Alternative History
Republic of Guiana
Repubblica d'Guiana
Guiana
Timeline: Italian Guiana
OTL equivalent: Guianas
Coat of arms of the Republic of Independent Guiana
Orthographic map of Guiana (Italian Guiana)
Official languages Italian
Regional languages Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Surinamesse,and others
Religion Secular state
Demonym Guianan
Government Unitary constitutional semi-presidential republic
Time zone UTC-3
Date formats dd/mm/yyyy
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .gy

Guiana, officially called the Republic of Guiana, is a country in northern South America, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the north.

Brazil in the south, and Venezuela in the west. It's capital and largest city is Caiena. It is the only Italian-speaking country in the Western Hemisphere.

Guiana was first settled in 1609 under the aegis of Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Despite repeated attacks by the Dutch, English, and French navies, Spain and Portugal recognized Tuscany's right to the colony. Heavy settlement by Tuscan and other Italian people followed despite the difficulties in settling the country. In 1801, it passed under the rule of the Napoleonic Italian Republic, but in 1805, under negotations with the departing Italian Republic were given independence. The Guianan Army later captured Dutch Guiana to prevent it from annexation by other powers, and to capture its more fertile farmlands. Its independence was recognized in the Congress of Vienna and Guiana kept the former Dutch and French Guianas. The Guianan state grew economically despite border clashes with Venezuela and Brazil, industrializing the state in the 1900s. Like the other South American countries, it has experienced military coups, the most recent in 1978.

The country is a founding member of the United Nations, MERCOSUR, and UNASUR.

Etymology[]

The name Guiana means "land of many waters" in the Indigenous American langauges, probably Arawak or Carib.

History[]

Before European colonization, Guiana, or Guiana as it was called then, was inhabited by indigenous peoples such as the Arawak. It was hinted that the tribes of the northern Amazon were related to the indigenous groups in the Carribean. It was theorized that the Arawaks and later the Caribs emigrated from the Orinoco and Essequibo basins in Venezuela and Guiana to the northern Carribean islands.

Over centuries, the mingling of the ethnic groups, some through trade, others through war, created a hybrid culture in Guiana.

European colonization[]

File:Guaiana ofte de Provincien tusschen Rio de las Amazonas ende Rio de Yuiapari ofte Orinoque.jpg

Guiana in the 16th century.

Template:Christopher Columbus first sighted Guiana in 1498, but active interest in exploring the then "Wild Coast" did not begin until the end of the 16th century. English explorer Walter Raleigh began searching for El Dorado, also called "Manoa". He described the city of El Dorado as a city near Lake Parime in the Orinoco River. After the publication of his exploits in 1606, other European explorers followed. The Dutch under Jacob Cornelisz already surveyed the area in Guiana in 1597, and later established coastal settlements in the meantime.

The French later established colonies in the Counani and Sinamari Region. Due to hardships in settling the country, the French were unable to properly establish its colony, though it persisted until its conquest by Guiana and Brazil.

Nuova Toscana colony[]

S Pulzone Fernando I de Medicis Uffizi 1590

Fernandino I of Tuscany.

In 1608, Duke Fernandino II of Tuscany authorized an expedition into what is now called Nuova Toscana. The expedition, led by English captain Robert Thornton, returned to Livorno without a single loss of men. Though Thornton found Duke Fernandino almost dying, the latter approved of Thornton's vivid descriptions of the country in question and later though with great reluctance, Fernandino's son Cosimo authorized settlement. Despite numerous setbacks and diseases among the settlers, the settlement, called Nuova Toscana, persisted and not only the Spanish and the Portuguese tolerated the colony, they also helped it defend it from French, Dutch, and English incursions. The French attempted to captured Caiena in 1659 but were repulsed.

