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Travel to Guyana — Unbiased reviews and great
deals from TripAdvisorGuyana
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Cooperative Republic of Guyana
President: Bharrat Jagdeo (1999)
Prime Minister: Samuel Hinds
(1999)
Current government officials
Land area: 76,004 sq mi (196,850 sq km);
total area: 83,000 sq mi (214,970 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 769,095 (growth
rate: 0.2%); birth rate: 18.1/1000; infant mortality rate:
31.4/1000; life expectancy: 66.2; density per sq mi: 10
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Georgetown, 227,700
Monetary unit: Guyanese dollar
Languages:
English (official), Amerindian dialects,
Creole, Hindi, Urdu
Ethnicity/race:
East Indian 50%; black 36%; Amerindian 7%;
white, Chinese, and mixed 7%
Religions:
Christian 50%, Hindu 35%, Islam 10%, other
5%
Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $2.92billion; per capita $3,800. Real growth rate:
5.4%. Inflation: 12.2%. Unemployment: 9.1% (2000)
(understated). Arable land: 2%. Labor force: 418,000
(2001 est.); agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a.
Agriculture: sugarcane, rice, wheat, vegetable oils; beef,
pork, poultry, dairy products; fish, shrimp. Industries:
bauxite, sugar, rice milling, timber, textiles, gold mining.
Natural resources: bauxite, gold, diamonds, hardwood timber,
shrimp, fish. Exports: $499.4 million f.o.b. (2007 est.):
sugar, gold, bauxite/alumina, rice, shrimp, molasses, rum, timber.
Imports: $835.8 million f.o.b. (2007 est.): manufactures,
machinery, petroleum, food. Major trading partners: Canada,
U.S., Netherlands, UK, Portugal, Belgium, Jamaica, Trinidad and
Tobago, Cuba (2006).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 110,100 (2005); mobile cellular: 281,400 (2005). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 3, shortwave 1 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 3 (one public station; two
private stations which relay U.S. satellite services) (1997).
Internet hosts: 3,000 (2007). Internet users: 160,000
(2005).
Transportation: Railways: total: 187 km
(all dedicated to ore transport) (2001 est.). Highways:
total: 7,970 km; paved: 590 km; unpaved: 7,380 km (1999 est.).
Waterways: 1,077 km; note: Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo
rivers are navigable by oceangoing vessels for 150 km, 100 km, and
80 km respectively (2004) . Ports and harbors: Georgetown.
Airports: 93 (2007).
International disputes: all of the area
west of the Essequibo (river) is claimed by Venezuela preventing any
discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has expressed its
intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before UNCLOS that
Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into
their waters; Suriname claims a triangle of land between the New and
Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic dispute over the headwaters of
the Courantyne; Guyana seeks UNCLOS arbitration to resolve the
long-standing dispute with Suriname over the axis of the territorial
sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Guyana is the size of Idaho and is situated on the northern coast of
South America, east of Venezuela, west of Suriname, and north of Brazil. A
tropical forest covers more than 80% of the country.
Government
Republic.
History
The Warrou people were the indigenous inhabitants of Guyana. The Dutch,
English, and French established colonies in what is now known as Guyana,
but by the early 17th century the majority of the settlements were Dutch.
During the Napoleonic wars Britain took over the Dutch colonies of
Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo, which became British Guiana in 1831.
Slavery was outlawed in 1834, and the great need for plantation workers
led to a large wave of immigration, primarily of East Indians. Today,
about half of the population is of East Indian descent and about 36% are
of African descent.
In 1889, Venezuela voiced its claim to a large swath of Guyanese
territory, but ten years later an international tribunal ruled the land
belonged to British Guiana.
British Guiana became a Crown colony in 1928, and in 1953 it was
granted home rule. In 1950, Cheddi Jagan, who was Indian-Guyanese, and
Forbes Burnham, who was Afro-Guyanese, created the colony's first
political party, the Progressive People's Party (PPP), which was dedicated
to gaining the colony's independence. In the 1953 elections, Cheddi Jagan
was elected chief minister. The British, however, alarmed by Jagan's
Marxist views, suspended the constitution and government within months and
installed an interim government. In 1955, the PPP split, with Burnham
breaking off to create the People's National Congress (PNC). The leftist
Jagan of the PPP and the more moderate Burnham of the PNC were to dominate
Guyanan politics for decades to come. In 1961, Britain granted the colony
autonomy, and Jagan became prime minister (1961–1964). Strikes and rioting
weakened Jagan's rule, much of it believed to be the result of covert CIA
operations. In 1964, Burnham succeeded Jagan as prime minister, a position
he retained after the country gained full independence on May 26, 1966.
With independence, the country returned to its traditional name,
Guyana.
In 1978, the country gained worldwide attention when American religious
cult leader Jim Jones and 900 of his followers committed mass suicide in
Jonestown, Guyana.
Burnham ruled Guyana until his death in 1985 (from 1980 to 1985, after
a change in the constitution, he served as president). Guyana's first
independent decades were marked by continued racial unrest between
Indian-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese as well as economic malaise.
Desmond Hoyte of the PNC became president in 1985, but in 1992 the PPP
reemerged, winning a majority in the general election. Jagan became
president, and the former Marxist succeeded in reviving the economy. After
his death in 1997, his wife, Janet Jagan, was elected president. Former
finance minister Bharrat Jagdeo assumed the presidency in 1999.
Guyana's potential economic development was hurt in 2000 as border
disputes with both Venezuela to the west and Suriname to the east heated
up. Suriname and Guyana have been unable to resolve the border dispute in
an oil-rich coastal area. Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez has revived
the 19th-century claim to more than half of Guyana's territory.
In March 2001, Bharrat Jagdeo won a second term in elections that
underscored Guyana's bitter racial tensions. The reelection of Jagdeo, an
ethnic East Indian, caused rioting among Afro-Guyanese, who claimed
widespread election fraud.
In Jan.–Feb. 2005, the country experienced its worst natural disaster.
More than a third of the country's population was affected by devastating
flooding.
See also Encyclopedia: Guyana.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Guyana
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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