The Portuguese in Guyana

On May 3, 1835, the ship Louisa Baillie docked in Demerara with forty immigrants from Madeira onboard, bound for work on British Guiana's sugar plantations.  They came in response to the approaching abolition of slavery and subsequent labor shortages.

However, by 1845, most of the Portuguese had moved off the plantations and had bought small plots of land and moved into the huckster and retail trades.

In the early years, it was mainly in the rum trade that the Portuguese made their mark.  By 1852, more than three quarters of the country's retail rum shops were owned by the Portuguese and they retained that monopoly well into the 20th century.  The end of the 1860s and the 1870s saw the Portuguese well entrenched in the business community.  Apart from being property owners, they were merchants, shop owners, importers, iron mongers, ship chandlers, leather merchants, boot and shoe makers, saddlers, coach-builders, timer merchants, brick makers, cattle owners, pork-knockers, charcoal dealers, bakers and photographers.

In 1858, the number of Portuguese in British Guiana was approximately 35,000, of which almost all were Catholic.  They brought not only the agricultural expertise but their fait as well. In 1861, they built the Sacred Heart Church in Georgetown as well as other churches along the East Coast and East Bank, in Demerara and Essequibo.

The Portuguese held on to their language throughout the nineteenth century and a number of Portuguese newspapers kept the community in touch with events in Madeira and in the colony.  Portuguese schools were established for both boys and girls,  Together with other amateur and professional groups the Portuguese entered the cultural stream of music and drama in British Guiana society.

The Portuguese were also prominent in the world of sports - boxing, cricket, cycling, rugby, football, tennis, hockey, racing and rowing.  In 1898, the Portuguese formed the first cycling club, The Vasco da Gama Cycling Club.

By the turn of the century, the Portuguese had created their own middle and upper classes, but they were never accepted into the echelons of white European society, even though they were European.  The rapid economic progress of the Portuguese, their strong adherence to the Catholic faith and their clannishness bred respect but never whole-hearted acceptance among the population in either the 19th or 20th centuries.  In the 1960s and 70s, the Portuguese suffered even more discrimination and many left Guyana in search of greener pastures.