The history of British Guiana during World War II begins in 1939, following the outbreak of war in Europe and the United Kingdom's declaration of war on Nazi Germany. Like all the other British colonies in the West Indies, Guiana gave full support to the Allied war effort by providing personnel for the British Armed Forces, land for an American military base, and raw materials for war production. Although the Guianese economy initially suffered as result of the war, large-scale infrastructural projects were undertaken, in order to optimize the production of goods for the war effort, and by the war's end in 1945 the Guianese economy had more than recovered. There were also significant changes in the country's political system during the same period, such as the legalization of political par