Guyana Botanical Gardens is a tropical botanical garden in Georgetown,

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. It is next to the

Guyana Zoo Guyana Zoo (officially Guyana Zoological Park) is a zoo located in Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. The zoo officially opened in 1952, but its grounds had been used as Guyana Botanical Gardens, botanical gardens since 1895. S ...

and Castellani House.

Description

It includes the Seven Ponds (the Place of Heroes), which is the burial sites of * Governor General David Rose * President

Desmond Hoyte Hugh Desmond Hoyte (9 March 1929 – 22 December 2002) was a Guyanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Guyana from 1984 to 1985 and President of Guyana from 1985 until 1992. Personal Life and Education Hoyte was born on 9 March 1 ...

* President

Arthur Chung Arthur Raymond Chung (10 January 1918 – 23 June 2008) was the 1st President of Guyana from 1970 to 1980.

* poet

Martin Carter Martin Wylde Carter (7 June 1927 – 13 December 1997) was a Guyanese poet and political activist. Widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet, and one of the most important poets of the Caribbean region, Carter is best known for his p ...

Tomb of President Forbes Burnham (13919830762)

* in a separate nearby mausoleum: Prime Minister

Forbes Burnham Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (20 February 1923 – 6 August 1985) was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1980 and then as its f ...

Near

the zoo ''The Zoo'' is a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson, writing under the pen name of Bolton Rowe. It premiered on 5 June 1875 at the St. James's Theatre in London (as an afterpiece to W. S. Gilb ...

(but outside of it), there are docile manatees in a pond. The first manatees were placed in the gardens in the 1870s. More captive manatees are at the

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

History

It was founded in the late 19th century, during the time of

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

, on an abandoned sugar estate, Plantation Vlissengen. At the time, it was at the eastern end of the city limits. An early garden superintendent was botanist

George Samuel Jenman George Samuel Jenman (1845-1902) was a British gardener and botanist. He specialized in growing and studying plants. He was superintendent of Castleton Botanical Garden, Jamaica from 1873 to 1879, and Government Botanist and superintendent of th ...

Environs

South of the gardens, across Homestretch Avenue is D’Urban Park, which includes the National Cultural Centre. It is bound by Vlissengen Road to the west, across which is

Georgetown Football Club Georgetown FC is a Guyanese football club based in Georgetown, competing in the GFF Elite League, the top tier of Guyanese football. Its home ground is across the road from the Guyana Zoo and Botanical Gardens. History Founded in 1902, Geor ...

. It is a few blocks south of the

. The other public garden in Georgetown is the smaller

Promenade Gardens Promenade Gardens is a garden in Georgetown, Guyana. To the south is (Parade Ground), the site of public execution of slaves who participated in the uprising of 1823. The park is separated from the gardens by Middle Street. The park is boun ...

downtown.

References

{{commons category Gardens in Guyana Georgetown, Guyana

Description

History

Environs

See also

References