1 note: Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2005 est.).
2 about 230,000 live in Georgetown
Guyana is a country on the northern coast of South America, just north of the Equator and a part of the western part of the wider region of Guiana. The country is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and west by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela and to the north by the Atlantic Ocean. It is the third smallest country in South America and approximately the size of Great Britain or Idaho.
The official name is the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Guyana is an Amerindian word meaning Land of Many Waters. The country is mostly characterized by vast unspoiled rain forests dissected by numerous rivers, creeks and beautiful waterfalls, notably Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro River, at 741ft high, is considered one of the highest single drop waterfalls in the world. Guyana's tepuis are famous for being the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel The Lost World. The country enjoys a friendly multicultural society, high floral and faunal biodiversity, prize-winning rum, wooden architecture, and Demerara sugar.
Though physically part of South America, culturally, Guyana is more Caribbean than Latin American—demonstrated by the fact that English is the main language — and it is often considered part of the West Indies. Other languages include Creolese Creole English, Waiwai, Arawak and Macushi.
History
Main article: History of Guiana
At the time the first Europeans arrived in the area around 1500, Guyana was inhabited by Arawak and Carib tribes of Amerindians. European settlement began in the early 17th century with the Dutch, who established three separate colonies; Essequibo (1616), Berbice (1627), and Demerara (1752). The British assumed control in the late 18th century and the Dutch formally ceded the area in 1814. The three became a single British colony known as British Guiana in 1831.Although Guyana was first sighted by Christopher Columbus during his third voyage, it was not settled by Europeans until the Dutch in 1616.
The abolition of slavery in 1834 led to black settlement of urban areas and the importation of indentured laborers from Madeira (Portugal) (beginning in 1834), Germany (first in 1835), Ireland (1836), Scotland (1837), Malta (1839), China and India (beginning in 1838) to work on the sugar plantations. In 1889 Venezuela claimed the land up to the Essequibo. Ten years later an international tribunal ruled the land belonged to British Guiana; however, the dispute continues [1].
Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966 and became a republic in 1970, remaining a member of the Commonwealth. The CIA and United States State Department along with the British government played a strong covert role in influencing who would control Guyana during this time.
Guyana can be divided into three regions: a narrow and fertile marshy plain along the Atlantic coast where most of the population lives, then a white sand belt more inland consisting of dense rainforests and containing most of Guyana's mineral deposits, and finally the larger interior highlands consisting mostly of mountains that gradually rise to the Brazilian border. Guyana's main mountains are contained here, including Mount Ayanganna (6,699 ft; 2,042 m) and on Mount Roraima (9,301 ft; 2,835 m - highest mountain in Guyana) on the Brazil-Guyana-Venezuelatripoint, part of the Pakaraima range. Roraima is said to be have been the inspiration for The Lost World. There are also many steep escarpments and waterfalls, including the famous Kaieteur Falls. Between the Rupununi River and the border with Brazil lies the Rupununi savannah, south of which lie the Kanuku Mountains.
There are many rivers in the country, the main four being (west to east) the Essequibo, the Demerara, the Berbice and the Corentyne along the border with Suriname. At the mouth of the Essequibo are several large islands. The 90 mile (145 km) Shell Beach along the north-west coast of Guyana is a major breeding area for turtles and other wildlife.
The local climate is tropical and generally hot and humid, though moderated by northeast trade winds along the coast. There are two rainy seasons, the first from May to mid-August, the second from mid-November to mid-January.
The main economic activities in Guyana are agriculture (producing rice and Demerara sugar), bauxite mining, gold mining, timber, shrimp and minerals. The sugar industry, which accounts for 28% of all export earnings, is largely run by Guysuco which employs more people than any other industry. Many industries have a large foreign investment. The mineral industry, for example, is heavily invested in by the American company Reynolds Metals and the Canadian Alcan and the Korean/Malaysian Barama Company has a large stake in the logging industry.
The Guyanese economy has exhibited moderate economic growth since 1999, based on an expansion in the agricultural and mining sectors, a more favorable atmosphere for business initiatives, a more realistic exchange rate, fairly low inflation, and the continued support of international organizations. Chronic problems include a shortage of skilled labor and a deficient infrastructure. The government is juggling a sizable external debt against the urgent need for expanded public investment. Low prices for key mining and agricultural commodities combined with troubles in the bauxite and sugar industries threaten the government's already tenuous fiscal position and dim prospects for the future.
Communications - Telephones: Main lines in use: 102,700 (2004 - source: ITU); Mobile cellular: 219,000 (Sep 2005 - source: Informa Telecoms). Radio broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 3, shortwave 1 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 14 (one public station; two private stations which relay U.S. satellite services) (2005). Internet hosts : 642 (2004 - source: ITU). Internet users: 145,000 (2004 - source: ITU).
