About Guyana

Explore this Guyana map to learn everything you want to know about this country. Learn about Guyana location on the world map, official symbol, flag, geography, climate, postal/area/zip codes, time zones, etc. Check out Guyana history, significant states, provinces/districts, & cities, most popular travel destinations and attractions, the capital city’s location, facts and trivia, and many more.

Surrounded with excellent natural beauty, the location of Guyana gives a splendid view to the turbulent past of the bygone era, which is still retained in full ethnicity.
As you visit this land experience the Caribbean traditions well blended with the South American culture.

Guyana stretches a long way from the Atlantic shoreline to the dense area of the equatorial forests where one may come across well preserved colonial buildings to boulevards treelines. The wooden architecture in Guyana is well preserved as one must not miss out viewing St. George’s Cathedral, which is known as the tallest wooden building within the region. Guyana is the third smallest country in the southern American mainland that can be well compared to the Great Britain as far as size is concerned.

Location of Guyana

Guyana is nestled within the Caribbean South America mainland area, lying towards the northern part of the equator. Guyana is engulfed by Suriname towards the eastern front, Brazil towards the south and southwestern front and Venezuela from the western front.

Physical Map of Guyana

The regions of Guyana can be categorized into five distinct areas namely:

•  The lush swampy plains placed along the Atlantic coast, covered by most of the inhabitants.

•  The dusty white sand belt rich in mineral deposits,

•  The dense rainforest located in the midst of the country,

•  The verdant flat savannah grasslands along the southern region, and

•  The interior highlands composed of high mountains rises that ascend to the Brazilian border.

Some of the important Mountains that are nestled in this region are Mount Ayanganna, Mount Roraima that is known as the highest peak of the province placed along the Brazil-Guyana-Venezuela tripoint area.

One may even come across sharp artificial slopes and waterfalls, like the Kaieteur Falls. The Rupununi savannah is placed along the midst of the Rupununi River along its border area, just close to the Brazil country, which is located in the southern region of the Kanuku Mountains.

Being a part of the West Indies of Caricom Treaty, one may view three major rivers passing through the province from the western region to the eastern front. They are:

• The Essequibo
• The Demerara, and
• The Berbice

Climate of Guyana

The climatic condition of Guyana is tropical in its nature where the area is subjected to the trade winds of the northeast, that make the climate relatively hotter and humid. It is during this period, the temperature ascends to literally 30-32 degree C at the daytime while the night witnesses a fall in temperature to about 20-22 degree C. During the noontime the sea breezes respites the local residents from the thriving warm climate.

The best time to tour to this location is during the months of July to November. Guyana is prone to the Caribbean hurricanes, which has never affected the region till date.

July is the hottest month in the Georgetown wherein the temperature descends to about 24°C whereas the month of February being the coolest of all seasons with about 29°C to 23°C.

It is the northwest region of the Guyana that experiences heavy rainfall while the southeast regions are comparatively lighter as far as down pouring is concerned. The Venezuelan border is subjected to average down pouring with about 250 centimeter while the eastern region of New Amsterdam is showered with 200 centimetres while the southern region of Rupununi Savannah witnesses about 150 centimetres. The area is subjected to frequent showering round the year, accompanied with heavy thunderstorms. The mountainous region in the northeastern side witnesses rainfall of about 350 centimeters annually. The coastal areas are showered with slight amount of down pouring during the season of November to January.

Flora and Fauna of Guyana

Guyana is vibrant with abundant and unique species of plant and animal kingdom. The coastal region of Guyana is covered with swampy mangrove plantation while the inland is covered with the vast expanses of equatorial forests. Don’t miss out the National Flower of the region that is the Giant Victoria Amazonica, popularly known as the Regia water lily, which was named after the Queen Victoria, was found once near the Berbice River. This flower could measure to a size of about 10 to 12 inches in diameter.

Guyana supports about 25,000 species of floras especially concentrating on the family of diverse orchids. One can sight brilliant assortments of sober lilacs hued in bright red and luminous yellow. Catch up with the wonderful scent of the Cattleya violacea, a Fuchsia orchid that spreads along its fragrance all around the rainforest. Filled with about 5,000 different variety of medicinal plant along with Lianas and Vines, which is generally used for constructing beautiful furniture’s.

Watch out giant Jaguar roaming freely within the wide-open spaces of the forestland, or witness fishes like Giant River Otter, Black Caiman and Arapaima, that meander along the river waters. There are about 700 species of birds thriving in the region like Harpy Eagle and Guianan Cock of the Rock that can be sighted here.

The native birds of the region are flycatchers, tanagers, gulls, egrets, parrots and hummingbirds. Catch up with the finches and quails along the Savannahs. Within the Kunuku Mountains literally 150 mammal species thrive especially the Giant otter, the Harpy eagle (the largest bird), the Arapaima (the largest freshwater fish). The local rainforest are a home to birds like Toco Toucan, Cock-of the rock and King vulture.

Visit the Shell Beach near the northwest coastal region of Guyana, which is a habitat to innumerable species of wildlife along with native turtles nurtured here.

People of Guyana

The nine aboriginal tribes living within the region of Guyana are as follows. These tribes are further separated into distinct linguistic groups namely the Arawakan, the Cariban and the Warrauan. The ethnic groups being:

The thriving religion within the area is Christians, Hindu, Muslims and others surviving beliefs. The local dialect spoken by the natives are English, Amerindian, Creole, Hindi and Urdu. Nearly 740,000 residents thrive in this region that are basically is influenced from the Indian, African, European and other natives.

Arts, Culture and Music of Guyana

Art: The local natives are experts in crafting wonderful paintings and handicrafts that includes works like models made of boats and planes, oil paintings, leather crafts, mahogany sculpture, soapstone, Amerindian pottery, calabash art, jewellery, wicker furniture and basketry. Art derived its artistic forms from the Amerindians, from where several artists originated like Stanley Greaves, Ronald Savory, Philip Moore and Aubrey Williams.

Culture: Participate in the Caribbean Festival of Creative Arts known as CARIFESTA where one may come across exhibition based on sculpture, painting, music, dance, drama, literature, craft, photography and folk art. The place is known for its spicy food, traditional folktales, and their indulgence in sport events. The cultural aspect of Guyana is very much similar and comparable to that of the Caribbean, because of which it is known as the Caribbean nation.

Music: Guyana has come up with the music that is based on American, Caribbean, Brazilian and other Latin rhythms. Terry Gajraj, Mark Holder, Eddy Grant, Dave Martins & the Trade winds, Aubrey Cummings and Nicky Porter are recognized as popular musicians of the region. Do participate in The Guyana Music Festival that has a major cultural impact on the local natives.

Guyana is famous for retaining music’s like Calypso, which was taken from the place of Trinidad while also coming up with a new genre of music named as the chutney music.

This music is satirical and humorous in its nature and is played during the celebration of Mashramani.

South Asians came up with the Indian music especially the folk ones that were accompanied with instruments like dhantal, tabla, tassa drums sitar, harmonium and dholak. This music was mainly based on bhajans and on filmy themes. The tan singing was widely accepted in the Indian community thriving in Guyana and Suriname,

Several popular Guyanese dance bands emerged in this location in the late 20 th century like Al Seales & His Washboard Swing Orchestra, BG Musicians Band, Harry Banks Orchestra, Bert Rogers & His Aristocrats Dance Orchestra and Mr. Gouveia’s Orchestra.

Flag of Guyana

The flag of Guyana is even called as The Golden Arrowhead, which was officially accepted during the month of 1966. Conceptualized by Dr. Whitney Smith, the flag is designed with five distinct colors that carry along a symbol of golden arrowhead. The colors are Green, White, Golden, Black, and Red. The color green describes the huge expanses of wooded forested area and the greenery attached to it. The color White denotes the water potential within the region. The color Golden denotes the mineral treasures hidden within the country. The Black color denotes the endurance and fortitude that the native people thrive on while the color red speaks about the vibrant and enthusiastic nature of the people.

Economy of Guyana

The economy of Guyana depends on the agricultural production mainly on the cultivation of sugar and rice that are reasonably exported. 90 percent of the population is engaged as laborers working as laborers within the region who thrive along the coastal plains. The country produces goods like sugar; Gold and bauxite that are further processed and sold within the market.

It was during the year 1970 where the economy saw a major decline with the rise in the price of imported oils and other petroleum products. Loans were not issued due to the uncompromised arrears and dues; the country was facing that later on was settled by the launch of Economic Recovery Program (ERP) by the government. This program regulated the international monetary policy and came up with a more flexible market space. The government improved the sectors by eradicating price controls, removed import limitations and thereby promoted foreign investments within the region.

• The commodities that are imported are manufactures, machinery, petroleum and food
• Exported commodities include names like sugar, gold, bauxite, alumina, rice, shrimp, molasses, rum and timber
• Industries running in this place are bauxite, sugar, rice milling, timber, fishing (shrimp), textiles, gold mining