Guyana

Guyana

AREA	214,969 sq km (83,000 sq miles).
POPULATION	838,000 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY	3.9 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Georgetown
CAPITAL POPULATION	200,000 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY	Guyana lies in the northeast of South America, bordered by Venezuela to the west, Surinam to the southeast and Brazil to the south. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The word 'Guiana' (the original spelling) means 'land of many waters' and the name was well chosen, for there are over 1600km (965 miles) of navigable rivers in the country. The interior is either high savannah uplands (such as those along the Venezuelan border, called the Rupununi, and the Kanaku Mountains in the far southwest), or thick, hilly jungle and forest, which occupy over 85% of the country's area. The narrow coastal belt contains the vast majority of the population, and produces the major cash crop, sugar, and the major subsistence crop, rice. One of the most spectacular sights to be seen in the interior is the towering Kaieteur Falls along the Potaro River, five times the height of Niagara. The country has 322km (206 miles) of coastline. More than 25% of the population lives in or near Georgetown.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Head of State: President Janet Jagan since 1997. Head of Government: Prime Minister Samuel A Hinds since 1997.
LANGUAGE	English is the official language but Creole, Hindi, Urdu and Amerindian are also spoken.
RELIGION	50% Christian, 33% Hindu, less than 10% Muslim.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 4.
ELECTRICITY	110 volts AC, 60Hz.

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