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Country overview: 

Short name	GUYANA
ISO code	GY
FIPS code	GY
Language	English (en)
Time zone	-4
Capital	Georgetown

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, this territory was the British colony of British Guiana. It was locked in a dispute with Venezuela over possession of more than half of its area, the part to the west of the Essequibo River. The boundary was settled in 1904 at approximately its current position, although both Venezuela and Surinam still have claims. The country became independent on 1966-05-26, changing its name to Guyana at the same time.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Guyana, Britisk Guyana (obsolete)
2. Dutch: Guyana, Coöperatieve Republiek Guyana (formal)
3. English: Co-operative Republic of Guyana (formal), British Guiana (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Guyana
5. French: Guyana m
6. German: Guyana n
7. Icelandic: Gvæjana
8. Italian: Guyana f
9. Norwegian: Den kooperative republikk Guyana (formal) (Bokmål), Den kooperative republikken Guyana (formal) (Nynorsk), Guyana
10. Portuguese: Guiana, República f Co-operativa da Guiana f (formal)
11. Russian: Гвиана (obsolete), Кооперативная Республика Гайана (formal)
12. Spanish: Guyana, República f Cooperativa de Guyana f (formal), Guayana Inglesa (obsolete)
13. Swedish: Guyana
14. Turkish: Guyana Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

from native word guiana: land of waters, or possibly from native word for respectable.

Primary subdivisions: 

Guyana is divided into 10 administrative regions.

Region	HASC	Cen	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Formerly
Barima-Waini	GY.BA	1	GY10	24,275	20,339	7,853	Mabaruma	North West
Cuyuni-Mazaruni	GY.CU	7	GY11	17,597	47,213	18,229	Bartica	Mazaruni-Potaro (most)
Demerara-Mahaica	GY.DE	4	GY12	310,320	2,233	862	Paradise	EDem (part), WDem (part)
East Berbice-Corentyne	GY.EB	6	GY13	123,695	36,255	13,998	New Amsterdam	EBer (most), Rupununi (part)
Essequibo Islands-West Demerara	GY.ES	3	GY14	103,061	3,755	1,450	Vreed en Hoop	EssIs (most), WDem (part)
Mahaica-Berbice	GY.MA	5	GY15	52,428	4,170	1,610	Fort Wellington	WBer, EBer (part), WBer (part)
Pomeroon-Supenaam	GY.PM	2	GY16	49,253	6,195	2,392	Anna Regina	Ess (most), EssIs (part), NW (part)
Potaro-Siparuni	GY.PT	8	GY17	10,095	20,052	7,742	Mahdia	MazP (part), Rupununi (part)
Upper Demerara-Berbice	GY.UD	10	GY18	41,112	17,081	6,595	Linden	WDem (most); EBer, MazP, Rup (parts)
Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo	GY.UT	9	GY19	19,387	57,790	22,313	Lethem	Rupununi (part)
10 regions				751,223	215,083	83,044
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the region codes from the standard ISO 3166-2. Cen: Region numbers, as used by the census. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2002-09-15 census Formerly: shows the relationship between these regions and the administrative districts of 1958-70. I hope the abbreviations will be self-explanatory.

Further subdivisions:

See the Councils of Guyana page.

Territorial extent: 

Essequibo Islands-West Demerara includes islands in the mouth of the Essequibo River, such as Leguan and Wakenaam Islands.

The capital, Georgetown, is in Demerara-Mahaica region.

The UN LOCODE page  for Guyana lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

The following are rivers of Guyana: Barima, Berbice, Courantyne, Cuyuni, Demerara, Essequibo, Mahaica, Mazaruni, Pomeroon, Potaro, Rupununi, Siparuni, Takutu, and Waini.

Change history: 

In the colonial period, by an ordinance of 1838, British Guiana was divided into three counties, as shown here. (Essequibo corresponds approximately to the area in dispute with Venezuela.)

County	Population	Area (km.²)
Berbice	96,623	40,077
Demerara	220,639	12,432
Essequibo	58,439	156,749
3 counties	375,701	209,258
Population: 1946-04-09 census (source [5])

 

~1958: British Guiana reorganized into nine administrative districts:

District	FIPS	Pop-1960	Pop-1970	Capital	Formerly
East Berbice	GY01	115,511	132,468	New Amsterdam	Berbice
East Demerara	GY02	256,908	337,991	Enmore	Demerara
Essequibo	GY03	29,729	57,180	Suddie	Essequibo
Essequibo Islands	GY04	15,728		Enterprise	Essequibo
Mazaruni-Potaro	GY05	12,029	12,682	Bartica	Essequibo
North West	GY06	12,809	16,269	Mabaruma	Essequibo
Rupununi	GY07	10,031	14,192	Lethem	Essequibo, Berbice, tiny part of Demerara
West Berbice	GY08	26,524	50,757	Fort Wellington	Berbice
West Demerara	GY09	81,061	78,309	Vreed en Hoop	Demerara
Total		560,330	699,848
Pop-1960: 1960-04-07 census Pop-1970: 1970-04-07 census (Source [4]) Formerly: county or counties from which this district was formed

 

~1971: Guyana reorganized into six districts:

District	FIPS	Capital	Formerly
East Berbice-Corentyne	GY01	New Amsterdam	EBer (most), Rup (part)
East Demerara-West Coast Berbice	GY02	Mahaicony Village	EDem, WBer, EBer (part), MazP (part), WDem (most)
Mazaruni-Potaro	GY05	Matthews Ridge	MazP (most)
North West	GY06	Mabaruma	North West
Rupununi	GY07	Lethem	Rup (most)
West Demerara-Essequibo Coast	GY09	Anna Regina	Ess, EssIs, WDem (part)

 

1980: Guyana reorganized into 10 administrative regions, as listed in the main table.

Population history:

Region	1980-05-12	1991-05-12	2002-09-15
Barima-Waini	18,329	18,428	24,275
Cuyuni-Mazaruni	14,390	14,790	17,597
Demerara-Mahaica	317,475	296,924	310,320
East Berbice-Corentyne	152,386	142,541	123,695
Essequibo Islands-West Demerara	104,750	95,975	103,061
Mahaica-Berbice	53,898	51,280	52,428
Pomeroon-Supenaam	42,341	43,455	49,253
Potaro-Siparuni	4,485	5,615	10,095
Upper Demerara-Berbice	38,641	39,608	41,112
Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo	12,873	15,057	19,387
Total	759,567	723,673	751,223

Sources: 

1. [1] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
2. [2] University of Laval  web page (retrieved 2004-11-13).
3. [3] Census 2002, Bureau of Statistics (Guyana) (http://www.statisticsguyana.gov.gy/cen02.html, dead link, retrieved 2007-08-25).
4. [4] 1979 Demographic Yearbook , 31st Ed. Statistical Office, United Nations, New York, 1980 (retrieved 2011-12-28). Source [2] had populations rounded to the nearest 100. The population figures in the Demographic Yearbook matched them very well, except that East Demarara was split into East Demerara district and the municipality of Georgetown, and West Berbice was split into West Berbice district and the municipality of New Amsterdam.
5. [5] Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1951 edition.