Guyana, in full, Co-operative Republic of Guyana, republic on the northern coast of South America. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Suriname, on the south by Brazil, and on the west by Brazil and Venezuela. Guyana has an area of 214,969 sq km (83,000 sq mi), and its coastline is 459 km (285 mi) long. Formerly a British colony known as British Guiana, Guyana is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of nations that once formed the British Empire. Georgetown is its capital.

Although Guyana is a South American nation, it has more in common with the smaller islands of the West Indies, with which it shares certain cultural, historical, and economic characteristics. Like most of the smaller islands that dot the eastern Caribbean, Guyana was not settled by the Spanish and Portuguese. Guyana was originally a Dutch colony that came under British control in the early 18th century.

Guyana�s economy was traditionally dominated by sugar cultivation since the early 18th century. When settlers introduced sugar production, it brought dramatic changes in the population of Guyana. European colonists imported large numbers of African slaves to work the fields. Later, following the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, workers arrived from the Indian subcontinent to work as laborers on the plantations. By the end of the 20th century, Indians and Africans were the largest ethnic groups in Guyana.

In 1966, after more than 150 years of colonial rule, British Guiana achieved independence and adopted the name Guyana, a Native American word meaning �land of waters.� Since independence, political parties have formed along ethnic lines, and moderately left-wing governments have ruled Guyana. Afro-Guyanese dominated the government until the 1990s, when a political party associated with Guyanese of Indian descent gained control of the government.

Guyana can be divided into three major geographical regions. A belt of alluvial soil, varying in width from about 8 to 65 km (about 5 to 40 mi) and mostly below sea level, extends along the coast and is protected by a system of dams and dikes. To the south lies the dense forest area that makes up about four-fifths of the country. The forests extend into an interior highland region with a maximum elevation, atop Mount Roraima, of 2,875 m (9,432 ft). Some of the rivers form spectacular waterfalls, notably Kaieteur Falls (226 m/741 ft high), on the Potaro River, one of the highest single-drop waterfalls in the world. Beyond the forest lies a region of savanna. Several important rivers�the Essequibo, Demerara, Courantyne (Dutch, Corantijn), and Berbice�cross the country in a southern to northern direction. The rivers are navigable by oceangoing freighters only to about 100 to 160 km (about 60 to 100 mi) from the sea; farther inland, navigation is not possible because of rapids and falls.

Guyana has a tropical climate, with little seasonal temperature change. The annual rainfall (about 1,525 to 2,030 mm/about 60 to 80 in) on the coast occurs mainly from April to August and November to January. The savanna region receives some 1,525 mm (60 in) of rain annually, mainly from April to September. The climate of coastal Guyana is extremely mild for a low-lying tropical area because of the persistent trade winds blowing in off the Atlantic Ocean.

The important mineral deposits of Guyana include bauxite, manganese, gold, diamonds, and kaolin. Some petroleum is located offshore.

The plants and trees of Guyana are noted for their great size; the giant water lily is common. The dense forests contain excellent woods, such as greenheart and mora, for use in the lumber industry. The animal life is varied and includes deer, anteater, and two species of monkey. Among the birds are manakins, sugarbirds, and cotingas; the diversity of brilliantly colored birds and insects is considerable.

Slightly more than one-half of the total population of Guyana is made up of East Indians, whose ancestors came from the Indian subcontinent. Another 43 percent of the people are of black African descent or of mixed background. Approximately 2 percent are Native Americans. In addition, small numbers of Europeans and Chinese live in Guyana. About 90 percent of the people live along the coast, and 62 percent are classified as rural. About 57 percent of the people are Christians, most being Anglicans or Roman Catholics. The remainder are mainly Hindus (33 percent) or Muslims (9 percent). The official language is English; Hindi, Urdu, and Native American languages are also spoken.

Guyana�s diverse population results from its history as an agricultural colony. Native Americans were the indigenous inhabitants of the country. They have not been integrated into Guyanese society and live mainly in the interior as hunters and nomadic farmers. The Europeans imported Africans by the thousands in the 17th and 18th centuries to work on the sugar plantations as slave labor. Following emancipation in the 19th century, the Africans tended to move to the cities and to adopt European patterns of living. People of mixed origin form a distinct group in Guyana, maintaining closer social ties to the European community than to the Afro-Guyanese community.

Asians from the Indian subcontinent began to arrive in the 19th century, following the abolition of slavery, to work as indentured and contract laborers. They continued to arrive until 1917, when Britain outlawed indentured servitude in India. Thousands of Indians chose to remain in Guyana after their terms of employment ended. They primarily live in the rural districts as plantation workers and rice farmers, although some have moved to urban areas. A small but highly influential community of Indian business and professional people live in Georgetown. The Indians have tended to preserve their cultural identity and have maintained a deep interest in their homeland.

The Portuguese are the descendants of indentured laborers brought mainly from the island of Madeira in the 19th century. They did not work as agricultural laborers for long; instead, many became urban shopkeepers and merchants. The Portuguese have not preserved their native language. The Chinese also came to Guyana as indentured laborers in the 19th century. Many now own shops and are highly respected members of Guyanese society. The few English in Guyana are generally employed by the sugar firms or by the government.

Guyana�s various ethnic groups form distinct communities within the nation. This division extends into politics, where major political parties are often identified with specific ethnic groups. Despite the political importance of ethnic identifications, a common Guyanese culture has developed. The bulk of the people have had a common experience as plantation workers, and they have had little real contact with their ancestral homelands. There is also widespread belief that racial or ethnic origin should be unimportant in public life. There is broad tolerance of religious diversity. Many Indians, for example, accept baptism and membership in Christian churches without abandoning their participation in Hindu rituals.

The population of Guyana is 697,181 (2001 estimate), giving the country an overall population density of 3.2 persons per sq km (8.4 per sq mi). Georgetown, the capital and principal port, had a population (1985 estimate) of 200,000. Smaller population centers include the port of New Amsterdam (25,000) and the mining community of Linden (formerly called Mackenzie-Wismar-Christianborg; 35,000).

In the 1995 school year 100,300 pupils were enrolled in 422 elementary schools in Guyana. Secondary, technical, and teacher-training institutions had a total of 62,000 students. The country�s principal institution of higher education is the University of Guyana (1963), in Georgetown.

Until its independence, Guyana was tied culturally more closely to Suriname and French Guiana than to the rest of South America. Guyana was settled by East Indians, who still speak Urdu, Hindi, and Tamil dialects; black Africans; and a few Europeans, mostly from Britain. These various ethnic strains have remained fairly distinct, and today each group has its own style of life and culture, although the ties of nationhood tend to bind them together.

Immediately before independence in 1966, Guyana was in the early stages of developing its resources. The development continued under an economic plan drawn up by British, United States, and Canadian experts. Manufacturing, which was on a small scale in the late 1960s, was expanded in the 1970s, but in the late 1980s the economy of Guyana was dominated by agriculture and service industries. The national budget in 1996 included revenue of $247 million and expenditure of $287 million.

Agriculture accounts for 35 percent of the gross domestic product and employs 30 percent of the labor force. Sugar, its by-products, and rice account for most of the agricultural exports; 3 million metric tons of sugarcane and 600,000 metric tons of rice were produced in 2000. Coconuts, coffee, cacao, citrus fruits, corn, manioc, and other tropical fruits and vegetables are grown primarily for home consumption. Large areas of rough pasture exist in the interior savannas. Substantial numbers of cattle, hogs, sheep, and chickens are raised.

Cultivation is confined almost entirely to the narrow coastal strip of rich, alluvial soil. Agricultural expansion requires heavy expenditures for protection against flooding and for drainage and irrigation, because part of the strip is below the high-tide mark of the sea and rivers and because of the heavy seasonal rainfall. The government of Guyana is making efforts to increase the amount of land available for cultivation through reclamation projects.

In 1999 the timber harvest from Guyana�s extensive forests was 442,000 cubic meters (15.6 million cubic feet). Almost all of the harvest was made up of hardwoods, used mainly in construction, furniture-making, and as fuel. Fishing is concentrated along the Atlantic coast. The catch in 1997 was 57,409 metric tons. Shrimp are a valuable product.

Guyana is a major producer of bauxite; 3.3 million metric tons were mined in 1999. Manganese, gold, and diamonds are also produced.

Manufacturing in Guyana is limited to processing bauxite and to production of foodstuffs, beverages, construction materials, clothing, soap, and cigarettes.

In 1999 Guyana generated 455 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, 98 percent of which was produced in thermal facilities. The country has a great potential for producing hydroelectricity.

The Guyana dollar consists of 100 cents (178 Guyana dollars equal U.S.$1; 1999 average). The Bank of Guyana, established in 1965, is the central bank.

The chief exports of Guyana are sugar, bauxite, alumina, rum, rice, and timber. The principal imports are petroleum products, machinery, foodstuffs, tobacco, cotton fabrics, and footwear. In 1999 imports cost $551 million, and exports earned $522 million.

Guyana has 7,970 km (4,952 mi) of roads, most of which are near the coast. The country is served by about 110 km (about 70 mi) of railroad track. Guyana�s main seaports are Georgetown and New Amsterdam. The rivers provide an important means of access to the interior. The national airline is Guyana Airways, which provides domestic and international service. The main airport, Timehri International, is near Georgetown.

Regular telephone service exists in Guyana, although radio-telephone links are frequently the only efficient means of communication with the interior. The government operates broadcasting services. Guyana has 75 telephone mainlines, 498 radio receivers, and 55 television sets in use for every 1,000 inhabitants.

In 1999 Guyana�s labor force was made up of 370,613 people. More than 90,000 workers were members of labor unions in the mid-1980s.

Guyana is governed under a constitution adopted in 1980.

The head of state and chief executive of Guyana is a president, elected to a five-year term of office by the National Assembly. The president appoints a cabinet, headed by a prime minister.

Legislative power in Guyana is vested in the unicameral National Assembly, which is made up of 12 nonelected members and 53 members elected to five-year terms under a system of proportional representation.

The law of Guyana is based mostly on English common and statute law. The highest tribunal of the country is the Supreme Court of Judicature, which is divided into a court of appeal and a high court.

Guyana is divided into ten regions. Each region is governed by a council.

The People�s National Congress (founded 1957) held power from independence until 1992, when the People�s Progressive Party (1950) won a parliamentary majority.

The Guyana government provides social assistance, including old-age pensions and relief for the aged, the infirm, and destitute children; delinquency services; and community services. Public-health measures have eliminated malaria as a major problem.

The armed forces of Guyana are organized in one group, called the Guyana Defense Forces, which in 1999 had 1,600 members.

Spanish explorers first charted the territory that is now Guyana in 1499. In the 1620s the Dutch established a permanent and successful colony on an island in the Essequibo River. The English and French also founded settlements on the South American coast during the 1600s. All three nations claimed rights in the whole region extending from the Orinoco River to the Amazon River.

By the mid-18th century, Dutch settlers and traders had prevailed over rival Spanish and British expeditions. They formed three colonies in the region. During the 17th century, the Dutch penetrated well into the interior of Guyana and developed trade contacts with the Arawak- and Carib-speaking indigenous people. The Dutch concentrated on sugar cultivation, however, and in the first quarter of the 18th century they rapidly developed sugar plantations. Under the leadership of Laurens Storm Van's Gravesande, the Dutch commander from 1742 to 1772, the Dutch built sea defenses and drainage and irrigation systems in the coastal lowlands. Many English planters from Barbados also moved to the Dutch colony.

Following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the French occupied Holland. In 1795 the Dutch offered administration of the colonies to the British because they did not want the colonies to fall under the control of the French. The British officially took possession of the area from the Dutch in 1814. In 1831 the British merged the three Dutch colonies that had existed on the territory that is now Guyana, forming a single colony known as British Guiana.

The Dutch and British imported African slaves to work the sugar plantations. During the years of British rule, diseases introduced from Europe killed many Native Americans. An influx of European immigrants and African slaves reduced the Native American population to a tiny minority. Following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833, the British brought laborers from India to work the plantations. The resulting division of Guyana�s population into African and Indian ethnic groups had long-lasting effects on Guyana�s society.

Most of the former slaves established free villages on abandoned sugar plantations. They did not succeed in becoming independent farmers, but instead became dependent on wage labor. Gradually a class of black professionals developed. They sought a role in the political life of the colony. Some constitutional reforms were introduced in the late 19th century. The British governor and appointed members of the colonial legislature continued to dominate the government, but the legislature expanded to include a limited number of elected representatives.

Guyana received its first constitution under the British administration in 1928, and the vote was extended to women. However, the government continued to nominate some of the representatives in the colonial legislature. These representatives were given more power than those elected by the voters. Widespread unrest in Britain's Caribbean and West Indian territories led in 1938 to the appointment of a royal commission to investigate social and economic conditions. The commission recommended that the people be given a larger role in the government and administration of their territories. Progress toward self-government had to wait until after the end of World War II in 1945, however.

In 1953 Britain allowed limited self-government in Guyana. The People�s Progressive Party (PPP) was a multiracial nationalist party founded in 1950 by political activists Cheddi Jagan, who was of Indian descent, and Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, an Afro-Guyanese. The PPP won the election and formed a government under the leadership of Jagan. His government lasted only a few months before the British government, concerned over Jagan�s left-wing political beliefs, reimposed an appointed government.

In 1955 a conflict developed within the PPP between Burnham and Jagan. Burnham founded a new party known as the People�s National Congress (PNC). Support for the parties generally split along racial lines. The urban population, which was largely of African descent, supported the PNC. Rural voters, who were mainly of Indian descent, backed the PPP.

In 1961 Guyana achieved full internal self-government, and the People�s Progressive Party (PPP), under the leadership of Jagan, gained a majority in the legislative assembly. In 1962 Jagan introduced a program of severe economic austerity that caused violent riots and a general strike. British troops were called in to restore order in February 1962 and again in 1963. In 1963 the disturbances took on racial overtones; people of African descent clashed with the Indian supporters of Jagan. Calm was restored, but the nation was left on the brink of economic chaos.

Following constitutional conferences between Guyana and Britain in 1962 and 1963, elections were held in late 1964. The PPP again received the most votes, but it failed to gain a majority. The British government thereupon called on Burnham, leader of the minority People�s National Congress (PNC), to form a coalition government.

In 1965 the British Guiana Independence Conference met in London, England, and a new constitution was approved. On May 26, 1966, Guyana was declared an independent nation. It joined the United Nations in 1966. Guyana became a charter member of the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) in 1968. Elections that year confirmed Burnham in office. On February 23, 1970, Guyana was proclaimed a republic.

Burnham moved to establish government control over most of the economy. In 1971 the government nationalized the Guyanese holdings of the Canadian multinational corporation Alcan Aluminum. In 1974 it took over the properties of the U.S.-owned Reynolds Metals Company, and in 1976 the government also nationalized sugar companies, chief among them the giant British firm Booker McConnell.

In the early 1970s Guyana established diplomatic relations with China and several other Communist nations. In the economic sphere, an investment plan was adopted in 1973, calling for expenditure of $1.15 billion by 1976. The country aimed to be self-sufficient in agriculture and to develop its oil resources. It also wanted to have a greater voice in the mining of its bauxite deposits and in controlling the profits from them. The government assumed control of all foreign trade in 1974.

In 1973 elections to the National Assembly gave a large majority to the PNC. However, fraud and violence were so flagrant that the PPP refused to take its allotted minority seats. The PPP ended its boycott of the assembly in 1976 to show support for Burnham's seizure of foreign-owned companies.

In the mid-1970s the Burnham government welcomed a number of U.S. religious cults to Guyana. This brought the country international notoriety in 1978, when Guyana was the scene of the Jonestown mass suicide and murder. More than 900 members of a religious cult, primarily U.S. citizens, took poison on orders of their leader, James Warren (�Jim�) Jones, and died.

Starting in the late 1970s, the economic condition of Guyana began to deteriorate steadily. As world demand fell for its main exports, bauxite and sugar, the country was unable to pay for the imported goods it needed to maintain its already low standard of living. Inflation and shortages led to repeated strikes, which the government repressed.

In 1978 the term of the National Assembly was extended for a year beyond its five-year limit in anticipation of a new constitution; it was extended again in 1979. After the new socialist constitution was put into effect in 1980, Prime Minister Burnham was elected president and given most state powers. The PNC retained its overwhelming majority in the assembly, but an international team of observers concluded that the PNC had rigged the election. Burnham governed until his death in 1985; Desmond Hoyte succeeded him. Elections that same year confirmed PNC control of the assembly and Hoyte as president. Hoyte remained in office until 1992, when, in an internationally supervised election, Jagan and the PPP returned to power.

Jagan died in office in March 1997. His widow, Janet Jagan, who was born in the United States, assumed leadership of the PPP. She won election as president in December 1997 after the PPP won 55 percent of the vote. The PNC, which won only 40 percent of the vote, claimed that Jagan�s victory was the result of election fraud. Sporadic outbreaks of political rioting followed the election, and members of the PNC boycotted the National Assembly, refusing to take their seats.

Representatives from a number of Caribbean nations conducted an audit of the election and released their results in June 1998. Their report concluded that the election was conducted fairly. The PNC continued to protest against the Jagan government, however. Hoyte charged the government with corruption and discrimination against Afro-Guyanese citizens. The economy of Guyana declined during 1998, partly as a result of the political unrest. Nervous foreign investors were reluctant to keep their money in Guyanese businesses, and a slowdown in the world economy resulted in lower prices for many of Guyana�s major exports.

In June and July 1998 several weeks of rioting took place in Georgetown. In response, the government declared a state of emergency in the capital. Shortly thereafter, the PPP and the PNC worked out a compromise in which the PNC ended its boycott of the National Assembly. Talks aimed at settling the dispute stalled in early 1999 when the PNC accused Jagan�s government of negotiating in bad faith. In August 1999 Jagan resigned, citing health problems. She was succeeded by Bharrat Jagdeo, an economist who had served as finance minister in Jagan�s cabinet. The PNC refused to recognize Jagdeo�s administration.