Guyanese culture reflects the influence of African, Indian, Amerindian, British, Portuguese, Chinese, Creole, and Dutch cultures. Guyana is part of the mainland Caribbean region. Guyanese culture shares a continuum with the cultures of islands in the West Indies.
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966, Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first Executive President of Guyana from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism.
Clayton Benjamin Lambert is a former Guyanese-American cricketer, who later played for United States as well.
David Arthur Granger is a Guyanese former politician and retired military officer who served as the ninth president of Guyana from 2015 to 2020. A member of the People’s National Congress (PNC), he previously served as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and as National Security Adviser from 1990 to 1992. He was leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Guyana from 2012 to 2015.
Baracara was founded as a maroon community in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region of Guyana, located on the Canje River. The community has also been called New Ground Village or Wel te Vreeden. Baracara is 20 miles west of Corriverton and just north of the Torani Canal's connection to the Canje River.
Georgetown City Hall is a nineteenth-century Gothic Revival building located on the corner of Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic in Georgetown, Guyana. The building was designed by architect Reverend Ignatius Scoles in 1887, and was completed in June 1889. The building houses the offices of the Mayor, the City Council, and the City Engineer.
Ruel Johnson is a Guyanese author.
Melinda Leanna Shankar is a Canadian actress. She is best known for starring as Alli Bhandari in the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2008-2015) and as Indira "Indie" Mehta in the YTV series How To Be Indie (2009-2011), for which she won several awards, including a Canadian Screen Award in 2013.
Kara Lord is a Guyanese model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Guyana 2011 and represented her country in Miss Universe 2011.
George Simon was a Guyanese Lokono Arawak artist and archaeologist. He was the founder and mentor of the Lokono Artists Group, a group of Lokono artists from Guyana, based primarily in his hometown of St. Cuthbert's Mission. Simon was widely regarded as one of the leading Guyanese artists of his generation, and his paintings are notable for their explorations of Amerindian culture and the Guyanese environment. He was also recognized for his achievements as an educator, his efforts to develop opportunities for Amerindian artists in Guyana, and for his work as an archaeologist.
St. Cuthbert's Mission is an Amerindian village on the Mahaica River in the Demerara-Mahaica region of Guyana. It comprises approximately 200 households. St. Cuthbert's is regarded by many people in Guyana as the "cultural capital" for Amerindians.
Arti Cameron is a Afro-Guyanese model and beauty pageant titleholder. She graduated from LaGuardia Community College in 2008. She was named Miss Guyana in 2011, but she was unable to obtain a visa in time to participate in the Miss World 2011 pageant, so her entry was deferred to the following year's international competition. She met with Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana, after having won the national competition. At the Miss World 2012 pageant, Cameron won the People's Choice Award. It is traditional for beauty queens to be tall in order to better showcase their legs, but Cameron was one of several contestants at Miss World 2012 who were petite. The pageant was held in China and Cameron praised Chinese architecture while she was there. The Guyana Tri-State Alliance provided Cameron with three cocktail dresses for the competition. That July, Cameron appeared at the JRG Bikini Under the Bridge Fashion Show in New York City, New York, United States. Her reign as Miss Guyana lasted until 2013.
Miss Earth Guyana is a national beauty pageant for women in Guyana. The winner represents Guyana in Miss Earth.
Terry Vivekanand Gajraj is a Guyanese chutney and chutney-soca artist.
Karen de Souza is a Guyanese women and child's rights activist who has worked to advocate for victims, educate and provide support for victims of violence. Founder of the NGO Red Thread anti-violence campaigns, she has been involved in training programmes of judicial officers and contributed to the drafting law to protect trafficking and anti-violence. Her advocacy has been recognized by both regional and international organizations.
Doris Elrina Rogers was a Guyanese academic who specialised in fine arts. She was a professor at the University of Guyana from 1988 to her retirement in 2008, and a professor emeritus thereafter.
Sandra Marie Granger is a retired Guyanese academic and civil servant who was the First Lady of Guyana, as the wife of President David A. Granger.
Valerie Muriel Rodway was a Guyanese composer of cultural and patriotic songs, inspired by the events leading up to Guyana's independence in 1966. She is best known for composing music to accompany Guyana national poetry, like Arise, Guyana, Kanaïma, and the Martin Carter's Guyanese Independence poem Let Freedom Awaken. For the next two decades, school children were taught the songs she and others composed to inspire patriotism and cultural affinity. She selected the poetry for her compositions based upon her principles and values, first developed among her parents and siblings.
Karen Roslyn Vanessa Cummings is a Guyanese politician who was the country's Foreign Minister from May 2019 to August 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Guyana was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Guyana on 11 March 2020. The first case was a woman who travelled from New York, a 52-year-old woman with underlying health conditions, including diabetes and hypertension. The woman died at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
