Guyana
Study, Work, Volunteer and Travel in Guyana
Guyana, or in its conventional long form Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is the third smallest independent state in South America, next to Uruguay and Suriname. It is surrounded by the countries Venezuela on the west, Brazil on the southwest, Suriname on the east and the Atlantic Ocean on the north.
Formerly known as British Guiana, Guyana has been a part of 5 sub-regions which were colonized by different European groups, which are Spanish Guiana (now eastern Venezuela), Dutch Guiana (now Suriname), Portuguese Guiana (now northern Brazil), French Guiana and British Guiana (now Guyana).
The country of Guyana is a part of the CARICOM or the Caribbean Community which is an organization composed of 15 Caribbean nations and dependencies. Together with Guyana, other members of the organization like Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela attend to their headquarters at Guyana’s capital, Georgetown. They aim to help each other out in development planning and policy making, as well as making special projects for its members which are less developed. Aside from that, they have been running a single market for its members – Caricom Single Market, and have been handling regional trade disputes.
The people of Guyana or Guyanese have English as their national and official language, though they also practice speaking in many other different languages as they have been influenced by a lot of colonizers and migrating groups.
The name Guyana is derived from the Taino term Guiana meaning “land of fast-flowing waters” but is more popularly known as “The Land of Waters.”
