Guyana culture people food and festivals

Guyana History, Language and Culture

History of Guyana

Modern day Guyana is built on the legacy of European imperialists, who made their first foray into the region in 1499, when Alonso de Ojeda sailed up the Essequibo.

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the Arawak and Carib people had been fighting for control of the region, but when the Spanish arrived, the victorious Carib warriors proved defenceless against the heavily armed Europeans, who discovered the area had no gold and gave the land back to the natives.

In 1616 the newly independent Dutch founded a trading post in current day Guyana and rapidly expanded their settlements inland, changing their original aim from trading with the natives, to conquering them.

For more than 170 years the Dutch named the colony Essequibo and used it mainly as a trading base for locally grown tobacco, exporting some 15,000 kilos in 1623. When the Dutch West India Company took complete control of the colony, business changed from trading tobacco to trading African slaves, until the Berbice slave uprising of 1763, during which time plantations rapidly fell to the Africans

Guyana is an odd combination of restraint and religion with Caribbean-styled drinking, relaxing, dancing, and eating. Additionally, the people are very diverse due to the country's history of numerous immigrant groups. Despite the differences in culture, religion, and beliefs, the way of life for most of the people can be unified in their shared history, strong religious backgrounds, conservative belief systems, but also their enjoyment of life and social relationships essential to all people.

Most people in Guyana live along or near the coast, although the cities in the country are small and uncommon. Only about a third of the population lives in these cities, but the strip of land along the coast is fairly densely populated as many people have some land, but large farms or plantations are rare today. This means the people have land to farm on, but also generally have access to the cities so there is a wide range of available job options and lifestyles.

Food and Economy

Food in Daily Life.Basic foods reflect ethnic preferences, but there has been considerable cross-fertilization. The creole foods created by Africans have been adopted by all the other groups. Dishes made from "ground provisions" now constitute a national menu: crab or fish soups with plantains, eddoes, cassava, dasheen, and coconut milk; "cook-up rice" with black-eyed peas, pigs tail, green plantain, and cassareep; and Indian curries and roti.

Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions.At African festivals and life cycle rites, creole foods are served. Vegetarian curries are provided at Hindu weddings; the day after a wedding, curried meat is served.