Tuscany also recruited settlers among the other Italian states as well as Spain and Portugal in which many accepted. Due to heavy Corsican emigration to the Guiana colony, despite Corsica being Genoan-controlled, the Corsican dialect eventually substituted the Tuscan dialect, albeit modified due to African influence. By 1800, the Tuscan colony in Guiana is the most populated in the Guianas, with the estimated population of 80,000. Many were brought as penal colonists from Tuscany, other Italian states, Spain, and Portugal. Slavery was tolerated and encouraged among the black population, mainly to serve as labor for the farms.

Independence[]

File:Castelli.jpg

Gianni Castelli, founder of modern Guiana.

Signs of yearning for independence in Guiana persisted, and many people in the region claimed that it didn't deserved to be economically neglected despite repeated settlements by Italian colonists. During the dissolution of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, it passed under the control of the Kingdom of Etruria, and later sold it to the Napoleonic Italian Republic, which mollified the independence leaders. When the Napoleonic Italian Republic later became a kingdom and ceded Guiana to France, the French later attacked Dutch Guiana as well as Nuova Toscana. It enflamed the Guianan independence leaders and a guerilla war erupted in 1805. Contact with other South American independence leaders like Simon Bolivar, Jose San Martin, and an Guianan-Argentine named Juan Castelli, later known as Gianni Castelli, later became the most prominent leader of the Guianan Resistance, as it was called. Castelli's leadership ensured that not only Guiana regains independence, but it also managed to defeat and conquer the French in French Guiana and Suriname. The French leader Napoleon respected Guianan independence as a fait accompli and accepted a treaty with Guiana confirming the loss of French Guiana and accepting "protectorate" status. Castelli, influenced by British abolitionists, declared that Guiana in its inception will have no slavery and there will be a perpetual prohibition on it. Castelli also rebuffed a British and Portuguese invasion force and colonization attempt in 1809-12 thanks to French help. By 1814, the Congress of Vienna was forced to accept the loss of Guiana, and the original Dutch colonists were expelled to Trinidad, the Netherlands Antilles, and Martinique along with their loyalists; only a few of the original inhabitants were left. A number of Frenchmen also emigrated out of Guiana, though some returned in the 1830s. However, Castelli failed to see his country officially recognized, for he died in 1814 due to cancer.

Guiana in the 19th century[]

His successor, Carlo Castelli, not related to Gianni Castelli, was the second leader of Guiana and devised its first constitution. He fought to secure Guiana from foreign rule and welcomed exiles from failed Italian uprisings. In 1815, from a population of 280,000, the country experienced sustained immigration from the Italian states, about 600,000 from 1815 to 1860. Due to this, it was dubbed as the "only free Italian republic" in the world. Carlo Castelli closed the old slave plantation systems in the country; instead, a mixed system in which the former slaves became serfs instead to white landowners remained; the country was nearly in the throes of civil war due to this, until in 1848 where slavery was definitely banned in the constitution. Many white non-Italian landowners resented their loss of slaves and mounted revolts to ask the Empire of Brazil which still maintained slavery to annex them. Libero Badaro, the President at that time, decisively defeated the landowners in the Curantino Wars of 1837. Many Italian Risorgimento leaders, including Guiseppe Garibaldi, participated in suppressing the revolt; because of this, he held Guianan citizenship alongside Italian citizenship in which he was given special dispensation by both the Guianan and Italian governments to keep due to his statue.

Many black Brazilian slaves sought escape to the Guianan south, mixing with the Maroon communities already there.

In the intervening years, emigration from Italy after its unification intensified, and a switch of dominant immigrants from northern Italy to southern Italy occured. Emigration from Spain and Portugal and other countries also intensified, due to more relaxed political situation than in the other South American countries. By 1900, the population of Nuovatuscana stands by 2,900,000 as of its census. The "Guianan Conquest" as it was called was said to be controversial, due to rather mediocre to poor social standing of blacks (Marroni), Amerindian (Indio, later named as Amerindios and Indigenos), and Indian (Indiano). However, Guianan Guiana also accepted Chinese and later Japanese and Korean immigrants starting from the 1890s to work at the sugar, banana, coffee, and rice plantations.