Transportation - Railways: total: 116 miles (187 km)—all dedicated to ore transport—(2001 est.). Highways: total: 4,952 miles (7,970 km); paved: 367 miles (590 km); unpaved: 4,586 miles or 7,380 kilometres (1999 est.). Waterways: 669 miles (1,077 km); note: Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo rivers are navigable by oceangoing vessels for 93 miles (150 km), 62 miles (100 km), and 50 miles (80 km) respectively (2004). Ports and harbors: Georgetown. Airports: 49 (2004 est.). See Transport in Guyana.
Guyana's population of 751,223 (Statistics Bureau, 2002) is diverse: the three largest groups are the Indians or Indo-Guyanese (43.5% in 2002) who have remained predominantly rural, the Africans or Afro-Guyanese (30.2%) who constitute the majority urban population, and those of mixed origin (16.7%). The Amerindians (9.2%) who live in the country's interior, are divided into a number of different groups, the main ones being the Akawaio, Arawak, Carib, Macushi, Makuxi, Pemon and Wapishana. Several smaller groups, including Chinese, Portuguese, "Whites" (Europeans other than Portuguese, including British) and others make up less than 1% of the population. The overwhelming majority of the population - around 90% - live along the coastal strip, where population density is more than 298 persons per square mile (115/km²). There is much racial tension between the Indian and African communities, and the two main parties are largely mono-racial. The trend over time is for the Amerindian and mixed-race proportion to grow, mainly at the expense of the Indo-Guyanese proportion, while the black percentage remains roughly stable. In 1980, Guyana had an absolute majority (51.9%) of Indo-Guyanese, but now no group forms a majority.
Religion in Guyana runs mainly along racial lines. Hinduism makes up about 50% of Guyana and it's Guyana's main religon. Christianity comes with 35%. Muslims and Islamic is 7%. Guyana has many religons also.
Emigration has been a large and persistent problem in Guyana, with an estimated 500,000 Guyanese living abroad. Since independence, as many as 10,000 Guyanese have left and settled permanently in the United States alone per year and demand to emigrate remains very high. Canada, the United Kingdom and English-speaking Caribbean islands are the other main countries people choose to emigrate to. At the same time, the birth rate has fallen sharply, and because of the emigration, can no longer sustain the country's population level. Many in the government worry that the country may become depopulated, but few concrete steps have been taken to stem the outflow. Results from the 2002 census, however, suggest that emigration in the last decade has decreased somewhat compared to the 1980s.
Society
Education
St Andrew's Primary School
Guyana's educational system, which at one time was considered to be among the best in the Caribbean, deteriorated severely in the 1980s. And although it has displayed a remarkable recovery in the 1990s, it still does not produce the quality of personnel, in the requisite numbers, that is desperately needed if Guyana is going to stand the slightest chance of modernising its economy. The country lacks a critical mass of expertise in almost all the disciplines and activities on which it now depends, and on which it will increasingly rely in the future.
In addition, the educational system does not sufficiently focus on the training of Guyanese in science and technology, on technical and vocational subjects, on business management, and on computer science.
There are wide disparities among the geographical regions of the country, in the availability of education, both in regard to its quality and in respect of the physical facilities in which it is provided.
Worst of all, many of the better-educated professional teachers have emigrated to other countries over the past two decades or so, mainly because of the low emoluments which are meted out to them in Guyana. As a result, there is a serious dearth of trained teachers at every level of our educational system.
Public health
Delivery of services
The delivery of health services is provided at five different levels in the public sector:
Level I: Local Health Posts (166 in total) that provide preventive and simple curative care for common diseases and attempt to promote proper health practices. Community health workers staff them.
Level II: Health Centres (109 in total) that provide preventive and rehabilitative care and promotion activities. These are ideally staffed with a medical extension worker or public health nurse, along with a nursing assistant, a dental nurse and a midwife.
Level III: Nineteen District Hospitals (with 473 beds) that provide basic in-patient and outpatient care (although more the latter than the former) and selected diagnostic services. They are also meant to be equipped to provide simple radiological and laboratory services, and to be capable of providing preventive and curative dental care. They are designed to serve geographical areas with populations of 10,000 or more.
Level IV: Four Regional Hospitals (with 620 beds) that provide emergency services, routine surgery and obstetrical and gynaecological care, dental services, diagnostic services and specialist services in general medicine and paediatrics. They are designed to include the necessary support for this level of medical service in terms of laboratory and X-ray facilities, pharmacies and dietetic expertise. These hospitals are located in Regions 2, 3, 6 and 10.
Level V: The National Referral Hospital (937 beds) in Georgetown that provides a wider range of diagnostic and specialist services, on both an in-patient and out-patient basis; the Psychiatric Hospital in Canje; and the Geriatric Hospital in Georgetown. There is also one children�s rehabilitation centre.
