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___ Guyana

Crossing the Demerara River, Guyana.
Image: Allan Hopkins

Flag of Guyana

Location map of Guyana

A virtual guide to the tropical country formerly known as British Guiana, until 1966 one of many British colonies, but the only possession Britain ever held on the mainland of South America.

Guyana is situated in central north of the South American continent with a coastline at the North Atlantic Ocean. Countries with international borders to Guyana are Brazil, Suriname, and Venezuela, and it shares maritime borders with Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.

The country is part of the Guianas, a region in the north-eastern part of the continent on the Guiana Shield, an old stable geological formation that forms a portion of the northern coast. The Guianas are bounded by the Orinoco, Negro, and Amazon rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. It includes Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

Guyana's area is somewhat smaller than that of the United Kingdom, or slightly smaller than that of the U.S. state of Idaho. Large areas of Guyana are covered by dense rain forests (Forested Highland Region) in the southern part of the country. Most of Guyana's population (90%) lives in the narrow, fertile plain along the Atlantic coast to the east of the country. The four Hinterland regions, which occupy more than two-thirds of the total land area are still largely unoccupied.

The country has a population of 748,000 people (Census 2012). Capital and largest city is Georgetown (pop. 192,000). Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America, spoken languages are English (official), but the vast majority of the population speaks Guyanese Creole, an English based Creole, Amerindian languages (including Caribbean and Arawak languages), Indo-Guyanese people also speak Hindi.

Co-operative Republic of Guyana

Country Profile

Background:
Guyana (formerly known as British Guiana) achieved independence from the UK in 1966 and became a republic in 1970.
In 1989 Guyana launched an Economic Recovery Program, which marked a dramatic reversal from a state-controlled, socialist economy towards a more open, free market system. Results through the first decade have proven encouraging.
(Source: CIA - The World Factbook)

related countries: United Kingdom

Official Name:
Co-operative Republic of Guyana
short form: Guyana
former: British Guiana

ISO Country Code: gy, GUY

Time:
Local Time = UTC -4h
Actual Time: Tue-June-6 00:02

Country Calling Code: +592

Capital City: Georgetown (pop. 250 000)

Other Cities: Linden (29,000) and New Amsterdam (18,000)

Government:
Type: Republic within the Commonwealth.
Independence: 26 May 1966;
Republic, 23 February 1970.
Constitution: 1980

Geography:
Location: Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Suriname and Venezuela
Area: 215,000 sq. km. (83 000 sq. mi.)
Terrain: Coastal plain, inland highlands, rain forest, savanna.

Climate: Equatorial tropical.

People:
Nationality: Guyanese (sing. and pl.).
Population: 748.000 (2012)
Ethnic groups: East Indian origin 49%, African origin 32%, mixed 12%, Amerindian 6%, White and Chinese 1%.
Religions: Christian 57%, Hindu 33%, Muslim 9%, other 1%.
Languages: English, Guyanese Creole, Amerindian languages (primarily Carib and Arawak).
Literacy: 96.5% of adults who have attended school.

Natural resources: Bauxite, gold, diamonds, hardwood timber, shrimp, fish.

Agriculture products: Sugar, rice, wheat, vegetable oils; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish, shrimp.

Industries: Bauxite, sugar, rice milling, timber, textiles, gold mining.

Exports - commodities: sugar, gold, bauxite, alumina, rice, shrimp, molasses, rum, timber

Exports - partners: USA 33.5%, Canada 17.9%, UK 6.7%, Ukraine 4.3%, Jamaica 4% (2015)

Imports - commodities: manufactures, machinery, petroleum, food

Imports - partners: USA 24.6%, Trinidad and Tobago 24.1%, China 10.8%, Suriname 9.5% (2015)

Currency: Guyanese Dollar (GYD)

Parliament building in Georgetown, Guyana

Parliament of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana in Georgetown, the capital of the country.

Political system
Guyana is a presidential representative democratic republic with a multi-party system. Head of government is the president. Despite its democratic institutions, Guyana has seen more than two decades of one-party rule and strongman politics, perpetuated by manipulation, racially based voting patterns, and a disenfranchisement of the Guyanese people.

Official Sites of Guyana

Note: External links will open in a new browser window.

Office of the President of Guyana
Official president site.

Parliament of Guyana
Site with General Information on Guyana's parliament.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Official site of the ministry.

Diplomatic Missions
Guyana Consulate
Consulate site Toronto Canada
Guyana Diplomatic & Consular Representatives Abroad
Address list of Guyana's Missions Abroad.
Foreign Diplomatic Missions resident in Guyana
Address list of Foreign Diplomatic Missions.