In 1895, border clashes between Venezuela and Guiana occured; Britain saw it as chance to take over the disputed Guiana Essequiba region, due to its ships impounded by both Venezuelan and Guiana authorities, but the United States intervened on the behalf of both countries, and Venezuela agreed to cede its claim of Essequibo to Guiana.

Guiana in the early 20th century[]

In the 20th century, Guiana experienced an agricultural boom, coinciding with heavy immigration from Europe. As many as 5 million, mostly from Italy, have emigrated to Guiana during that period. Immigrants braved malaria and other diseases which has infested the country; American and European-born and trained doctors assisted in improving the sanitary situation. In return, Guiana accepted rejected Italian immigrants to the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. The fact that the spoken language is still Italian have helped them assimilate to Guianan society.

The army was enlarged to enforce settlement in the Guianan interior. It was said that as 3,400 Indigenous people left for Brazil during that period rather than to endure Guianan rule.

During the First World War, Guiana sided with the Entente Powers due to sympathy with Italy. 2,000 Guianan volunteers fought for the Italian side, in which there were 239 casualties. Francesco Federico Falco, the Guianan President, personally supervised their training and provisions.

Anselmo Alliegro Mila enacted a plan with United States funds to build up the Guianan economy. He lowered the tariffs for international trade, and opened immigration. As many as 5 million immigrated to Guiana during what was called the "Golden Period"; mostly they came from Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Venezuela. A large number of Jewish refugees also settled to Guiana.

During the Cuban Revolution; 30,000 people from Cuba fled to Guiana, with the President promising them refuge and eventual reconquest of Cuba which was never fulfilled due to fallback of the Bay of Pigs crisis.

In 1969, an attempted secession by the Province of Essequibo was quashed by the Armed Forces. The province's leader, Governor Valeria Paolo-Hart, denounced the governmental neglect of Essequibo and was considering independence. The President of Guiana defeated the rebellion and Valeria Paolo-Hart was forced into exile to the United States.

1978 coup and the "Disinfezionismo"[]

File:Quema de libros.jpg

Soldiers burning books deemed communistic.

During the Template:Wpl massacre in 1978, President Fabio Burnham was increasingly scrutinized for tolerating a religious cult. Fearful that a "communist cult" has taken over parts of Guiana, Air Force General Giosue Capellini launched a coup on 22 November 1978, starting the period called "Disinfezionismo", literally meaning 'Disinfectionism'. With the approval of other South American countries, Giosue Capellini personally executed Burnham by shooting him on live television, and accused Burnham of "turning Guiana into a communist state". Capellini and his junta joined Operation Condor and rounded up much of the left-wing opposition; as much as 9,230 were killed and 12,034 were believed to be "reduced", a euphemism for forced disappearances. The regime called its coup a "Disinfection", with the left-wing opposition called as "pests". Capellini, in an attempt to ingratiate himself to the United States, retired in 1980 as commander-in-chief but became President. Enacting forced industrialization, Guiana's economy grew at the expense of the environment and worker's rights. While compared to South Korea's and Chile's economic boom, it was said to be unsustainable as Capellini relied on exports of manufactured goods and high techonology. Both Italian and local Mafia families were tolerated by the government and were able to present themselves as legitimate conglomerates. The Sicilian Mafia were able to insert themselves into Guianan society and it was known that Capellini used their services to eliminate far-left dissidents. The intertwining of state and criminal enterprises were so great that Guiana was called the first true "mafia state" by the media.

Modern History[]

Foreign pressure to democratize forced Capellini to hold a snap election against Valeria Paolo-Hart, who was allowed to return in 1989 and survived an assassination attempt that only served to rally the opposition against her. Massive electoral fraud, with international opinion favoring Paolo-Hart, caused an attempted coup-de-etat by Desiderio Buterse, an Afro-Guianan Army colonel decrying the racism against black Guianan officers in the military. While the coup nearly failed, protesters rallied to the streets to denounce the election; however, the Guianan military defected to Paolo-Hart, causing Capellini to go to exile to Italy.

