32 Facts About Guyana

1.

Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters".

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2.

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.

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3.

Guyana'storically dominated by the Lokono and Kalina tribes, Guyana was colonised by the Dutch before coming under British control in the late 18th century.

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4.

Guyana is the only South American nation in which English is the official language.

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5.

Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom as a dominion on 26 May 1966 and became a republic on 23 February 1970, remaining a member of the Commonwealth.

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6.

Guyana has one of the largest unspoiled rainforests in South America, some parts of which are almost inaccessible by humans.

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7.

The rich natural history of Guyana was described by early explorers Sir Walter Raleigh and Charles Waterton and later by naturalists Sir David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell.

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8.

In 2012, Guyana received a $45 million reward from Norway for its rainforest protection efforts.

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9.

Guyana is home to more than 900 species of birds; 225 species of mammals; 880 species of reptiles and more than 6, 500 different species of plants.

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10.

Guyana has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world.

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11.

Guyana is home to six ecoregions: Guayanan Highlands moist forests, Guianan moist forests, Orinoco Delta swamp forests, Tepuis, Guianan savanna, and Guianan mangroves.

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12.

Southern Guyana is host to some of the most pristine expanses of evergreen forests in the northern part of South America.

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13.

Main economic activities in Guyana are agriculture, bauxite and gold mining, timber, shrimp fishing and minerals.

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14.

Guyana held huge amounts of debt which have been written off through various international agencies.

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15.

Present population of Guyana is racially and ethnically heterogeneous, with ethnic groups originating from India, Africa, Europe and China, as well as indigenous or aboriginal peoples.

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16.

English is the official language of Guyana and is used for education, government, media, and services.

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17.

Religion is an important aspect of identity in Guyana and reflects the various external influences of colonialism and immigrant groups.

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18.

Politics of Guyana takes place in a framework of a Parliamentary representative democratic republic, in which the President of Guyana is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system.

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19.

Public procurement in Guyana is overseen by the Public Procurement Commission, appointed under the Public Procurement Commission Act 2003.

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20.

These laws can be difficult to alter, as Guyana's Constitution protects laws inherited from the British Empire from constitutional review.

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21.

Guyana is in border disputes with both Suriname, which claims the area east of the left bank of the Corentyne River and the New River in southwestern Suriname, and Venezuela which claims the land west of the Essequibo River, once the Dutch colony of Essequibo as part of Venezuela's Guayana Essequiba.

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22.

Specific small disputed areas involving Guyana are Ankoko Island with Venezuela; Corentyne River with Suriname; and Tigri Area or New River Triangle with Suriname.

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23.

At a CARICOM Meeting, representatives of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana respectively signed The Double Taxation Relief Treaty 1994 on 19 August 1994.

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24.

On 30 June 2014, Guyana signed a Model 1 agreement with the United States of America in relation to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

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25.

Electricity sector in Guyana is dominated by Guyana Power and Light, the state-owned vertically integrated utility.

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26.

Education in Guyana was primarily introduced and operated by missionizing Christian denominations.

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27.

The wealthy planter elite often sent their children for education abroad in England, but as schools improved in Guyana, they modelled after the former British education system.

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28.

Fees were removed, new schools were opened in rural areas, and the University of Guyana was established so students no longer were required to go abroad for tertiary education.

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29.

Guyana's literacy was one of the highest in the Caribbean, by estimated literacy rate of 96 per cent in 1990.

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30.

Guyana's culture is very similar to that of the English-speaking Caribbean, and has historically been tied to the English-speaking Caribbean as part of the British Empire when it became a possession in the nineteenth century.

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31.

Guyana played host to international cricket matches as part of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

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32.

Guyana featured a beach volleyball team at the 2019 South American Beach Games.

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