This system is structured so that its proper functioning depends intimately on a process of referrals. Except for serious emergencies, patients are to be seen first at the lower levels, and those with problems that cannot be treated at those levels are referred to higher levels in the system. However, in practice, many patients by-pass the lower levels.
The health sector is currently unable to offer certain sophisticated tertiary services and specialised medical services, the technology for which is unaffordable in Guyana, or for which the required medical specialists simply do not exist. Even with substantial improvements in the health sector, the need for overseas treatment for some services might remain. The Ministry of Health provides financial assistance to patients requiring such treatment, priority being given to children whose condition can be rehabilitated with significant improvements to their quality of life.
In addition to the facilities mentioned above, there are 10 hospitals belonging to the private sector and to public corporations, plus diagnostic facilities, clinics and dispensaries in those sectors. These 10 hospitals together, provide for 548 beds.
18 clinics and dispensaries are owned by GUYSUCO.
The Ministry of Health and Labour is responsible for the funding of the National Referral Hospital in Georgetown, which has recently been made a public corporation managed by an independent Board. Region 6 is responsible for the management of the National Psychiatric Hospital. The Geriatric Hospital, previously administered by the Ministry of Labour, became the responsibility of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in December 1997.
Health conditions
One of the most unfortunate consequences of Guyana's economic decline in the 1970s and 1980s was that it led to very poor health conditions for a large part of the population.
Compared to other neighbouring countries, Guyana ranks poorly in regard to basic health indicators. In 1998, life expectancy at birth was estimated at 66.0 for Guyana, 71.6 for Suriname, 72.9 for Venezuela; 73.8 for Trinidad and Tobago, 74.7 for Jamaica, and 76.5 for Barbados. In Guyana, the infant mortality rate in 1998 was 24.2, in Barbados 14.9; in Trinidad and Tobago 16.2; in Venezuela 22; in Jamaica 24.5; and in Suriname 25.1.
Maternal mortality rates in Guyana are also relatively high, being estimate at 124.6 for 1998. Comparable figures for other Caribbean countries are 50 for Barbados, 75 for Trinidad and 100 for Jamaica.
It must be emphasized, however, that although Guyana's health profile still suffers in comparison with most of the Caribbean, there has been remarkable progress between 1988 and 1998
In Guyana the leading causes of mortality for children under the age of one are: certain conditions originating in the prenatal period (46.9%); intestinal infectious diseases (15.6%); congenital anomalies (10.4%); diseases of the respiratory system (6.7%); nutritional deficiencies 5.8%); bacterial diseases (4.0%); diseases of the blood and the blood-forming organs (2.0%); endocrine and metabolic disease immunity disorders (1.8%); accidents (1.6%); and diseases of the Nervous System (1.1%).
The leading causes of mortality for all age groups are cerebrovascular diseases (11.6%); ischemic heart disease (9.9%); immunity disorders (7.1%); diseases of the respiratory system (6.8%); diseases of pulmonary circulation and other forms of heart disease (6.6%); endocrine and metabolic diseases (5.5%); diseases of other parts of the Digestive System (5.2%); violence (5.1%); certain condition originating in the prenatal period (4.3%); and hypertensive diseases (3.9%).
The picture in regard to morbidity patterns differs. The ten leading causes of morbidity for all age groups are, in decreasing order: malaria; acute respiratory infections; symptoms, signs and ill defined or unknown conditions; hypertension; accident and injuries; acute diarrhoeal disease; diabetes mellitus; worm infestation; rheumatic arthritis; and mental and nervous disorders.
This morbidity profile indicates that it can be improved substantially through enhanced preventive health care, better education on health issues, more widespread access to potable water and sanitation services, and increased access to basic health care of good quality.
Guyana's culture is very similar to that of the English-speaking Caribbean. It is so similar that Guyana is included and accepted as a Caribbean Nation and is a member of the Caribbean Community Caricom economic bloc. Only its geographical location differentiates it from the rest of the English speaking Caribbean countries. Guyana shares similar interests with the islands in the West Indies, such as food, festive events, music, sports, etc. Guyana plays international cricket as a part of the West Indies cricket team, and the Guyana team plays first class cricket against other nations of the Caribbean. Further adding to its distinction as a member of the Caribbean community, Guyana is a member of CONCACAF, the international football federation for North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Music & Entertainment in Guyana follows the lead of other Caribbean countries and India. Radio stations play the latest reggae, dancehall, soca and chutney as well as Bollywood influences of bhangra and other hindi music. Local television stations air American, British and Indian broadcasts. Night clubs in Georgetown belt out the latest music late into the night on weekends.
