British Guiana's estate owners, after unsuccessful attempts…

British Guiana's estate owners, after unsuccessful attempts throughout the 1800s to attract Portuguese workers from Madeira, are again left with an inadequate supply of labor.

The Portuguese had not taken to plantation work and soon moved into other parts of the economy, especially retail business, where they become competitors with the new Afro-Guyanese middle class.

Some fourteen thousand Chinese will come to the colony between 1853 and 1912.

Like their Portuguese predecessors, the Chinese will forsake the plantations for the retail trades and soon become assimilated into society.