Maps

Map of Guyana
Political Map of Guyana.

Google Earth Guyana
Searchable map and satellite view of Guyana.

Google Earth Georgetown
Searchable map and satellite view of Guyana's capital city.

Map of South America
Reference map of South America.

News

RFS states that, although Guyana’s constitution guarantees free speech and the right to information, officials often use its defamation laws, which provide for fines and up to two years in jail, to silence opposition journalists. According to BBC, Guyanese newspapers are free to criticise the government, although journalists are apt to exercise self-censorship.

The Government Information Agency (GINA)
Guyana's Government's communication and information agency.

Guyana Chronicle
Guyana News.

Kaieteur News
Guyana private daily.

Stabroek News
Local News.

Weekend Mirror
News magazine online.

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Arts & Culture Edgar Mittelholzer - Books from Edgar Mittelholzer Children of Kaywana, the Kwayana Family Trilogy, the story of a family through 350 years of Guyana's history. Philip Moore Well known for his wood sculptures, one of the most original and creative artists of Guyana.	Kaieteur Falls © kaieteur.gov.gy

Business & Economy

Guyana has rich reserves of bauxite, gold and timber, but it struggles to overcome poverty and attract investment to bolster its small economy. Corruption remains a chronic problem. (Source: BBC)
Subsistence agriculture on the basis of primitive methods and mining are Guyana's most important economic activities. The country's top exports are gold, rice, aluminium ore, and raw sugar.

Bank of Guyana
The Central Bank of the Republic of Guyana, established in 1965.

The Guyana Office for Investment
GO-Invest is the primary contact for investors and exporters. The office tries to contribute to Guyana’s economic development by promoting and facilitating local and foreign private-sector investment.

Ministry of Business
Official site of the ministry.

__Transportation
Airline
Roraima Airways
Domestic airline.
Trans Guyana Airways
Guyana's leading domestic scheduled carrier.

Potaro River and Kaieteur Falls in in the Potaro-Siparuni region of Guyana, a region claimed by Venezuela. In the rainy season Kaieteur is among the most powerful waterfalls in the world.
Image: amanderson2

Travel and Tour Consumer Information

Destination Guyana - Travel and Tour Guides

Discover Guyana:
Georgetown, the capital. Mount Roraima, the highest of the Pacaraima Mountains, standing in 3 different countries at the triple border point of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil. Kaieteur National Park with Kaieteur Falls, (the world's widest single drop waterfall, located on the Potaro River). Iwokrama Forest, one of the four last pristine tropical forests in the world. Kanuku Mountains, group of mountains rising out of the Rapununi savanna. Monte Caburaí, jungle adventure on the border of Guyana and the northernmost point of Brazil.

Find accommodation, hotels, attractions, festivals, events, tourist boards, biking, hiking, climbing, cruising, diving, tours and much more.

Guyana Tourism Authority
Official Website of the Guyana Tourism Authority for all information relating to Guyana.

Iwokrama Canopy Walkway
Iwokrama Canopy Walkway is a series of suspension bridges and decks of up to 30 metres in height and 154 metres in length, located in the Iwokrama Forest.

Kaieteur National Park
Site of the park with its Kaieteur Falls one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world.

Guyana News and Information
Guyana portal and directory provides comprehensive information on Guyana.
Turquoise Net - Guyana
Guyana Online Tourism and travel guide.
The Guyana Photo Gallery on the WWW
Photographs of Guyana
The Guyana World Wide Web Handbook
Provides general information on Guyana.
Travel Guyana
One of the first travel guides to Guyana in the net.

City Guides

Georgetown
More about the City of Georgetown.

Guyana Undiscovered

Guyana, South America Undiscovered


Education Ministry of Education Guyana Official site of the ministry. Schools of Guyana Links to schools of Guyana. University of Guyana Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology Museum and anthropological research of ancient cultures of Guyana. Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) Technology for the utilisation of Guyana's natural resources.

Kanuku Mountains as seen from Lethem, near Guyana's border with Brazil.
Image: Kevin Gabbert

Environment & Nature

EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
Agency to promote, facilitate and coordinate effective environmental management and protection and the sustainable use of Guyana's natural resources.

Rain Forest Conservation and Development - IWOKRAMA
Site about the protected area of the tropical Rain Forest Iwokrama in central Guyana.

WWF Guianas
WWF-Guianas, part of the global WWF family, is working to protect the forests, freshwaters and coasts of the Guianas (French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana).


History History of the Republic of Guyana Guyana was discovered in 1498 by the Europeans, its history; therefore stretches back a bit more than 500 years!