Guyana is a small tropical county located in the northeastern corner of South America. Its name, first given to the region by Christopher Columbus in 1498, derives from the Amerindian word for "land of many waters" and refers to the numerous rivers that flow through the expansive Amazonian jungle. As these rivers wind through the countryside, they culminate in spectacular waterfalls, the most magnificent of which is Kaieteur Falls, a natural wonder that boasts a vertical drop seven times that of Niagara Falls.
Guyana has three main geographical regions. Ninety percent of the population lives on Guyana's rich coastal plain, with the remaining population spread out over the country's thick tropical rain forest in the interior and open savanna lands in the south. The weather is hot and humid, but the heat is tempered in the coastal regions by cool trade winds. There are two rainy seasons.
Guyana is ethnically diverse, but largely because it is an English-speaking nation, it is more connected in political and economic institutions, local music, and food to nearby English-speaking Caribbean nations than to bordering Suriname, Venezuela, or Brazil. Guyana is known as the land of six peoples. It claims descendents from Africa, Europe, China, the East Indies, and Portugal as well as an indigenous Amerindian population. This ethnic mix reflects the country's unique history.
Guyana was first settled by the Dutch in the late 16th century. At the 1815 Congress of Vienna, all of Britain's holdings in the region were consolidated and the nation became known as British Guiana. The British colonial authorities imported slaves from West Africa in large numbers to work the sugarcane and cotton plantations. When the African slave trade was abolished in 1834, the British sought out new sources of agricultural labor from India, China, Portugal, Germany, and Malta. In 1966, Guyana was granted independence, and a government was formed with proportional representation given to all of the country's ethnic groups. Today, the ethnic breakdown of Guyana's population of 750,000 is 50% East Indian, 36% Afro-Guyanese, 7% Amerindian, and 7% white, Chinese, and multi-racial.
Like many impoverished nations, Guyana abounds with precious natural resources. Guyana is rich in gold, diamonds, bauxite, and timber. Nevertheless, it has struggled economically and remains one of the poorest countries in South America. The gross domestic product per person in Guyana is only $4,000.
Web Resources for Guyana
Photo above by Carrie Vander Zwaag.
Selected as Honorable Mention, WorldTeach 2006 Photo Contest.
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