Windsor Forest is a village in the

Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region 3) is a Regions of Guyana, region of Guyana. Split in two by the Essequibo River, Venezuela claims the territory to the west of Essequibo river as part of Delta Amacuro state, what represents Essequibo Isl ...

Region of

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. It is located along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

coast. It was the first

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

settlement in Guyana, however few Chinese remain.

Overview

Windsor Forest started as a plantation. In the early 20th century, Windsor Forest and neighbouring La Jalousie, were purchased by the government, divided into

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

sized lots, and offered for rent. The economy of the village is mainly based on rice cultivation. It has a primary school and a health centre. Between 1900 and 1974, Windsor Forest had a railway station on the Demerara-Essequibo railway. The area is prone to flooding. It used to be protected by

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fr ...

s. A citizen's initiative by Deopaul Somwaru aims to replant the mangroves along the coast.

Chinese settlement

Between 1853 and 1879,

indentured labourers Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...

from China were brought to work on the plantations in British Guiana. On 12 January 1853, the first labourers arrived aboard the '' Glentanner'', and 105 people were assigned to the Windsor Forest plantation making it the first

settlement in Guyana. In 1986, a monument was erected in front of the primary school to commemorate the event. Few Chinese remain in the village. Of the 1,602 inhabitants of Windsor Forest at the 2012 census, only five identified as ethnic Chinese, and 1,484 as

Indo-Guyanese Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...

Notable people

Arthur Chung Arthur Raymond Chung (10 January 1918 – 23 June 2008) was the 1st President of Guyana from 1970 to 1980.

(1918–2008), first President of Guyana. *

Doreen Chung Doreen Pamela Chung (; c. 1932 – 5 September 2009) was a Guyanese public figure and the wife of the first President of Guyana, Arthur Chung. She served as the inaugural First Lady of Guyana from March 1970 until October 1980. Chung was born D ...

(1932–2009), first First Lady of Guyana.

References

{{Settlements in Guyana, state=expanded Populated places in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara