Missionaries to Guyana


Pray for :
  The Yankanas


About Guyana*   

  • Background:

    Originally a Dutch colony in the 17th century, by 1815 Guyana had become a British possession. The abolition of slavery led to black settlement of urban areas and the importation of indentured servants from India to work the sugar plantations. This ethnocultural divide has persisted and has led to turbulent politics. Guyana achieved independence from the UK in 1966, and since then it has been ruled mostly by socialist-oriented governments. In 1992, Cheddi JAGAN was elected president in what is considered the country's first free and fair election since independence. After his death five years later, his wife, Jane JAGAN, became president but resigned in 1999 due to poor health. Her successor, Bharrat JAGDEO, was reelected in 2001.

  • Location:

    Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean,
        between Suriname and Venezuela.

  • Natural Resources:

    bauxite, gold, diamonds, hardwood timber, shrimp, fish

  • Natural Hazards:

    flash floods are a constant threat during rainy seasons.

  • Area - comparative:

    Slightly smaller than Idaho.

  • Population:

    767,245 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.)

  • Government Type & Capital:

    Republic within the Commonwealth — Georgetown

  • Independence:

    26 May 1966 (from UK)

  • Ethnic groups:

    East Indian 50%, black 36%, Amerindian 7%, white, Chinese, and mixed 7%

  • Religions:

    Christian 50%, Hindu 35%, Muslim 10%, other 5%

  • Disputes - International:

    All of the area west of the Essequibo (river) is claimed by Venezuela preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before UNCLOS that Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into their waters; Suriname claims a triangle of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks arbitration under provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to resolve the long-standing dispute with Suriname over the axis of the territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters.


* Based on CIA-The World Factbook