Guyana, previously known as British Guiana, is a state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana is a former colony of the British, Dutch, French and for 200 years, the Spanish. It is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America. Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966 and became a Republic on 23 February 1970.
Historically, the region known as “Guiana” or “Guayana” was the large shield of landmass north of the Amazon River and East of the Orinoco River, also known as the “Land of many waters”. It 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.
The present population of Guyana is racially and ethnically heterogeneous, composed chiefly of the descendants of immigrants who came to the country as either enslaved or indentured labourers from Africa and India. The population’s ethnicity includes India, Africa, Europe, China, and Aboriginal.
At 215,000 km, Guyana is the third-smallest independent state on the mainland of South America.
I am sitting in Pearson International, waiting to board Caribbean Airline flight 601 to Georgetown, Guyana. I am the only white person on this flight, a fact that strikes me as somewhat ironic, given that I am traveling on a British passport. This tells me two things:
1) Guyana is not a tourist destination.
2) Guyana is not an aid destination.
Otherwise, what I know about Guyana, is not much.
