Guyana

Lore & Background

The name 'Guyana' is derived from the Guianas, an earlier name for a larger region that included the areas now called Guyana (British Guyana), Suriname (Dutch Guiana), French Guiana, the Guayana Region in Venezuela (Spanish Guiana), and Amapá in Brazil (Portuguese Guiana). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name 'Guyana' comes from an Indigenous Amerindian language and means 'land of many waters'. Nine Indigenous tribes reside in Guyana: the Wai Wai, Macushi, Patamona, Lokono, Kalina, Wapishana, Arekuna, Akawaio and Warao. Historically dominated by the Lokono and Kalina tribes, Guyana was colonised by the Dutch before coming under British control in 1796, with formal cession in 1814. It was governed as British Guiana with a mostly plantation-style economy until the 1950s. It gained independence in 1966 and officially became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970.

In Their Own Story

The air in Georgetown tastes of salt spray and sizzling roti as the morning sun spills over the Demerara River. A weathered wooden ferry groans at the dock, ferrying a mosaic of schoolchildren in crisp uniforms and laborers bound for the inland sugar estates. To the west, St. George's Cathedral pierces the skyline—a soaring red-brick spire that holds the title of the world's tallest wooden church, standing as a silent sentinel over a capital that feels more like Kingston or Port of Spain than any other South American city. Step beyond the sugarcane fringes and the bustling port, however, and civilization gives way abruptly to a wall of emerald: where jaguars stalk through ancient canopy and the Rupununi savannas roll endlessly toward the Brazilian border, untouched by the modern world.

Reader's Guide

With a land area of 214,969 km2 (83,000 sq mi), Guyana is the third-smallest sovereign state by area in mainland South America after Uruguay and Suriname, and is the second-least populous sovereign state in South America after Suriname; it is also one of the least densely populated countries on Earth. The official language of the country is English, although a large part of the population is bilingual in English and the Indigenous languages. Guyana is the only country in mainland South America to have English as the official language. The majority of the population also speaks Guyanese Creole, which is an English-based creole. Guyana is part of the Commonwealth Caribbean. It is part of the mainland Caribbean region maintaining strong cultural, historical, and political ties with other Caribbean countries as well as serving as the headquarters for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In 2008, the country joined the Union of South American Nations as a founding member. It has a wide variety of natural habitats and very high biodiversity. The country also hosts a part of the Amazon rainforest, the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest in the world.

Did You Know?

• Guyana is the only country in mainland South America to have English as the official language.
• The name 'Guyana' means 'land of many waters' in an Indigenous Amerindian language.
• Guyana's economy grew by approximately 43% in 2020, making it, by some accounts, the world's fastest-growing economy.
• Over 11 billion barrels of oil reserves have been found off Guyana's coast since 2017.