Paolo-Hart had to contend with many attempted military coups, some supported by Capellini loyalists, but others are increasingly being lead by Buterse. Buterse was imprisoned for an attempted coup against her in 6 July, 1991. She also imprisoned many mafia leaders, and even participated in the deportation of the main leaders of the Caruana mafia clan to Italy in 1992. However, Paolo-Hart was widely praised for being the first female and first Amerindian president of Nuovatcscana, and for restoring democracy in the country. In 1993, Enrico Chin became the first Asian-Guianan president, who was also a minister in Paolo-Hart's cabinet. Chin was unable to solve the economic situation in the country, and died a year after leaving office. in 1998, Luigi Macchi became President, but was involved in a political corruption scandal. Despite mounting protests over his corruption, he stayed put until the next election, in which Arturo Chung became President in 2002 until 2007, where economic growth largely returned. Chung resigned because of his age and poor health, and died in 2008. A special election was held and Desiderio Buterse, the favorite, became the second Afro-Guianan President since Fabio Burnham. While initially popular as a Conservative candidate, a Wikileaks investigation later forced him out of office in 2012, in which he was implicated over allegations of drug trafficking and collusion with the local Mafias to support his coup in the 1980s. Leone Panetta became President in 2013.

Geography[]

File:Guianas location map disputed relief.png

Relief and topographic map of Guiana

Guiana is one of the smallest countries in South America. It is situated on the Guiana Shield. The country can be divided into two regions: the tropical rainforest north and the mostly savanna south. The Guianian Highlands are formed by a flat basement on the coast, which constitutes the agricultural area where most of the population is concentrated. Hills and jungles abound in the interior of the territory, in the south and west there is a large region of mountains and savannas. The most important points in the country is the Pacaraima mountain range, which culminates in Mount Roraima, 2,810 meters above sea level, located on the border with Venezuela and Brazil.

Guiana has six distinct climate biomes: the Guayanan Highlands moist forests, Guianan moist forests, Paramaribo swamp forests, Tepuis, Guianan savanna, and Guianan mangroves.

Climate[]

File:View of Brokopondo Reservoir (33537723975).jpg

Broccopondo Reservoir surrounded by tropical rainforest

The country is mostly tropical and mostly tropical rainforest climate. The temperature is hot and do not vary much throughout the year. The average relative humidity is between 80 percent and 90 percent. Rainfall is expected throughout the year as the country sits through the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The northern part of the country has a tropical rainforest climate and the south has a tropical monsoon climate.

The advent of climate change made Guiana more suspectible to extreme weather events; although Guiana is below the hurricane belt, it feared that climate change would make Guiana more suspectible to hurricanes. Guiana's carbon positive economy due to industrialization has been cited as a cause of the shrinkage of its forest cover.

File:Guiana koppen map.png

Environment and biodiversity[]

The country has a biodiverse environment, but the thinning of rainforests has impacted the ecosystem, and programs are in place to remedy it. It was reported that Guiana's forest cover is 57 percent in 2020, down from 63 percent in 2000.

Guiana is home to numerous species, and considered a very biodiverse country. However, illegal logging and pollution pose a serious threat in the biodiversity, with at least 203 species still existing in 1960 were functionally extinct in 2016.

Politics and government[]

Government[]

Guiana is a unitary, presidential republic. The President serves as the head of state and government of Guiana.

Executive[]

The executive branch is led by the president. The president is directly elected by the people for a four-year term; he can be re-elected only once. He is both the head of state and government of Guiana. He is responsible for public administation of the country, and appoints the Cabinet comprising the Secretaries of State. The President is also responsible for foreign policy.

Legislative[]

Judiciary[]

The judicial branch is led by the Supreme Court, with a Chief Justice and Nine Associate Justices.

Administrative Divisions[]

Guiana is divided into provinces, with Caiena also serving as metropolitan province, and subdivided into communes. Each communes is subdivided into municipalities.

