Guyana

III

People

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 African and European background. Approximately 4 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 61 percent live in rural areas.

The population of Guyana is 769,095 (2007 estimate), giving the country an overall population density of 3.9 persons per sq km (10.1 per sq mi). Georgetown, the capital and principal port, had a population (1999 estimate) of 275,000. Smaller population centers include the port of New Amsterdam (18,000 (1991 estimate)) and the mining community of Linden (formerly called Mackenzie-Wismar-Christianborg; 30,000 (2000 estimate)).

About 50 percent of Guyana’s people are Christians, with Protestants—divided among a number of congregations—making up the majority. There are also large numbers of Anglican and Roman Catholics. Hindus make up 33 percent of the country’s population and Muslims 9 percent. The official language of Guyana is English, but it is spoken as a second language by most of the people. Nearly all the people speak Guyanese Creole English, an English-based creole. Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and several Native American languages are also spoken.

Native Americans were the original inhabitants of the country. They have not been integrated into Guyanese society and live mainly in the interior as hunters and nomadic farmers. Guyana’s diverse population results from its history as an agricultural colony. The European settlers 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 African and European ancestry form a distinct group in Guyana, maintaining closer social ties to the European community than to the African Guyanese community.

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Asians from the Indian subcontinent began to arrive in the 19th century, following the abolition of slavery in Guyana, to work as indentured and contract laborers. They continued to arrive until 1917, when Britain outlawed indentured servitude. Thousands of Indians chose to remain in Guyana after their terms of employment ended. Many 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.

Guyana’s Portuguese inhabitants 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; many became urban shopkeepers and merchants. Guyanese of Portuguese descent have not preserved their native language. Indentured laborers also came to Guyana from China in the 19th century. Many Guyanese of Chinese ancestry now own shops. The few British inhabitants of 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 are descendents of plantation workers and have had little 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.

A

Education

In the 1998–1999 school year 107,200 pupils were enrolled in 422 elementary schools in Guyana. Secondary, technical, and teacher-training institutions had a total of 66,500 students. The country’s principal institution of higher education is the University of Guyana, founded in 1963 in Georgetown. Education is valued as a means of social mobility. In 2005 Guyana had a literacy rate of 99 percent, one of the highest in Latin America.

B

Culture

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.

IV

Economy

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 early 2000s the economy of Guyana was dominated by agriculture, mining, and service industries. The country had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $787 million in 2005. The national budget in 1996 included revenue of $247 million and expenditure of $287 million.

A

Agriculture

Agriculture accounts for 31 percent of GDP and employs 28 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 501,500 metric tons of rice were produced in 2005. Cultivation of sugarcane and rice is confined primarily to the narrow coastal strip of rich, alluvial soil. 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 savanna. Substantial numbers of cattle, hogs, sheep, and chickens are raised.

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