Portal:Guyana

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Guyana (/ɡaɪˈɑːnə/ ^ⓘ or /ɡaɪˈænə/ ^ⓘ ghy-A(H)N-ə), officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic mainland British West Indies. Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the country's largest city. Guyana is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Venezuela to the west, and Suriname to the east. 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. It has a wide variety of natural habitats and very high biodiversity. The country also hosts a part of the Amazon rainforest, the largest tropical rainforest in the world.

The region known as "the Guianas" consists of the large shield landmass north of the Amazon River and east of the Orinoco River known as the "land of many waters". Nine indigenous tribes reside in Guyana: the Wai Wai, Macushi, Patamona, Lokono, Kalina, Wapishana, Pemon, Akawaio and Warao. Historically dominated by the Lokono and Kalina tribes, Guyana was colonised by the Dutch before coming under British control in the late 18th century. 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. The legacy of British colonialism is reflected in the country's political administration, lingua franca and diverse population, which includes Indian, African, Indigenous, Chinese, Portuguese, other European, and various multiracial groups.

Guyana is the only mainland South American nation in which English is the official language. However, the majority of the population speak Guyanese Creole, an English-based creole language, as a first language. 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.

In 2017, 41% of the population of Guyana lived below the poverty line. Guyana's economy has been undergoing a transformation since the discovery of crude oil in 2015 and commercial drilling in 2019, with its economy growing by 49% in 2020, making it, by some accounts, currently the world's fastest-growing economy. As it is said to have 11 billion barrels in oil reserves, the country is set to become one of the largest per capita oil producers in the world by 2025. The discovery of over 11 billion barrels of oil reserves off the coast of Guyana since 2017 is the largest addition to global oil reserves since the 1970s. Guyana is now ranked as having the fourth-highest GDP per capita in the Americas after the United States, Canada, and The Bahamas, and has been one of the countries with the most improvement in Human Development Index ranking since 2015. According to the World Bank in 2023, very significant poverty still exists and the country faces significant risks in structurally managing its growth. (Full article...)

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The Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo region, also known as Esequibo or Guayana Esequiba in Spanish (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡwaˈʝana eseˈkiβa] ^ⓘ), a 159,500 km² (61,600 sq mi) area west of the Essequibo River. The territory, excluding the Venezuelan-controlled Ankoko Island, is controlled by Guyana as part of six of its regions, based on the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award. It is also claimed by Venezuela as the Guayana Esequiba State.^{[page needed]} The boundary dispute was inherited from the colonial powers (Spain in the case of Venezuela, and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in the case of Guyana) and has persisted following the independence of Venezuela and Guyana.

In 1835, the British government commissioned German-born explorer and naturalist Robert Hermann Schomburgk to survey British Guiana's boundaries. This survey resulted in what came to be known as the "Schomburgk Line", which was rejected by the Venezuelan government and the British, as even the extended Schomburgk Line did not include the entire Cuyuní River basin which was claimed by Britain. Tensions worsened after the discovery of gold mines in the region in 1876, culminating with president Antonio Guzmán Blanco severing diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom in 1887. As a result, Venezuela elected the United States as their representative, leaving no Venezuelan citizen to represent their country's interests. The United Kingdom and Venezuela went into arbitration with mediation from the United States, which resulted in the Paris Arbitral Award in 1899 and ruled largely in favour of Britain. In 1949, a memorandum written by Severo Mallet-Prevost, official secretary of the US–Venezuela delegation in the arbitration, and published posthumously, stated that the Arbitral Award resulted from the pressure by the Tribunal President Friedrich Martens and a political deal between Russia and Britain. Said memorandum led to complaints by Venezuela in the United Nations in 1962, which resulted in the Geneva Agreement, signed with the United Kingdom in 1966. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Guyana-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Cheddi Jagan (from History of Guyana)
Image 2Map of British Guiana. (from History of Guyana)
Image 3A tractor on a rice field in Guyana. (from Agriculture in Guyana)
Image 4Georgetown in 1823 CE. (from History of Guyana)
Image 5A map created circa 1649 depicting the Guiana region. Territory claimed by Spain in red to the west, Dutch Guiana highlighted in yellow and Portuguese territory in red to the southeast. The mythical Lake Parime is also visible. (from History of Guyana)
Image 6NASA satellite image of forest burning in Guyana (from Agriculture in Guyana)
Image 7Guyana's extensive river system and water cycle is important for agriculture. (from Agriculture in Guyana)
Image 8Forbes Burnham (from History of Guyana)
Image 9A map of Dutch Guiana 1667–1814 CE. (from History of Guyana)
Image 10A technician at the Guyana Food and Drug Department Laboratory in Georgetown, Guyana selecting peanut samples to be tested with new equipment. (from Agriculture in Guyana)
Image 11Arapaima gigas (from Agriculture in Guyana)
Image 12Political map of Venezuela in 1840, extending to the Essequibo border. (from History of Guyana)
Image 13Providence Stadium as seen from the East Bank Highway. (from Culture of Guyana)