Guiana

GUIANA. - The name G. is generally given to that vast (about 900,000 sq km) mountainous region of South America enclosed between the lower courses of the Orinoco and the Amazon and bounded on the W. by the Cassiquiare. It is a complex of ancient reliefs by now leveled and reduced to a series of plateaus, deeply cut by rivers and sloping toward the N., where they descend to the sea along a narrow, flat and unhealthy alluvial strip, while turning their steeper flank inland (maximum height 2,632 m in the Roraima Mts.). Given the climate (equatorial, extremely rainy), the dominant landscape is forest: the rivers are numerous and rich in water, but interrupted by rapids and waterfalls. Toward the interior, still little known, as precipitation decreases, savanna replaces the forest.

The sparse population (in all, perhaps, one million inhabitants, 1 per sq km, on average) consists predominantly of Blacks and Asians (Indians, Malays, Chinese), brought there for plantation work (sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, coconut palm). Forest resources are considerable, but still essentially untouched, as are mineral resources, among which only gold, diamonds and bauxite have so far been exploited. Stock raising has ample possibilities, but is still in its beginnings.

Setting aside the north-western and southern zones, which fall within the borders of Venezuela and Brazil (more than 1/2 of the total), the G. is divided among Great Britain, Holland and France, which occupy there the only South American territories dependent on European powers.

British G. is the northernmost, between the Orinoco and Corentyne rivers, the largest (231,774 sq km), the most populous (381,000 inhabitants) and the most economically advanced. Plantations and extractive industry allow a notable export of bauxite, gold, rice, rum, diamonds, etc. Stock raising (cattle) is also flourishing. The capital is Georgetown (78,000 inhabitants).

Dutch G., or Suriname, between the Corentyne and Maroni rivers (156,000 sq km with 208,000 inhabitants, of whom 1/3 are indigenous) has been since 1948 a member of the Dutch Union. The plantations, once flourishing, declined with the abolition of slavery; recently a certain economic recovery has come about in the mining industry (extraction of bauxite). The capital is Paramaribo (73,000 inhabitants).

French G., between the Maroni and Oyapock rivers, is the smallest (91,000 sq km), the least populated (37,000 inhabitants, excluding the indigenous) and the most economically backward. Plantations, forestry and extractive industry (gold) there are in decline. Since 1947 it has been transformed into a French department. The capital Cayenne (12,000 inhabitants) was sadly famous for its penal colony, now abolished.

Giuseppe Coraci

I. THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF BRITISH GUIANA.
- Immediately after the discovery of Guiana the Portuguese undertook its evangelization, the fruits of which were lost when, around 1620, the territory was occupied by the Protestant Dutch, who closed access to Catholic missionaries. In 1796 the English took possession of the area and proved more tolerant. In 1813 they obtained its definitive cession. In 1819 the apostolic vicariate of the Antilles was erected and, at the request of the English civil governor, in 1826 Fr. Thomas Hynes was sent first and then two other missionaries, who erected the first church at Brickdam.

On 12 April 1837 the apostolic vicariate of British Guiana was erected, detaching its territory from the apostolic vicariate of the English, Danish and Dutch islands, to which on 20 March 1850 the Island of Barbados was united. In 1847 the Ursulines went there, and in the following years others joined them. On 6 August 1856 the apostolic vicariate was entrusted to the Jesuits, who founded new churches, erected new schools and also hospitals. In 1943 Catholic Action was established under the title of Steard of the Spirit. It has an area of 216,926 sq. km. and the whole territory is an English colony. The population is 375,819 inhabitants, composed for the most part of Indians and Africans. The aborigines are very few. Almost all speak English. Catholics number about 48,474. Of the Indians almost 85% are Hindus and 15% Muslims. The rest of the population is Protestant, divided into various sects. The Island of Barbados has 192,991 inhabitants with only 2,500 Catholics, and all the others are Protestants. The statistics of 1949 give the following data: Catholics 52,500, catechumens 700, native priests 4, foreign priests 31, native nuns 42, foreign nuns 45, catechists 67, major seminarians 1.

