The Berbice Slave Uprising was a slave revolt in Guyana. It began in February 1763 and lasted into 1764.
The uprising began on Plantation Magdalenenberg on the Canje River in Berbice. The slaves rebelled, protesting harsh and inhumane treatment, and took control of the region. As plantation after plantation fell to the slaves, the European population fled. Eventually only about half of the whites who had lived in the colony remained.
Led by Cuffy (know as the national hero of Guyana), the rebels came to number about 3,000 and threatened European control over the Guianas. The insurgents were defeated with the assistance of troops from neighboring French and British colonies and from Europe.
Famous quotes containing the words slave and/or uprising:
“Tyranny produces two results, exactly opposite in character, and which are symbolized in those two great types of the slave in classical times—Epictetus and Spartacus. The one is hatred with its evil train, the other meekness with its Christian graces.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“Whoever thinks of stopping the uprising before it achieves its goals, I will give him ten bullets in the chest.”
—Yasir Arafat (b. 1929)