Yearbook 1999
Guyana. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Guyana. 78-year-old President Janet Jagan resigned on August 11 for health reasons and was replaced by his Finance Minister and party mate, the only 35-year-old Bharrat Jagdeo. In October, almost 100 days after the agreement that governed the border between the countries, the Venezuelan government made demands on the 160,000 km 2 the large Esequibo area (corresponding to two-thirds of Guyana’s surface area), which has been a subject of dispute between the countries throughout the century. The immediate reason was that Guyana partly plans to build a satellite launch ramp there, and partly has granted concessions to three oil companies in the border waters, one of which has operated within Venezuela’s territorial border. Venezuela’s Foreign Minister pointed out that the 1966 agreement stipulated that no measures should be taken that changed the status quo without reciprocal negotiations. Venezuela is likely to seek financial compensation rather than territorial demands.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of GUY which stands for Guyana and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
Physical characteristics
Guyana is a state in South America, between the Atlantic to the North, Suriname to the E, Brazil to the S, Venezuela and Brazil to the West.
The territory is largely flat, with large alluvial surfaces along the coastal strip, which is followed inland by a vast hilly platform, surrounded to the West and S by an area of high lands. With the variation of the nature of the rocks, different shapes appear: the Guiana Massif has pointed quartzite ridges, small lava hills with a flattened top, tabular sandstone formations (Serra Pacaraima, which culminate in Mount Roraima at 2772 m) and above all granite reliefs dating back to various eras. The flat coastal surfaces, on the other hand, were formed by the accumulation of alluvial deposits on arenaceous sediments of the Tertiary sector: along the coast the low lands, bordered by ancient coastal strips, mainly offer fertile clayey soils; further inland, however, large tracts of land (marine or detrital sands, poor and made up of gray earth) are covered by savannas. Guyana benefits from very extensive coastal plains thanks, above all, to the constitution of the polders by the Dutch and English settlers. The structure of the relief, with the tabular formations ending in a step, means that the rivers and their tributaries, numerous and rich in water, have their course interrupted by rapids and waterfalls; the major waterways are the Essequibo, which runs along the Guyana from S to N, Georgetown, the Cuyuni, the Rupunumi and the Courantyne. The climate is hot and humid and the temperature on the coast maintains an average of 26 ° C; the abundant rains (over 2500 mm per year) are distributed in two seasons, one from mid-April to mid-August, the other from mid-November to the end of January; on the internal reliefs the dry season is accentuated.
