving our heritage through pictures
the book's introduction, I make no claim to perfection and urge others to do research and their own writing of our history,” Dr Ishmael noted, which recalls the always contentious issue of recording Guyana’s history and the fact that
Ishmael is also the editor of the book, “Cheddi Jagan - My Struggle for Guyana's Freedom” and has written the foreword to the book “From Bondage to Deliverance - Indentured Labour in Mauritius and British Guiana”, (2006) authored
'The Guyana Story' book cover
there is always more research to be done of our past, and the need for more researches to take up the cause. The picture on the book cover, Odeen revealed, is a depiction of Fort Nassau on the Berbice River during the 18th century. It is a reproduction from an oil painting done by his wife, Evangeline, with whom he has two children: a daughter, Nadeeza Ishmael and a son, Safraz Waseem Ishmael.
by Indian historian Dr Saroja Sundararajan. Additionally, Ishmael is editor of the online GNI Publications, and has published a series of documents on Guyanese history, including “The Campaign for Socialism and Democracy in Guyana (1965-1992)”. “The Guyana Story” (2013) has 688 pages and is fully illustrated. A two-volume British edition will be published later this year. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
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Street market scene with telegraph poles, British Guiana (no date)