Venezuela still claims the provinces of Essequibo and western Demerara as its own province. Venezuela and Guiana signed a treaty in 1920 establishing the borders as final but Venezuela under Hugo Chavez revoked it in 2003.

Name Type Capital Area (km2) Population
Original Guyana Flag Proposal Berbice Province Ituni
Flag of Suriname (1959–1975) Broccopondo Province Broccopondo
Drapeau de la Guyane Caiena Metropolitan province Caiena
File:1975 Suriname Flag Proposal 1.svg Curantino Province Niccheri 12,891
File:Flag green yellow red 5x3.svg Essequibo Province Bartica
Flag of Guyana Guyana Province Demerara
Suriname Whitney Design Palissandria Province San Giorgio
File:Bandera independentista Guyana.svg Inini Province San Lorenzo d'Marroni
Flag of the Republic of Independent Guyana (1887-1904) Sinamari Province Sinamari
Flag of Suriname Suriname Province Paramaribo

Military[]

The Guianan Armed Forces is descended from the Independence Armies of Nuovatuscana in the early 1800s. It is considered the best-equipped army in South America, due to fear of Venezuelan incursions into its territory. Its total strength is about 193,300 personnel in 2020.

The Armed Forces is composed of:

  • The Army - the land forces
  • Marina - the naval forces
  • Forza Aerea - the air forces
  • Guardia Repubblicana - the gendarmerie and border guards force.

Law and Order[]

Law enforcement is done by the Guardia Repubblicana and the Polizia Nazionale, the latter which investigates lower-level crimes. The Guardia Repubblicana is used for suppressing heavy armed disturbances such as riots.

Foreign relations[]

Guiana practices a neutral foreign policy. A founding member of the United Nations, The republic is also a member of the Organization of American States, and UNASUR.

Guiana maintains strong historical ties with its former colonizer, Italy, in which it shares a common cultural bond. It was said that Guiana and Italy are "brothers separated by an ocean".

Economy[]

The official government policy of Guiana is for a highly-liberalized economy. The Guianan Ministry of Economic Affairs claim that this is necessary for the economic growth and prosperity of the country.

Agriculture[]

Agriculture originally formed the backbone of the Guianan economy. It was believed that the poor soil in eastern Nuovatuscana was one of the motivations of the independence armies to seize the more fertile Dutch Guiana. Thus, the country was able to utilize the former sugar and cotton plantations and were able also to switch into rice, bananas, and coffee.

Rice accounts for 34 percent of agricultural output. Guiana is the fourth largest producer of rice in South America.

Petroleum[]

Guiana's proven oil reserves are abount 11 billion barrels; Venezuelan threats to seize the fields hampered their development, as Guiana was dependent on Venezuelan refined oil back then; only due to the rise of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela was Guiana able to fully commit in oil exploration and production. The refineries in Demerara is the fifth largest in South America.

Energy[]

Industry[]

Guiana shifted to industry during the "Golden Era" to enhance its standard of living. Manufacturing peaked during the Capellini dictatorship, then declined in the late 1990s. However, in the early 2000s, it picked up again. The country has the fourth-largest automotive industry in Latin America, but it is the largest among them who have locally produced brands. Nuovacarro is the largest company in Guiana, due to its aggressive marketing in the Americas and Asia.

Infrastructure[]

Transport[]

Guiana has built an extensive railroad system totalling 2,305 kilometers of track, and had the original intention to transport ore and agricultural goods. Passenger services of trains were largely still confined at the coastal areas.

Demographics[]

Guiana's population saw an increase in 2017, due Venezuelan migration to Guiana.

Language[]

The official language is Italian, and is regarded as the language of government, business, and daily life; the Guianan government claims that 97% speaks Italian and the rest who are able to speak regularly can at least comprehend and understand it. Indigenous American and Creole languages such as Template:Wpl have special status to communities where their ethnic group predominate; schools are taught in their respective languages as well as Italian.

Education[]

In Guiana, compulsory schooling, made law since 1919, starts at the age of 6 and ends at secondary school at age 17.

