Editing Jonestown (section)

{{Short description|Peoples Temple cult settlement in Guyana}}
{{Other uses}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!--See the Table at Infobox Settlement for all fields and descriptions of usage-->
<!-- Basic info  ---------------->| official_name      = Peoples Temple Agricultural Project
| other_name         = "Jonestown"
| settlement_type    = Mission
<!-- images and maps  ----------->| image_skyline      = Jonestown entrance.jpg
| image_caption      = The entrance to Jonestown, 1978
| image_flag         =
| image_map          =
| map_caption        =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Guyana
<!-- Location ------------------>| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_type1  = [[Regions of Guyana|Region]]
| subdivision_name   = {{flag|Guyana}}
| subdivision_name1  = {{flagicon image|Flag of Barima-Waini Region.gif}} [[Barima-Waini]]
| subdivision_type2  =
| subdivision_name2  = <!-- Politics ----------------->
| government_footnotes =
| government_type    =
| leader_title       =
| leader_name        =
| leader_title1      = <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager -->
| leader_name1       =
| established_title  = <!-- Settled -->
| established_date   =
| established_title2 = <!-- Incorporated (town) -->
| established_date2  = 1973
| established_title3 = <!-- Incorporated (city) -->
| established_date3  = <!-- Area    --------------------->
| unit_pref          = Imperial <!--Enter: Imperial, if Imperial (metric) is desired-->
| area_footnotes     =
| area_total_km2     = <!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion-->
| area_land_km2      = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox Settlement for details on automatic unit conversion-->
| area_water_km2     =
| area_water_percent = <!-- Population   ----------------------->
| population_as_of   = 1978
| population_footnotes =
| population_note    =
| population_total   = 1005
| population_density_km2 = auto
<!-- General information  --------------->| time zone          =
| utc_offset         =
| timezone_DST       =
| utc_offset_DST     =
| coordinates        = {{Coord|7|41|22|N|59|57|0|W|type:city_region:GY-BA|display=inline,title}}
| elevation_footnotes = <!--for references: use <ref> </ref> tags-->
| elevation_m        = <!-- Area/postal codes & others -------->
| postal_code_type   = <!-- enter ZIP code, Postcode, Post code, Postal code... -->
| postal_code        =
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| website            =
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}}
{{Location map many|Guyana|label=Jonestown
|label_size=115
      | pos=bottom
      | lat=7.66 |long=-60.187
      | label2=Georgetown
| label2_size=100
      | lat2=6.807 |long2=-58.159
      | mark2size=12
| label3=Port Kaituma
| label3_size=100
      | lat3=7.84 |long3=-60.01
      | mark3size=7
| width=200|float=right
 |background=
 |caption=The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project's places of interest in Guyana
|pos2=bottom|marksize=5}}

The '''Peoples Temple Agricultural Project''', better known by its informal name "'''Jonestown'''", was a remote settlement in [[Guyana]] established by the [[Peoples Temple]], an American religious movement under the leadership of [[Jim Jones]]. Jonestown became internationally infamous when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 918<ref name="auto">{{cite news|title=Inside the Jonestown massacre|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/jonestown.factsheet/index.html |publisher=CNN|access-date=May 14, 2015|date=November 13, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525233226/http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/jonestown.factsheet/index.html |archive-date=May 25, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35368 "How many people died on November 18?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055132/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35368 |date=November 7, 2017}}. ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> people died at the settlement; at the nearby [[Port Kaituma Airport|airstrip]] in [[Port Kaituma]]; and at a Temple-run building in [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]], Guyana's capital city. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.<ref name="off">{{cite web|title=The Trauma of Marriage to a Temple Survivor|url=https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=16972 |department=Official website of the project – Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple |publisher=University of San Diego|access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>

A total of 909 individuals died in Jonestown itself,<ref name="auto"/> all but two from apparent [[cyanide]] poisoning, a significant number of whom were injected against their will. Jones and some Peoples Temple members referred to the act as a "revolutionary suicide" on an audio tape of the event, and in prior recorded discussions. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others, including [[Member of Congress#United States|U.S. Congressman]] [[Leo Ryan]], by Temple members at Port Kaituma, an act that Jones ordered. Four other Temple members committed [[murder–suicide|murder-suicide]] in Georgetown at Jones' command.

Terms used to describe the deaths in Jonestown and Georgetown have evolved over time. Many contemporary media accounts after the events called the deaths a [[mass suicide]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/clip/32699562/the_salina_journal/|title=Mass suicide follows massacre|date=November 20, 1978|website=The Salina Journal|language=en|access-date=June 10, 2019|agency=United Press International}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/clip/32700225/the_boston_globe/|title=Woman, 76, slept through mass suicide|date=November 24, 1978|website=The Boston Globe|language=en|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=June 10, 2019|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> In contrast, later sources refer to the deaths with terms such as mass murder-suicide,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Jonestown-massacre|title=Jonestown {{!}} History, Facts, Jim Jones, & Survivors|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |language=en|access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref> a [[massacre]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/17/an-apocalyptic-cult-900-dead-remembering-the-jonestown-massacre-40-years-on|title=An apocalyptic cult, 900 dead: remembering the Jonestown massacre, 40 years on|last=Conroy|first=J. Oliver|date=November 17, 2018|work=The Guardian|access-date=June 10, 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/longform/jonestown-aftermath/|title='Can't Sleep.' 'Beyond Imagination.' What It Was Like to Work on the Jonestown Massacre Clean-Up|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref> or simply [[mass murder]].<ref>In the documentary ''Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple'', former member Stanley Clayton refused to "use the term 'suicide'" because "that man [Jones] was killing us"; another member, Tim Carter, said that the victims were "fucking slaughtered" and that their deaths had nothing to do with "revolutionary suicide".</ref><ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=31976 "Murder or Suicide: What I Saw" by Tim Carter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112137/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=31976|date=March 4, 2016}}. ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Seventy or more individuals at Jonestown were injected with poison, a third of the victims were minors, and armed guards had been ordered to shoot anyone who attempted to flee the settlement as Jones lobbied for suicide.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/25/archives/why-900-died-in-guyana.html "Why 900 Died in Guyana" by Carey Winfrey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617062014/http://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/25/archives/why-900-died-in-guyana.html|date=June 17, 2017}}. The New York Times, February 25, 1979</ref><ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35332 "How many children and minors died in Jonestown? What were their ages?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105161326/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35332|date=November 5, 2016}} ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Department of Religious Studies, San Diego State University.</ref><ref name=":1"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-05-10-9705100253-story.html|title=Guyanese Jungle Reclaiming Jonestown|first=Laurie|last= Goering |website=chicagotribune.com |date=May 10, 1997 |language=en-US|access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref>