by Amelia Schaffer

Created on: September 10, 2009   Last Updated: October 12, 2009

Guyana is a small country in South America, with a population of only 770,000 and covering a piece of land smaller than the state of Idaho. Its official name is the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, and it was previously known as British Guiana. Formerly a colony of the Netherlands and then Great Britain, it is one of only four South American countries whose main language is not Spanish. (The others are Brazil, Suriname, and French Guiana.)

Guyana has a large Indian (South Asian) population. Nearly half of its population is of Indian heritage, and nearly thirty percent of Guyanese practice Hinduism (the next largest religion is Pentacostal Christianity) and one of the major languages is a Caribbean dialect of Hindi. The majority of the remaining half of the population is of African ancestry, and sizable minority are of multiracial or American Indian descent.

The capital of Guyana is Georgetown, which lies at the mouth of the Demerara River on the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded in 1781 and is named after the British King George III. It was renamed by the French to Longchamps and the Dutch to Stabroek, by retaken by the British in 1814 and called Georgetown again.

Guyana gained independence from Britain on May 26, 1966. Its current constitution was adopted on October 6, 1980. It is a republic, headed by a President, a Prime Minister, and a single-house legislature. The current President of Guyana is Bharrat Jagdeo and the current Prime Minister, a post appointed by the President, is Samuel Hinds. The President is elected every five years, and there are no term limits. President Jagdeo has served since 1999. There are multiple political parties, and all citizens over the age of 18 have the right to vote.

Guyana's economy is based on the exportation of its main industries, including sugar, timber, gold mining, and textiles. A fifth of its trade exports go to Canada, and another fifteen percent to the United States. Its official currency is the Guyanese dollar. One U.S. Dollar is equal to approximately 200 Guyanese dollars.

The word "guiana" means "land of the waters," referring to Guyana's access to the Atlantic Ocean. It is a word in the language of Guyana's native inhabitants. Although Native Guyanese live in the country today, little is known of their history before European colonization.

Sources

Guyana from the Encyclopedia Britannica

Guyana OnLine

The World Factbook: Guyana from the Central Intelligence Agency

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