GUYANA

Guyana, officially named the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is the only nation state of the Commonwealth of Nations on the mainland of South America. Guyana lies north of the equator, in the tropics, and is located on the Atlantic Ocean. Guyana is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and southwest by Brazil and to the west by Venezuela. It is the third smallest country on the mainland of South America. Culturally it is more associated with the Caribbean than with Latin America and is the only English-speaking country in South America.

MISSIONARIES:

HISTORY:

When the first Europeans arrived in the area around 1500, Guyana was inhabited by the Arawak and Carib tribes of American Indians. Although Guyana was first sighted by Christopher Columbus during his third voyage (in 1498), it was not settled by Europeans until the Dutch in 1616, who established three separate colonies; Essequibo (1616), Berbice (1627), and Demerara (1752).

The British assumed control in the late eighteenth century and the Dutch formally ceded the area in 1814. In 1831 the three separate colonies became a single British colony known as British Guiana.
Escaped enslaved people formed their own settlements known as Maroon communities, but with the abolition of slavery in 1834 many of the former enslaved began to settle in urban areas. Indentured laborers from modern day Portugal (1834), Germany (first in 1835), Ireland (1836), Scotland (1837), Malta (1839), China and India (beginning in 1838) were imported to work on the sugar plantations.

RELIGION:

The major religions in Guyana include Christianity, comprising 41.6% of the population, Hinduism at 28.8%, Islam at 9%, Baha'i Faith at 7% and other minor different faiths at 15.3%. Most Guyanese Christians are Protestants and include a mix of all races. Hinduism is dominated by the Indians who came to the country in the early 1800s, while Islam varies between Afro-Guyanese and Indian-Guyanese.