With 83,000 square miles in area and referred to as the land of many waters, Guyana, as opposed to Suriname or Dutch Guyana, or French Guyana is the only English Speaking country on the South American continent.

The country was first discovered by European explorers at the very end of the 16th century, and it was the Dutch who subsequently began to build permanent settlements here in 1621. Shortly thereafter, African slaves arrived in this new colony. Over the next few centuries, Guyana history was punctuated by battles fought and won, possessions lost and regained, as the Spanish, French, Dutch and British wrangled for centuries to own this land.