The Environment, British Colonialism, and Guyana

Introduction

When you type in to any search box on any reference website such as Google or Bing on the country Guyana , the only information that is in the search results are about the Jonestown Massacre. That is not what Guyana is all about. The nation of Guyana is located in South America. A former colony of Great Britain, it was called British Guiana. Guyana gained its independence on May 26th , 1966 and it became known as the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana. It is a sovereign state that is located on the northern coast of South America. Guyana borders Venezuela to the west, Suriname to the east and to the south and south west it borders Brazil. Guyana is the only country in South America where English is the first language. It is also a member of the Caribbean Community known as CARICOM, which headquarters is located in Guyana’s capital city, Georgetown. Before Guyana gained its independence , the region was known as “ Guiana” which was also combined with Dutch Guiana( Suriname) and French Guiana. The historical meaning of Guyana does have its connection to the environment, it means the “ land of many waters”.

Today the four main environmental issues that plague Guyana is extremely important to the survival of this country. These issues are forestry, gold mining , agriculture and the urban environment. Guyana’s environment is divided into fifteen habitats they are coastal, marine, littoral., estuarine plastron, mangrove, riverine, lacustrine, swamp, savanna, white sand forest, brown sand forest, montane, cloud forest, moist lowland and dry evergreen scrub forests. The majority of Guyana is covered by forest and home to many diverse species. As of today, Guyana is mostly known for the Jonestown massacre that occurred in th...

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