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"Jonestown" was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an American religious organization under the leadership of Jim Jones, in northwestern Guyana. It became internationally notorious when on November 18, 1978, over 900 people, adults and children, and several dogs and cats died in the remote commune. Source.
All but two died from cyanide poisoning, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones on an audio tape of the event.
The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at the Port Kaituma airport, including United States Congressman Leo Ryan, the only serving Congressman ever assassinated.