What do U know about Guyana?

Vivecca's Spot

What do U know about Guyana?

What do U know about Guyana?

Guyana:

"At the point where the Caribbean meets South America on its North Atlantic seaboard lies an almost unknown, but incredibly wonderful land of unspoilt beauty, where the virgin rainforest leads to the Amazon Basin. Where the jungle is still unexplored, rivers uncharted and mountains yet to be climbed."

FACTS AT A GLANCE

NAME Co-operative Republic of Guyana

AREA 83,000 sq miles (215,000 sq km)

LOCATION North Eastern Coast of the South American Continent

POPULATION 730,000 (1992/1993)

GOVERNMENT Democratically elected - Presidential form of Government. Member of the Commonwealth, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Non-Aligned Movement.

HEAD OF STATE His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo

CLIMATE Equatorial. Temperature on the Coast ranges from 20 C to 33.8 C and in the interior between l8.3 C and 39.4 C. Unlike many other West Indian countries, Guyana is not affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.

TIME Four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time

CAPITAL Georgetown

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE English / Creole

MAJOR AIRPORT Cheddi Jagan International Airport

CURRENCY Guyana dollar

INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY CODE For telecommunication to Guyana - 592

"This Is The Dark Time My Love"

by Martin Carter

This is the dark time, my love

all round the land brown beetles crawl about.

The shining sun is hidden in the sky

Red Flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.

This is the dark time my love.

It is the season of oppression, dark metal, and tears

It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery.

Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious.

Who comes walking in the dark night time?

Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass?

It is the man of death, my love, the sstrange invader

Watching you sleep and aiming at your dream.

Poems of Resistance (1954)

History of Guyana

Christopher Columbus sailed off the coast of Guyana in 1498 but it was not until a century later that the first Europeans settled in the area. Sir Walter Raleigh visited the territory in 1595 and this was followed by several unsuccessful attempts to establish permanent settlements. The Dutch finally succeeded in 1616 with the establishment of a settlement at Kyk-over-al on an island in the Essequibo River where the remnants of a fort can still be seen. A number of other settlements later sprang up in Essequibo. A second colony was carved out in Berbice when a settlement was established there in 1627. Subsequently, the colony of Demerara was also settled by the Dutch. During the 18th and 19th centuries, these three colonies changed hands several times. The British seized them from the Dutch in 1781 but lost them to the French six months later. The French held them for two years before restoring them to the Dutch in 1783. In 1796, the British again captured the colonies but handed them back to the Dutch in 1802. The British recaptured them in the following year and in 1831 united them as the Colony of British Guiana. They ruled the colony until May 1966 when it became an independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations. On February 23, 1970, Guyana became a Cooperative Republic within the Commonwealth.

Guyana's early history is reflected in the many Dutch and French place names throughout the country and in many words commonly used. Its history is also reflected in traces of Roman-Dutch law in the legal system of the country.

Guyana is a member of the Commonwealth, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and is the only English speaking country on the South American Continent.

Facts & History adapted from the Guyana World Wide Web Handbook