Guianese people

Guianese people are people identifying with the country of Guiana. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural.

Guiana is a multiethnic and multilingual society, home to people of various ethnic, racial, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants.

As a result, the Guianese do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Guiana. Aside from the indigenous population, nearly all Guianese or their ancestors arrived since the Age of Discovery and establishment of the many colonies, primarily from Africa, Europe and Asia.

Ethnic groups

 * European Guianese make up 33% of the Surinamese population:
 * The Boeroes (derived from boer, the Dutch word for "farmer") make up the largest group of European Surinamese. They are descendants of 19th-century immigrant Dutch farmers and traders from Noord-Holland, Brabant, Gelderland and Groningen.
 * The Portuguese Guianese are descendants of indentured workers from Madeira and the Minho region.
 * The British Guianese, who come mostly from the Isle of Man, Northern England, and Wales.
 * Hispano-Guianese, descendants of conquistadors from Extremadura, Castile and the Canary Islands, and bankers from Catalonia and the Basque region.
 * Franco-Guianese of Borguignon, Lorrain and Norman origin.
 * Afro-Surinamese form about 17% of the population. They are mostly of Akan ancestry, but Ewe, Loango, Yoruba and Kongo also left their cultural footprints there. They are usually divided into two groups.
 * The Creoles (55%). These are descendants of enslaved Africans who also have some admixture from the European (mostly Dutch) and Jewish colonists.
 * The Maroons (45%). These are descendants of enslaved Africans who managed to escape and set up a living in the Amazon jungle. The two main Maroon tribes are the Aukan and Saramaccans. Other smaller tribes include the Aluku, Paramaccan, Kwinti and Matawai tribe.
 * Indo-Guianese form 7% of the population. They are descendants of 19th-century indentured workers from British India, who came to work on the sugar estates of Surinam. They are mostly from the present-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, in Northern India.
 * Indonesian Guianese, descendants of indentured Javanese and Malay workers from the Dutch East Indies (present Indonesia), form 4% of the population.
 * Amerindians, the original inhabitants of Guiana, form 13% of the population. The main groups are the Akurio, Arawak, Kalina (Caribs), Tiriyó and Wayana.
 * Chinese Guianese, mainly descendants of the earliest 19th-century indentured workers, mainly Hakka and Cantonese. The 1990s and early 21st century saw renewed immigration on a large scale. In the year 2011 the Chinese Guianese formed 2% of the population alone.
 * Levantine Guianese, forming 1% of the population.
 * Lebanese Guianese, primarily Maronites from Lebanon.
 * Jews of Sephardic and Ashkenazi origin. In their history, Jodensavanne plays a major role. Many Jews are mixed with other ethnicities.
 * Multiracial Guianese form 23% of the Guianese population.