Geography
Relieve
The relief is formed by a flat basement on the coast, which constitutes the agricultural area where 90% of the population is concentrated. A sector of the plain is located below sea level and is protected by a series of dikes.
Hills and jungles abound in the interior of the territory, in the south and west there is a large region of mountains and savannas, with the Sierra de Pacaraima, which culminates in the Tepui Roraima (2,810 m), on the border with Venezuela and Brazil.
Rivers
The main rivers are: the Essequibo, the Cuyuni, the Mazaruni and the Demerara, among others. The Kaieteur Falls are famous (226 m jump), which are five times higher than those of Niagara.
Climate
The climate is equatorial-tropical, softened by the sea breeze (with average temperatures of 26 ° C), and very humid (with more than 2,000 mm of annual rainfall in the country’s capital).
Political-administrative organization
Guyana is a unitary state that is divided into 10 administrative regions, within which there are 65 neighborhood councils, 7 municipalities, and 39 unmanaged areas. The capital of the country is Georgetown The regions are:
- Barima-Waini
- Pomeroon-Supenaam
- Essequibo-West Demerara Islands
- Demerara-Mahaica
- Mahaica-Berbice
- Berbice Oriental-Corentyne
- Cuyuni-Mazaruni
- Potaro-Siparuni
- Alto Tacutu-Alto Esequibo
- Alto Demerara-Berbice
Economic development
Guyana’s main economic activity is agriculture, which employs the majority of the workforce. In the coastal polders there are rice fields, other food crops (vegetables, tubers) and fruit trees (citrus, coconut)). The main agricultural exports include cocoa, coffee and, above all, sugar. The fishing activity, favored by the continental shelf, allows the sale of shrimp abroad.
Apart from agriculture, the other great wealth of the country is bauxite (aluminum industry). There are also deposits of diamonds, manganese and gold, and notable wood reserves. Some consumer goods industries (textiles, beverages, cleaning) have emerged, favored by a series of tax advantages.
Since 2005, Guyana has been part of an energy agreement with neighboring Venezuela (” Petrocaribe “), through which it can obtain oil and derivatives under favorable conditions. It is also a source of income for its economy, the issuance of postage stamps destined mainly for philatelic collecting.
Located in Georgetown 41 kilometers south of the capital of Guyana, its Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
Social development
Culture
Until its independence, Guyana was more culturally united to Suriname and French Guiana than to the rest of South America. Guyana was populated by settlers from the Indian subcontinent (which has made it possible for the country to speak Urdu, Hindi and Tamil), black Africans and some Europeans, especially from Great Britain. These various ethnic groups have remained quite differentiated, and today each group has its own lifestyle and culture, although the ties of union promoted by nationalist groups tend to merge.
Languages
According to andyeducation, English is the only official language of Guyana and is used, for example, in its schools. In addition, the Caribbean languages are used (Akawaio, Wai-Wai, Arawak and Macushi) that are spoken by a small indigenous minority, while the Creole of Guyana or Guyanese Creole (English based on a Creole with syntax from the countries of Africa and the India, whose grammar is not standardized) is widely spoken. On the other hand, a quirk of Guyanese English, particularly in the lower classes, is the fact that English pronouns are almost completely interchangeable.
Religion
Religion also establishes a dividing line between the population. According to the breakdown of the religions of Guyana based on the 2002 census, Christians represent 57% of the population (of which 16.9% are Pentecostals; 8.1% Roman Catholic; Anglican 6.9%; 5 % of Seventh-day Adventists and 20% of other Christian denominations); 23.4% are Hindus; 7.3% Muslim; 0.5% Rastafarians; 0.1% Baha’is; 2.2% other religions; and 4.3% without religion. The majority of Guyana’s Christians are either Protestant or Roman Catholic and include a combination of all races. Christians, predominantly those attached to the Church of England, are of African ethnicity.
The Indian community that arrived in the country at the beginning of the 19th century professes Hinduism for the most part, although there is a percentage of Indo-Guyanese who adhere to Islam along with some Afro-Guyanese.
Sports
The most popular sport in the country, as in many ex-British colonies, is cricket, Guyana being part of the West Indies team, which participates in the cricket world cup that takes place every 4 years; other sports practiced are softball and soccer, and to a lesser extent netball, rounders, tennis, basketball, table tennis, boxing, squash, among others.
Demography
The country’s population (between 760,000 and 780,000 residents) is divided into three main groups: · Indians or Indo-Guyanese (about 50%) living in rural areas · Africans or Afro-Guyanese (between 36 and 43%) residents in urban centers · And Amerindians (between 4 and 7%), residents of the interior areas. The Chinese and European population (mainly Portuguese and British) make up 2%. 90% of the population lives in the coastal zone, where the population density reaches 115 residents per km².
There is great tension between the Indian and African communities, which is reflected in the political sphere (where the two main political parties are uni-racial). Emigration has been a persistent problem in the country’s history, with an estimated 500,000 number of nationals living outside the country. Since independence, more than 10,000 citizens a year have settled in the United States. Likewise, Canada, the United Kingdom and other English-speaking Caribbean countries have been the destination of these emigrants.
