Guyana — map and facts

About Guyana

Guyana is a small South American nation located on the northeastern Atlantic coast of the continent, bordered by Venezuela to the west, Brazil to the south, and Suriname to the east. Its capital and largest city is Georgetown, home to roughly 300,000 people, while the country's total population stands at approximately 800,000. Guyana is a constitutional republic and parliamentary democracy, a member of both CARICOM and the Commonwealth, and the only English-speaking country in South America. The population is ethnically diverse, comprising Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese, Amerindian, and mixed communities. The economy was historically based on sugar, rice, bauxite, and gold, but the discovery of vast offshore oil reserves by ExxonMobil in 2015 has transformed Guyana into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. By 2023 the country was producing over 600,000 barrels of oil per day. Despite this newfound wealth, challenges of poverty, emigration, and infrastructure development remain significant national concerns.

Geography and Landscape

Guyana occupies approximately 215,000 square kilometres and is divided into three broad geographic zones. The narrow coastal plain, lying partly below sea level and protected by Dutch-built sea walls, is where the vast majority of the population lives and where agriculture is concentrated. Behind it lies a hilly sand-and-clay belt of savanna and forest, and beyond that the vast Guiana Highlands, which cover much of the south and west. The Pakaraima Mountains in the west contain Mount Roraima, rising to 2,810 metres and shared with Venezuela and Brazil. The Essequibo River is the country's longest, flowing northward through dense rainforest to the Atlantic. The Demerara, Berbice, and Corentyne rivers are also major waterways. Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro River is one of the world's most powerful waterfalls by volume of flow. The interior is dominated by dense tropical rainforest, rich in biodiversity, while the Rupununi Savanna in the southwest supports cattle ranching and Amerindian communities.

History

The region now known as Guyana was originally inhabited by Arawak and Carib peoples. Europeans arrived in the late fifteenth century, and the Dutch established the first permanent settlements in the early seventeenth century along the Essequibo and Berbice rivers, developing sugar plantations worked by enslaved Africans. Britain seized the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice during the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1831 they were united as British Guiana. Emancipation in 1834 led planters to import indentured labourers from India, shaping the country's enduring ethnic duality. A slave rebellion led by Cuffy in 1763 remains a defining moment of resistance and Cuffy is now celebrated as a national hero. British Guiana achieved independence on 26 May 1966 and became a republic in 1970 under Forbes Burnham, whose Cooperative Republic model dominated politics for decades. Cheddi Jagan, the first elected premier, remains a revered figure. The 1992 elections marked a return to fair democratic governance after years of authoritarian rule.