Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Indigenous peoples in Guyana, Native Guyanese or Amerindian Guyanese are Guyanese people who are of indigenous ancestry. They comprise approximately 9.16% of Guyana 's population. [ 1 ] Amerindians are credited with the invention of the canoe , [ 2 ] as well as Cassava-based dishes and Guyanese pepperpot , the national dish of Guyana.
The history of Guyana begins about 35,000 years ago with the arrival of humans coming from Eurasia. These migrants became the Carib and Arawak tribes, who met Alonso de Ojeda's first expedition from Spain in 1499 at the Essequibo River .
Even though referred to collectively as Amerindians, the indigenous peoples in Guyana are made up of several distinct tribes or nations. Warao, Arawak, Caribs, and Wapishana are all represented in Guyana. [8] Europeans arrived in the Guianas in the search for gold in the New World, eventually settling in and colonizing Guyana and the Americas ...
Unique preparations [12] include Guyana pepperpot, a stew of Amerindian origin made with meat, cassareep (a bitter extract of the cassava), and seasonings. Other favourites are cassava bread, stews, and metemgee , a thick rich type of soup with ground provision, coconut milk and large dumplings (called duff), eaten with fried fish or chicken.
Amerindian Heritage Month has its beginnings in Amerindian commemorations of 10 September 1957 - the day on which Stephen Campbell became Guyana's first Amerindian Member of Parliament. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] On 10 September 1995, Guyana's Prime Minister, Cheddi Jagan , officially designated September as Amerindian Heritage Month.
Akawaio were known as prominent traders in the region. At the time of European contact, Akawaio lived on Guyana's coastal belt, moving inland as lands were taken for use as plantations. Akawaios, as well as Caribs, were used to capture other Amerindians as slaves as well as hunt down runaway slaves that has been brought from Africa. [6]
The Patamona are an Amerindian people native to the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana and northern Brazil. [2] They speak a Cariban language, Kapóng, and have often been referred to interchangeably as Akawaio or Ingariko. Patamona are considered a sub-group of Kapon people. [3]
The Guianas is also one of the most racially diverse regions on Earth, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, due to their long histories of migration to the region brought by slavery and indentured labour. The entire region has a large Amerindian population of the Arawak and Carib language groups.