The legacy of British colonialism is reflected in the country's political administration, lingua franca and diverse population, which includes Indian, African, Indigenous, Chinese, Portuguese, other European, and various multiracial groups.

[25] Shortly after independence, Venezuela began to take diplomatic, economic, and military action against Guyana to enforce its territorial claim to the Essequibo region.

In 1978, a total of 918 people died at the Jonestown mass murder-suicide led by American cult leader Jim Jones at a remote settlement in northwest Guyana.

Granger refused to accept the results, but eventually five months later, Irfaan Ali of the People's Progressive Party/Civic was sworn in as the new president because of allegations of fraud and irregularities.

[citation needed] A referendum in neighbouring Venezuela was held in December 2023 on the annexation of the disputed Essequibo region, which lies entirely in the territory of Guyana.

At the mouth of the Essequibo are several large islands, including the 145 km (90 mi) wide Shell Beach along the northwest coast, which is also a major breeding area for sea turtles (mainly leatherbacks) and other wildlife.

Guyana's tropical climate, unique geology, and relatively undisturbed ecosystems support extensive areas of species-rich rain forests and natural habitats with high levels of endemism.

The reportedly clean, unpolluted waters of the Essequibo watershed support a remarkable diversity of fish and aquatic invertebrates, and are home to giant otters, capybaras, and several species of caimans.

[40] The main economic activities in Guyana are agriculture (rice and Demerara sugar), bauxite and gold mining, timber, seafood, minerals, crude oil and natural gas.

[41] The discovery of major crude oil reserves off the Atlantic coast has since made a large impact on Guyana's GDP since drilling began in 2019.

The earliest residents of Guyana employed a variety of agricultural practices for subsistence living but also had extensive networks of trade, dealing in items such as blow pipes, curare, cassava graters, and other essentials.

These trade networks were important even at the time of the earliest European contact, and Dutch traders were inclined to gift the local peoples in order to maintain successful settlements.

[48] After the initial rush to find gold in the New World waned, the Dutch found the climate to be suitable for growing sugar cane, converting large tracts of the Guyanese coast into plantations and supplying with labour from the Atlantic slave trade.

The country and economy were run by a small European planter elite[49] which continued on when the colonies of the territory were merged and the land was given over to the British Empire in 1814.

All large-scale industries such as foreign-owned bauxite mining (Reynolds Metals and Rio Tinto's Alcan) and sugar (GuySuCo) operations were taken over by the government.

However, the economy under nationalisation was plagued by problems; political instability leading to an exodus of skilled labour, inexperienced management, aging infrastructure.

[51] The Guyanese economy rebounded slightly and exhibited moderate economic growth after 1999, due to expansion in the agricultural and mining sectors, a more favourable atmosphere for business initiatives, a more realistic exchange rate, fairly low inflation, and the continued support of international organisations.

The large majority (about 90%) of Guyana's 744,000 people live along a narrow coastal strip that ranges from a width of 16 to 64 km (10 to 40 mi) inland and makes up approximately 10% of the nation's total land area.

The largest ethnic group is the Indo-Guyanese (also known as East Indians), the descendants of indentured labourers from India who make up 43.5% of the population, according to the 2002 census.

[56] Most Indo-Guyanese are descended from indentured labourers who migrated from North India, especially the Bhojpur and Awadh regions of the Hindi Belt in the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand.

[57] A significant minority of Indo-Guyanese are also descended from indentured migrants who came from the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh; these are the plurality ancestry in the East Berbice-Corentyne region.

Fees were removed, new schools were opened in rural areas, and the University of Guyana was established so students no longer were required to go abroad for tertiary education.

A World Bank assessment showed roughly 50% of teachers were "untrained, operated with inadequate teaching materials, and served children of parents with low levels of adult literacy".

Guyana also has an ongoing partnership with the United States Army to enhance the country's military readiness and capabilities to respond to security threats.

[93][94][95][96] The maritime[97][98] component of the territorial dispute with Suriname was arbitrated by the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, and a ruling was announced on 21 September 2007.

In 1962, Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt resuscitated Venezuela's claim to the disputed territory by declaring the 1899 arbitration award null and void.

[101] Venezuela calls this region "Zona en Reclamación" (Reclamation Zone) and Venezuelan maps of the national territory routinely include it, drawing it in with dashed lines.

[102] In 2023, a referendum was held in Venezuela which saw 95% of voters approve creating a new state in the disputed area with Guyana's President Irfaan Ali calling it a direct threat on the nation's sovereignty.

In August 1969 a patrol of the Guyana Defence Force found a survey camp and a partially completed airstrip inside the triangle, and documented evidence of the Surinamese intention to occupy the entire disputed area.

On 30 June 2014, Guyana signed a Model 1 agreement with the United States of America in relation to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).