In Guyana, a Rebellion Thwarted by a Letter

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Guyana’s Square of the Revolution, a statue honors Cuffy, an Akan man from West Africa who became a legendary figure. Captured and enslaved by the Dutch in the colony of Berbice (present-day Guyana), Cuffy rose from house slave to revolutionary leader. But an act of civility would be the beginning of his downfall.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Baudelaire. How you doing? What's going on?
0:05.7	I am doing great, Dylan. How are you doing? I'm good. So you are coming back again with,
0:11.8	looks like, another story about the Caribbean. Yes, yes. And this time, we're talking about a
0:20.5	massive rebellion.
0:22.0	I feel like this is actually not the first time.
0:24.1	I feel like massive rebellions in the Caribbean, whatever, that Venn diagram, this is like a solid Baudelaire story zone.
0:32.3	Yeah, I'm Haitian, so, you know, lots more all about it.
0:35.2	Exactly.
0:36.4	All right, so, but this is not a Haitian story.
0:39.0	This is a different rebellion story.
0:41.3	Where are we today?
0:42.8	We are in the nation of Guyana.
0:45.6	You see, today in their capital, they have a statue of their first hero.
0:49.6	It's called the 1763 monument.
0:51.9	Let's look at the picture together real quick.
0:53.5	I'll send you a link.
0:56.2	Okay.
0:57.3	Who, who, it kind of looks like a, the proportions of the character are strange.
1:02.6	They kind of almost look like child.
1:04.6	Who is this, who is this a statue of?
1:06.7	This is Cuffy.
1:08.5	He was the leader of the Burb's Rebellion of 1763.
	...

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