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Guyana, officially the Co-operative
Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is a state on the northern coast of South
America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Discovered by
Europeans in 1498, Guyana has been struggled over for 500 years by the
Spanish, French, Dutch, and British. It is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland
South America. Guyana is also a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which has its secretariat
headquarters in Guyana's capital, Georgetown. Guyana achieved independence
from the United Kingdom in 1966.
Historically, the region known as "Guiana" (Land of Many Waters) was
the large shield landmass north of the Amazon River and East of the
Orinoco River. Five sub-regions were carved out of the landmass by
colonial powers in the late 17th and early 18th century: Spanish Guiana
(now eastern Venezuela), Portuguese Guiana (now northern Brazil),
British Guiana (Guyana), Dutch Guiana (Suriname), and the present French
overseas department of French
Guiana. Modern Guyana is bordered to the east by Suriname,
to the south and southwest by Brazil, to
the west by Venezuela, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean.
At 215,000 km2, Guyana is the third-smallest independent
state on the mainland of South America (after Uruguay
and Suriname). Its population is approximately 770,000. It is one of the
four non-Spanish-speaking territories on the
continent, along with the countries of Brazil (Portuguese), Suriname
(Dutch), and French
Guiana (French). |
