History UsefulNotes / Guyana

There is a large diaspora of Guyanese people living in [[{{BigApplesauce}} New York]] (particularly in the Richmond Hill section of Queens), [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], and [[{{CanadaEh}} Toronto]], as well as Britain.

Most non-West Indians know Guyana for being the place where American pastor UsefulNotes/JimJones and the members of the People's Temple from {{UsefulNotes/California}} [[DrinkingTheKoolAid drank cyanide poisoned Kool-Aid]] in 1978. It should be noted, however, that average Guyanese civilians had no idea that the Jonestown settlement was even there. The People's Temple had moved to Guyana from California in order to evade investigation by the US government. The Guyanese dictator at the time, Forbes Burnham, allowed Jones and his followers to quietly form their settlement, but again, the average Guyanese civilian was unaware of this until after the mass suicide made headlines.

** Chief Justice: Roxane George-Wiltshire (acting)
** Opposition Leader: Joseph Harmon

The most populous religions in Guyana and among the Guyanese diaspora are Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, in that order. The majority of Indo-Guyanese are Hindu, with roughly ten percent following Islam, while a minority of Indo-Guyanese and virtually all Afro-Guyanese are Christian.

Many Guyanese-Americans and Guyanese-Canadians, despite being raised in the USA and Canada, have consciously chosen to continue speaking Guyanese English at home and among relatives (and among other Guyanese friends) in order to preserve their cultural heritage. In public however, they generally speak in American or Canadian accents unless they want to amuse their non-Guyanese friends.

It should be noted that Guyana (along with Suriname) is '''NOT''' considered part of Latin America, since it has a different culture (basically, that of the Anglophone Caribbean), and most Guyanese people tend to get rather annoyed when people mistakenly assume that it is.

As the culture is a Caribbean-based culture, soca, [[{{ChutneyMusic}} chutney (a popular musical form created when Caribbean nationals of Indian descent blended Indian and Caribbean styles)]], calypso, and reggae are popular in Guyana. UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}} is the national sport; Guyana is represented at Test level through the West Indies team.

In the late 1990's, a Jewish-American, Janet Jagan (nee Rosenberg) became President for a short time after her husband, President Cheddi Jagan, died in office. Janet Rosenberg had met Cheddi Jagan when he had been studying dentistry in the United States, married him, and moved to Guyana with him. The next President was Bharrat Jagdeo, Jagan's former finance minister, from 1999 to 2011.

Finally, in the early 1990's, fair elections were restored, and the PPP won the election, putting an Indo-Guyanese (Cheddi Jagan) in the Presidency for the first time. The PPP has won national elections ever since, except for between 2015 and 2020, during which the PNC returned to power.

Over the years, there has been much racial tension between the Indo-Guyanese (descendants of [[IndenturedServitude indentured servants]] brought by the British from {{UsefulNotes/India}}) and the Afro-Guyanese descendants of African slaves (although this tension has lessened somewhat in recent years), with most of the Indo-Guyanese voting for the People's Progressive Party and most of the Afro-Guyanese voting for the People's National Congress. In TheSixties and TheSeventies, Guyana was ruled by the authoritarian grip of the economically socialistic PNC leader Forbes Burnham. Burnham, an Afro-Guyanese, was extremely racist towards the Indo-Guyanese, and was greatly resented by them. After Burnham died, another PNC leader, Desmond Hoyte took the reins throughout the 1980's.

Over the years, there has been much racial tension between the Indo-Guyanese (descendants of [[IndenturedServitude indentured servants]] brought by the British from {{UsefulNotes/India}}) and the Afro-Guyanese descendants of African slaves (although this tension has lessened somewhat in recent years), with most of the Indo-Guyanese voting for the People's Progressive Party and most of the Afro-Guyanese voting for the People's National Congress. In the 1960's and 70's, Guyana was ruled by the authoritarian grip of the economically socialistic PNC leader Forbes Burnham. Burnham, an Afro-Guyanese, was extremely racist towards the Indo-Guyanese, and was greatly resented by them. After Burnham died, another PNC leader, Desmond Hoyte took the reins throughout the 1980's.

Over the years, there has been much racial tension between the Indo-Guyanese (descendants of indentured servants brought by the British from {{UsefulNotes/India}}) and the Afro-Guyanese descendants of African slaves (although this tension has lessened somewhat in recent years), with most of the Indo-Guyanese voting for the People's Progressive Party and most of the Afro-Guyanese voting for the People's National Congress. In the 1960's and 70's, Guyana was ruled by the authoritarian grip of the economically socialistic PNC leader Forbes Burnham. Burnham, an Afro-Guyanese, was extremely racist towards the Indo-Guyanese, and was greatly resented by them. After Burnham died, another PNC leader, Desmond Hoyte took the reins throughout the 1980's.

Over the years, there has been much racial tension between the Indo-Guyanese (descendants of indentured servants brought by the British from India) and the Afro-Guyanese descendants of African slaves (although this tension has lessened somewhat in recent years), with most of the Indo-Guyanese voting for the People's Progressive Party and most of the Afro-Guyanese voting for the People's National Congress. In the 1960's and 70's, Guyana was ruled by the authoritarian grip of the economically socialistic PNC leader Forbes Burnham. Burnham, an Afro-Guyanese, was extremely racist towards the Indo-Guyanese, and was greatly resented by them. After Burnham died, another PNC leader, Desmond Hoyte took the reins throughout the 1980's.

Most non-West Indians know Guyana for being the place where American pastor UsefulNotes/JimJones and the members of the People's Temple from California [[DrinkingTheKoolAid drank cyanide poisoned Kool-Aid]] in 1978. It should be noted, however, that average Guyanese civilians had no idea that the Jonestown settlement was even there. The People's Temple had moved to Guyana from California in order to evade investigation by the US government. The Guyanese dictator at the time, Forbes Burnham, allowed Jones and his followers to quietly form their settlement, but again, the average Guyanese civilian was unaware of this until after the mass suicide made headlines.

Most non-West Indians know Guyana for being the place where American pastor Jim Jones and the members of the People's Temple from California [[DrinkingTheKoolAid drank cyanide poisoned Kool-Aid]] in 1978. It should be noted, however, that average Guyanese civilians had no idea that the Jonestown settlement was even there. The People's Temple had moved to Guyana from California in order to evade investigation by the US government. The Guyanese dictator at the time, Forbes Burnham, allowed Jones and his followers to quietly form their settlement, but again, the average Guyanese civilian was unaware of this until after the mass suicide made headlines.

Guyana, officially the Co‑operative Republic of Guyana, is a culturally-[[UsefulNotes/TheCaribbean Caribbean]] country in northern UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica. It is one of only four non-Hispanophone territories in South America (the others being UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, UsefulNotes/FrenchGuiana, and UsefulNotes/{{Suriname}}). A British colony until 1966, this country's culture is more like that of the West Indies than of South America. It is 43% East Indian, 30% Afro-Guyanese, 16.7% mixed heritage, and 10% Amerindian. There is also a small Portuguese population in Guyana (which New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is descended from) and a Chinese population that, though tiny, has had a massive influence on Guyanese cuisine (as a result, Guyana has its own distinctive version of chow mein).

* ''Film/GuyanaCrimeOfTheCentury'' is an ExploitationFilm released less than a year before the Jonestown tragedy. It was the first work of fiction to portray the incident, but it takes several liberties regarding how the events happened, and [[RomanAClef all the involved people's names were changed]].

* ''Film/GuyanaTragedyTheStoryOfJimJones'' tells the story of Jim Jones' life from his birth to the murder-suicide of his Jonestown cult in Guyana.