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| e. British Caribbean Territories and Guyana (British Guiana) |
| 1953, Oct. 6 |
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| Britain dispatched troops and warships to Guiana to handle a suspected attempt to set up a Communist regime there. | 1 |
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| 1956, Feb. 23 |
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| Delegates from Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, the Windward Islands, and the Leeward Islands came to a preliminary agreement for a Caribbean federation. | 2 |
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| 1957, Aug. 12 |
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| Cheddi Jagan's (b. 1918) left-wing party won 9 of the 14 elective seats in the Guiana legislative council. On Aug. 16, Gov. Patrick Renison invited Jagan to participate in, but not to form, a new cabinet. | 3 |
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| 1958, Jan. 3 |
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| The Federation of the West Indies came into being. The 77,000-square-mile federation, with a population of 3 million, was composed of ten units: Trinidad, Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Dominica, and Antigua. | 4 |
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| 1960, March 31 |
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| The British colonial office announced that if a new constitution was accepted for British Guiana, it would go into effect in Aug. 1961. Two years after the general election, full independence would be considered. | 5 |
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| Aug. 21 |
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| The People's Progressive Party in Guiana, headed by Cheddi Jagan, won 20 of the 35 seats in the legislative council. | 6 |
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| Sept. 19 |
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| Jamaica voted to withdraw from the West Indies Federation. | 7 |
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