President Dr Irfaan Ali was today presented with the Bank of Guyana’s $200 commemorative coin that was made to mark the 200th anniversary of the Demerara Revolt.
The bank’s Governor, Gobind Ganga, presented the commemorative coin in the presence of Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr and members of the 1823 Revolt Committee.
The Demerara Revolt of 1823, in which over 10,000 enslaved persons participated, was the largest uprising against slavery in the then British Guiana.
The Revolt and the consequent deaths of over 250 enslaved individuals, and an English priest sympathetic to the uprising, drew the attention of the English populace and its parliament to the dehumanising conditions of slavery, contributing significantly to the enactment of the Slavery Abolition Act and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in August 1834.
The coin is a Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) struck in bronze alloy.
It bears the National Coat of Arms on the obverse side and the 1823 Demerara Revolt Monument on the reverse. The Monument features a bronze sculpture of an enslaved man wielding a machete and a chain with a cross attached to the end.
The coin is minted by the Osborne Mint in the USA and will be available at the Bank at a price of $5,000 each from Monday, March 18.