Countries interested in the conservation and protection of natural and cultural heritage sites of the world accede to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage that was adopted by UNESCO in 1972. Guyana is no exception, and signed the treaty in 1977. In fact, Guyana was the first Caribbean State Party to sign the treaty. Sometime in the latter half of the mid-1990s Guyana seriously began the process of selecting sites for World Heritage nomination and three sites were considered: Kaieteur National Park, Shell Beach and Historic Georgetown. By 1997, work on Kaieteur National Park was started and in 1998 work on Historic Georgetown was begun. To date, however, Guyana has not made a successful nomination.
In 2000(?) Guyana submitted the Kaieteur National Park, including the Kaieteur Falls, to UNESCO as its first World Heritage Site nomination. The proposed area and surrounds have some of Guyana’s most diversified life zones with one of the highest levels of endemic species found anywhere in South America. The Kaieteur Falls is the most spectacular feature of the park falling a distance of 226 m and exceeding the height of Niagara Falls (USA/Canada) five times. Unfortunately, the nomination of Kaieteur Park as a World Heritage Site was not successful, primarily because the area was seen by the evaluators as being too small, especially when compared with the Central Suriname Nature Reserve that had just been nominated as a World Heritage Site (2000). The dossier was thus returned to Guyana for revision.
Guyana continues in its bid for a World Heritage Site. Work continues, after a period of hiatus, on the nomination dossier for Historic Georgetown – a Tentative List indicating Historic Georgetown as being put forward for nomination was submitted to UNESCO in December 2004. There is now a small committee put together by the Guyana National Commission for UNESCO to complete the nomination dossier and the management plan for the site. Recently, in April 2005, two Dutch experts in Conservation spent two weeks in Georgetown supervising Architecture staff and students of the University of Guyana in a historic building survey of the selected area. This is part of the data collection for the nomination dossier. It is expected that the completed nomination document will be submitted in 2006.
Meanwhile, as a result of the Kaieteur National Park being considered too small, there is a proposal to prepare a nomination for a Cluster Site that will include the Kaieteur National Park, the Iwokrama Forest and the Kanuku Mountains. The Iwokrama Rain Forest, an area rich in biological diversity, has been described by Major General (Rtd) Joseph Singh as “a flagship project for conservation.” The Kanuku Mountains area is in a pristine state, and is home to more than 400 birds and animals. These three sites together, we feel, more than adequately meet the requirements of exceptional natural beauty and biological diversity, as well as the requirements of size and integrity, for a successful nomination.
There is much work to be done for the successful nomination of these sites to the World Heritage List. The State, the private sector and the ordinary Guyanese each have a role to play in this process and in the later protection of the sites. Inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage will open Guyana to more serious tourists thereby assisting in its economic development.
Guyana exhibits two of the WWF's Global 200 ecoregions most crucial to the conservation of global biodiversity, Guianan moist forests and Guyana Highlands moist forests and is home to several endemic species including the tropical hardwood Greenheart (Chlorocardium rodiei).
Landmarks
St. George's Cathedral - Was the tallest wooden building in the world at the time of construction. Now dwarfed by other structures such as the Todaiji Temple in Japan.
Demerara Harbour Bridge - Was the longest floating bridge in the world. Now the fourth longest floating bridge in the world.
Kaieteur Falls The tallest single-drop falls and one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world.
Providence Stadium-to be built on the east bank of the Demerara River for the ICC World Cup 2007. Construction has started. When completed it will be a major spot for leisure in Guyana. It will also be near the Providence Mall which, when completed, will be the largest mall in Guyana.
Guyana International Conference Center - presented as a gift from the People's Republic of China to the Government of Guyana . It is the only one of its kind in the country .
Military
Military branches:Guyana Defence Force (GDF; includes Ground Forces, Coast Guard, and Air Corps), Guyana People's Militia (GPM), Guyana National Service (GNS), Guyana Police Force
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49:
206,199 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49:
155,058 (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$7 million (FY94)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.7% (FY94)
Trivia
The 1856 British Guiana 1c magenta stamp is considered the rarest in the world, with only one copy known to exist.
The Guinness Book of Records (1990 ed) lists the Guyanese born Sir Lionel Luckhoo as "the world's most successful lawyer" because he obtained 245 consecutive acquittals for his clients that were accused of murder.
Guyanese people say that if you visit Guyana and "Eat Labba and Drink Black Water", you are bound to return to Guyana. (Labba is a small agouti or South American rodent that is eaten in a dark stew called "pepper pot", "Black water" is the water found in the many creeks in the interior of Guyana, made black by tanin found in rotting vegetation).
Guyana News and InformationOne of the most popular websites for current news and information, this site also hosts an email directory of people from the Guyanese Community and Discussion Forum.
GINA - Government Information Agency. Updated daily.