Saverio Paventi
II. THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF FRENCH GUIANA.
- Guiana was occupied by the French in 1604. Ship chaplains and a few passing priests initially attended to religious assistance. In 1651 the apostolic prefecture of the islands and mainland territories in America subject to the king of France was erected and entrusted to the Jesuits. The Fathers soon established themselves at Cayenne and in 1731 obtained that Guiana, detached from the other aforementioned territories, be erected as an apostolic prefecture.

Having been expelled from French territories (1762), the Jesuits nevertheless managed to remain at Cayenne together with a secular priest sent by the court of France and appointed parish priest for the whole of Guiana; until in 1775 the prefecture was entrusted to the priests who were alumni of the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, founded in Paris by the abbé Poulard des Places. When these too were dispersed by the Revolution, the apostolic prefecture of Guiana could not function regularly until after 1817, that is, after the reestablishment of the aforementioned Seminary. Even when the Society of the Holy Spirit became a religious Congregation, the Fathers continued their mission in Guiana. Expelled from the colony in 1893, they had to hand over the apostolic prefecture to priests of the secular clergy, resuming it only in 1925. The vicariate was erected on 10 January 1933. The mission's extent is 116,000 sq. km., with a total population of 42,700 inhabitants, of whom 36,000 are Catholics, 200 Protestants, 1,500 Muslims, 5,000 pagans.

The clergy is represented by 7 secular priests and 15 Fathers of the Holy Spirit. There are furthermore 2 lay brothers and 73 sisters. The parishes number 16, the churches 6, the chapels 32; there is a hospital, 4 orphanages, 1 leper colony, 4 elementary schools and 1 middle school. In addition, various confraternities and lay associations. The morals of the people leave much to be desired.

Antonio Mazza

III. THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF DUTCH GUIANA

The territory is under the dominion of Holland, which after various vicissitudes took definitive possession of it in 1816. Earlier the French, in 1640, had occupied the mouths of the Suriname River, then the English and the Dutch took over. Portuguese missionaries had begun the evangelization there, but the greed of the new colonizers and their Protestant fanaticism destroyed every trace of it. Only in 1775 did Catholics receive permission to resume the evangelization, and Propaganda sent two secular priests there, who were not successful. After 17 years another secular priest and a Franciscan went there, but they were unable to initiate a true missionary effort.

The true founders of the mission were the priests Wennelers and Van der Horst, sent by the archpriest of Haarlem (1817), who first among the old Catholics and then among the pagans gathered good fruits. To one of the aforementioned priests were granted the faculties of apostolic prefect, which were then extended to the entire coast of South America from Suriname to Brazil, for the places not subject to another Ordinary, and to the island of Curaçao. From 1825 to 1865 history records the names of another 18 priests, all sent from Holland, who labored amid every kind of difficulty and the opposition of the Protestants.

The apostolic vicariate of Dutch Guiana was erected on Sept. 12, 1842, by the elevation of the apostolic prefecture that dated from Nov. 22, 1817. In 1865 the Dutch Redemptorists arrived there and found 12,000 Catholics. They immediately devoted themselves to methodical work among the various ethnic groups, erecting schools and charitable works (the Ven. Fr. Donders dedicated himself to the apostolate of the lepers). The number of Catholics at present reaches 34,000 and that of catechumens 132, over an area of 142,822 sq km. There are 43 priests with 59 brothers and 182 sisters, of whom 25 are native. Catechists 44, Protestants 48,685, Jews 910, Muslims 55,534, Hindus 33,764, Confucianists 1,641, pagans 23,210. Districts 10, quasi-parishes 5, primary stations 9, secondary stations 10, sacred buildings 64, hospitals 1 with 80 beds, dispensaries 8, orphanages 2 with 52 children, 2 homes for the aged and 1 for lepers; elementary schools 22 with 732 pupils, middle schools 33 with 8,159 pupils, higher schools 4 with 3,170 pupils, vocational schools 12 with 319 pupils, teacher-training schools 27 with 2,087 pupils.

Giovanni Maria del S. Cuore