Guthrie, Woody orig. Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (b. July 14, 1912, Okemah, Okla., U.S.—d. Oct. 3, 1967, New York, N.Y.) U.S. singer and songwriter, one of the legendary figures of American folk music. He left home at age 15 to travel the country by freight train. With his guitar and harmonica he sang in the hobo and migrant camps of the Great Depression, later becoming a musical spokesman for labour and populist sentiment. He wrote more than a thousand songs, including “So Long (It’s Been Good to Know Yuh),” “Hard Traveling,” and “Union Maid.” In New York City he joined Pete Seeger and others in the Almanac Singers; after serving in World War II, he continued to perform with them for farmer and worker groups. “This Land Is Your Land” was his most famous song, and it became an unofficial national anthem. His autobiography, Bound for Glory (1943), was filmed in 1976. His son Arlo (b. 1947) also achieved success as a songwriter and singer.
Guwahati \ l gii-w3- , ha-te\ or Gauhati \gau-'ha-te\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 808,021), western Assam state, northeastern India. Located on the Brahmaputra River, it was the capital of the Hindu kingdom of Kamarupa (under the name of Pragjyotisa) c. ad 400. Taken by the Ahoms, it became the seat of the Ahom governor of Lower Assam in 1681. It was ceded to the British in 1826 and was the administrative seat for Assam until 1874. Gauhati is now an important river port and Assam’s main commercial centre. The nearby temples of Kamakhya and Umananda are places of Hindu pilgrimage.
Guy-Blache, Alice orig. Alice Guy (b. July 1, 1873, Paris, France—d. March 24, 1968, Mahwah, N.J., U.S.) French-born U.S. pio¬ neer of French and American film industries. The first woman director, she is also generally acknowledged to be the first director to film a nar¬ rative story. She directed her first film, The Cabbage Fairy , in 1896 to demonstrate the entertainment possibilities of the motion-picture camera manufactured by her employer, Leon Gaumont. She became the Gaumont film company’s head of production, directing nearly all early Gaumont films. About 1901 Guy began to work on longer, more elaborate projects, notably Esmeralda (1905), based on Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Life of Christ (1906). From 1906 to 1907 she directed about 100 films, using experimental sound technology. She mar¬ ried cameraman Herbert Blache in 1907 and followed him to the U.S., where in 1910 she founded the successful Solax Company. As president of Solax she directed about 45 films and supervised nearly 300 other pro¬ ductions. Only a handful of the hundreds of films she made survive.
Guyana \gI-'a-no\ officially Co-operative Republic of Guyana
formerly (until 1966) British Guiana Country, northeastern South America. Area: 83,044 sq mi (215,083 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 751,000. Capitaclass="underline" Georgetown. About half the people are of South Asian descent; most of the rest are of African ancestry. Language: English (offi¬ cial). Religions: Christianity (Protestant, Roman Catholic), Hinduism, Islam. Currency: Guyana dollar. Guyana has a narrow Atlantic coastal plain that extends up to 10 mi (16 km) inland and includes reclaimed land protected by seawalls and canals. Inland, a high rainforest covers three- fourths of the country. The Pakaraima Mountains in the west provide headwaters for the Essequibo River. Guyana has a developing market economy with both public and private ownership. Major exports include sugar, rice, and bauxite. It is a multiparty republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. American Indi¬ ans inhabited Guyana prior to European settlement, but little is known of
the territory during the Napoleonic Wars
and afterward purchased the colonies of Demerara, Berbice, and Esse¬ quibo, which were united in 1831 as British Guiana. The slave trade was abolished in 1807, but emancipation of the 100,000 slaves in the colonies was not complete until 1838. From the 1840s, South Asian and Chinese indentured servants were brought to work the plantations; by 1917 almost 240,000 South Asians had migrated to British Guiana. It was made a crown colony in 1928 and granted home rule in 1953. Political parties began to emerge, developing along ethnic lines as the People’s Progres¬ sive Party (largely South Asian) and the People’s National Congress (PNC; largely black). The PNC formed a coalition government and led the country into independence as Guyana in 1966. In 1970 Guyana became a republic within the Commonwealth; in 1980 it adopted a new constitution. In the last decades of the 20th century, Guyana moved away from the socialist approach first taken following independence. At the beginning of the 21st century, it was still struggling to achieve economic and political stability.
Guyenne \ge-'en\ or Guienne ancient Aquitania Historic region, southwestern France. The Guyenne region corresponds to the modern departement of Gironde and to most of the departements of Lot-et- Garonne, Dordogne, Lot, and Aveyron. An old duchy whose capital was at Bordeaux, it was near the Garonne and Dordogne rivers. From Roman times until the Middle Ages it was part of the region of Aquitaine. Under English control during much of the later Middle Ages, Guyenne was retaken by the French at the beginning of the Hundred Years' War, but in 1360 it was restored, with Aquitaine, to the English. France later recon¬ quered the area, and from the 17th century until 1789 Guyenne was part of the French gouvernement of Guienne and Gascony.
Guzman \gus-'man\ (Fernandez), (Silvestre) Antonio (b. Feb. 12, 1911, La Vega, Dom.Rep.—d. July 4, 1982, Santo Domingo) Presi¬ dent of the Dominican Republic (1978-82). Son of a textile merchant, he managed textile stores before being elected president as a left-of-centre candidate, despite attempts by followers of the incumbent, Joaquin Bal- aguer, to halt the vote count. Responding to the collapse of world sugar prices, he launched an aggressive agricultural policy that quickly enabled the country to achieve self-sufficiency in rice and beans. Though he inher¬ ited a turbulent political and economic situation, he left behind a stable economy and democratic institutions guaranteeing civil liberties. His death was an apparent suicide.
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Gwalior ► gyroscope I 821
Gwalior Vgwa-le-,6r\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 826,919), Madhya Pradesh state, north-central India. The city, now an important commercial and industrial centre, is built around a walled fortress situated on a cliff 300 ft (90 m) above the plain. First known from c. ad 525, it was under Hindu rule until 1232 and then changed hands several times between Muslims and Hindus until 1751; thereafter it remained a Maratha strong¬ hold, though it was taken by the British several times. The fortress con¬ tains outstanding examples of Hindu architecture, including reservoirs, palaces, temples, and a mosque. Just below the fort’s walls are 15th- century rock-cut Jain statues that are nearly 60 ft (18 m) high.
Gwandu Vgwan-dii \ formerly Gando \'gan-do\ Traditional emirate, northwestern Nigeria. Originally settled by the Kebbawa, the area was part of the the Kebbi kingdom in the 16th century. The emirate’s town of Gwandu became important during the Fulani jihad (1804-12), and from 1815 it was one of the two capitals of the Fulani empire until it came under British control in 1903. The Gando emirate was reduced in size by British cessions to French West Africa in 1907. Its emir, however, remains an important Muslim traditional leader in Nigeria. The town of Gwandu is a local agricultural market.