Jonestown: Jonestown was the informal name for Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple, a cult led by American Jim Jones. He became internationally famous when, November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement and a nearby airstrip and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital. The locality name has become synonymous with the incidents at these locations.
A total of 909 Temple members died at Jonestown, all but two of apparent cyanide poisoning in an event called "revolutionary suicide" by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and discussed in advance. The poisonings in Jonestown murder followed by five other members of the Temple at an airstrip near Port Kaituma. The victims included MP Leo Ryan, the first and only Congressman murdered in the line of duty in the history of the United States. Four other members of Temple died in Georgetown in order Jones.
To the extent the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass suicide, it is the biggest event as in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of life in a U.S. civilian non-natural disaster until the events of September 11, 2001.
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