Guyana Emigration and Immigration

Online Records

 * Emigrants from Demerara at The Guyana/British Guiana Genealogical Society - index
 * 1813-1834 Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834 at Ancestry ($), index and images. See Berbice.
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 at Ancestry - index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at Findmypast - index & images ($)
 * 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for British Guiana or Guyana
 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.
 * British Guiana Colonists is an index to colonists.
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, British Guiana, index & images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, British Guiana, index & images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, British Guiana, index & images ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Guyana
If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Guyana, see Guyana Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Guyana Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Immigration into Guyana

 * Historically dominated by the Lokono and Kalina tribes, Guyana was colonized by the Dutch before coming under British control in the late 18th century. It was governed as British Guiana, with a mostly plantation-style economy until the 1950s. It gained independence in 1966, and officially became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. The legacy of British rule is reflected in the country's political administration and diverse population, which includes Indian, African, Amerindian, Chinese, Portuguese, other European, and various multiracial groups.
 * Since its independence in 1824, Venezuela has claimed the area of land to the west of the Essequibo River. Simón Bolívar wrote to the British government warning against the Berbice and Demerara settlers settling on land which the Venezuelans, as assumed heirs of Spanish claims on the area dating to the 16th century, claimed was theirs. In 1899, an international tribunal ruled the land belonged to Great Britain. The British territorial claim stemmed from Dutch involvement and colonization of the area also dating to the 16th century, which was ceded to the British.
 * The present population of Guyana is racially and ethnically heterogeneous, with ethnic groups originating from India, Africa, Europe, and China, as well as indigenous or aboriginal peoples. Despite their diverse ethnic backgrounds, these groups share two common languages: English and Creole.
 * The largest ethnic group is the '''Indo-Guyanese (also known as East Indians), the descendants of indentured laborers from India, who make up 43.5% of the population, according to the 2002 census.
 * They are followed by the Afro-Guyanese, the descendants of slaves from Africa, who constitute 30.2%.
 * Most Indo-Guyanese are descended from indentured laborers who migrated from North India, especially the Bhojpur and Awadh regions of the Hindi Belt in the present day states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. A significant minority of Indo-Guyanese are also descended from indentured migrants who came from the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh; these South Indian descendants are the plurality ancestry in the East Berbice-Corentyne region.

Emigration From Guyana
KNOMAD Statistics: Emigrants: 462,600. Top destination countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Suriname, República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, France, Barbados, the Netherlands