Sir Walter Ralegh (1554-1618) has been both cursed and celebrated in this part of the world, just as he was in England in his time. He was a favourite of Elizabeth I and just the opposite under James I.  In the Caribbean he is associated with imperialism and colonization and the search for El Dorado which have caused some pain in the region’s history.  Yet his creation of project El Dorado has earned him an acclaimed place in Guyana’s heritage since it created both history and myth, and his The Discovery of Guiana (short title) is hailed as the founding document in Guyanese literature.

Writers after him have revelled in the unfathomable ocean of the imagination that this quest for the city of gold has provided, and they are still writing about it.  Derek Walcott has summed up this relationship to Ralegh in a line of poetry which…..