History of the Iwokrama / Rupununi Region

Archaic Period

The first people to settle in the region appear to have arrived in separate migrations from the west via the Siparuni River and from the south via the Essequibo River. Petroglyph distributions in the Forest indicate the migrations of hunter-gatherers and specialist fishers in search of water from the Upper Essequibo occurred due to low water conditions during the Amazonian arid interval around 4000 years ago. Some of these groups settled around Kurupukari Falls and Sharples Island for a considerable amount of time. This area has significant petroglyphs which have been the focus of archaeological research.

Arrival of Europeans

The Essequibo, Guyana's largest river, borders the Forest on the east and was for centuries the main route into Guyana's interior. As a result, European exploration of the Iwokrama Forest / Rupununi region began relatively soon after Christopher Columbus sighted the Guianas in 1498.

El Dorado

This Spanish term meaning, "the gilded one" is almost synonymous with exploration in northern South America. For centuries the legend has persisted that there was a prince named Manoa that was so wealthy he covered himself in gold dust. His city of the same name was said to have gold riches beyond imagination. Over the years there were several supposed locations of this city, including south-central Guyana.

Many explorers travelled into Guyana's interior in search of the legend. One of these explorers was the English courtier and author Sir Walter Raleigh, who in 1595 became the first European to meet the Makushi, the primary indigenous people of the region. Raleigh informed the world of the wonders found in the new land and spread the myth of El Dorado. Then in the 18th century the Dutch governor sent German surgeon Sir Nicholas Horstman in search of precious metals and El Dorado. Horstman is reported to have stayed at Kurupukari (near the Field Station) during the dry season of 1739-40.

Slave Trade

Trade in Amerindian slaves was widespread until 1793, when the Dutch government instructed the colonial governments of the Essequibo and Demerara colonies to enact a law prohibiting the purchase of Amerindian slaves. Makushi village were often raided by the Caribs from the north and the Brazilians from the west, often on behalf of the European slave trade. The Makushi often fled to the Iwokrama Mountains, so named for their function as a "place of refuge".

Post Arinda

This Dutch trading post was established on the Upper Essequibo River in the early 18th century. It moved a couple times further up the river in the mid-century and was intended for trade with Amerindians as well as to intercept escaped slaves.

Missionaries

Christian proselytizing in the Rupununi began with the arrival of the Church of England Reverend Thomas Youd in 1838, who set up a missionary at Pirara. Fr. Cary Elwes formed a Roman Catholic mission, St. Ignatius, in the southern savannahs around 1907. Reverend Williams from the Church of England established a mission at Yupukari from where he recruited members across the northern savannahs. After W.W.II, with the opening of the Rupununi through air transportation, many churches, primarily evangelical, began to proselytize in the Rupununi.

Commercialisation

More Europeans followed in the late 19th century to establish cattle ranches, balata (latex) extraction businesses and gold mining. Read more.

Beginning of Modern Scientific Exploration

In the mid-19th century, brothers Richard and Robert Schomburgk travelled throughout Guyana including the Iwokrama Forest / Rupununi region to define and explore boundaries between Guyana and Brazil and make ethnographic and botanical collections for the Royal Museum and the Botanical Gardens at Berlin. Robert Schomburgk designed the first official map of Guyana and evaluated the boundary on the western and southwestern side of Guyana, later to become Guyana 's official boundary, called the Schomburgk line. These boundaries were to be the cause of much dispute between Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela up to the present day.

20th & 21st Century History

To learn about the more recent history of the region...

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