Religion[]

File:Cathédralestsauveur.jpg

Cattedrale di San Nicola, 2019

File:Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskathedraal.jpg

Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo, 2018

Guiana is a historically a majority Catholic state; 83 percent of its population are adherents of the faith. However, since independence, Guiana proclaimed the separation of church and state in its constitution and other religions flourished ever since. The second largest religion are various Protestant sects, with 6 percent of the population.

In the rural parts of Guiana, there are syncretist faiths among the Marrone and Indigenous communities, and festivals often incorporate such mixture of symbolism.

The Protestant community existed even before the conquest of Dutch Guiana; several Waldensians also established remote communities in the southern interior and also converted many indigenous tribes. Later, the Dutch Reformed Church also has many adherents, mainly from the black community. Other sects such as the Latter Day Saints, Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others also made inroads.

The Jewish community started with both the Portuguese Jews in Suriname Province and Italkims from Caiena Metropolitan Province. Jews total 92,000 of the population and is mostly concentrated on Caiena and other major cities.

Islam is introduced among Indian laborers imported from Trinidad, and made converts among the rest of the population. An estimated 102,000 people in 2019 are said to be Muslim, mostly those of Indian and African descent.

Culture[]

Guiana's culture reflects its Italian, Carribean, and Indigenous American heritage. Styles of traditional music from Italy were considered as Guianan as well as Afro-Carribean cultural art forms. Its Italian language sets it apart from other Latin American countries, who use Spanish instead, along with its southern Portuguese neighbor Brazil; Guiana is however, firmly in the Latin American cultural sphere.

Festivals[]

Guiana has distinct Carnival tradition; the Masrameni of the Demerara region, the Tululu of the east, and the Carnivale of Caiena. The Carnivale of Caiena resembles most of Italy; the Masrameni and Tululu have Afro-Carribean roots; Tululu was also derived from the former French Guiana colonies.

Music and art[]

Guiana has a lively and rich tradition, emanating mainly from Afro-Caribbean and Italian sources. The Caseco is a very well-known Guianan dance coming from the Afro-Guianan population. Ciatni, also known in Trinidad and Tobago as Chutney, is also a well-known Guianan music genre.

European-derived Guianan music is also present, mainly imported from Southern Italy and modified to incorporate local influences.

Cuisine[]

File:Pastitsio.jpg

Pasticcio, a common Guianan dish.

Guiana is known for its rich cuisine, due to its African, East Indian, Indigenous American, and Italian heritage. Due to the majority of the population being culturally Italian, Italian cuisine, modified in using rice and cassava instead of the usual wheat in Italy, became the hallmark of Guianan cuisine. Capra Pasta and Pasticcio (also known in Venezuela as Pasticho) are the most celebrated dishes in Guianan cuisine.

Sports[]

Football is Guiana's national sport and is the most popular one. The Guianan National Football Team participated in several World Cups and won the Cup in 1994, in what was called "The Miracle of Pasadena", when it defeated heavily-favored Brazil with a score of 2-1. It also won at least 2 Copa America trophies.

Second in popularity are baseball and cricket, mainly played by the Afro-Guianan populations.

Guiana has participated in the Summer Olympics since its inception and won 23 medals, including 3 gold medals, all in track and field.

National Holidays[]

National holidays[]

Date Local name Name
1 January Capodanno Template:Wp
6 January Epifania Template:Wp
moveable feast Pasqua Template:Wp
day after Pasqua Pasquetta Template:Wp
1 May Festa del Lavoro Template:Wp
60 days after Easter Corpus Christi Template:Wp
15 August Assunzione Assumption Day
12 September Dia della Memoria Day of Memory (commemorating the start of the Disinfectionist dictatorship and honoring its victims)
3 October Dia dell'indipendenza Day of Independence (celebrating the independence of Guiana from Italy)
1 November Tutti i santi Template:Wp
25 December Natale Template:Wp
26 December Santo Stefano Template:Wp