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Guyana is a state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Discovered by Europeans in 1498, Guyana's past is punctuated by battles fought and won, possessions lost and regained as the Spanish, French, Dutch and British wrangled for centuries to own the land. It is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America. Guyana is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and southwest by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean.

Historically, the region known as "Guiana" (Land of Many Waters) was comprised of the large shield landmass north of the Amazon River and East of the Orinoco River. Five sub-regions were carved out of the landmass by colonial powers in the late 17th and early 18th century; Spanish Guiana (now eastern Venezuela), Portuguese Guiana (now northern Brazil), British Guiana (Guyana), Dutch Guiana (Suriname) and the present French overseas department of French Guiana, Guyana achieved independence from Great Britain in 1966. At 215,000 km², Guyana is the third-smallest independent state on the mainland of South America (after Uruguay, Suriname). Its population is approximately 770,000. It is one of the five non-Spanish-speaking territories on the continent, along with the countries of Brazil (Portuguese), Suriname (Dutch), French Guiana (French) and the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands (English). Georgetown, Guyana's capital is the seat of Secretariat of the Caribbean Community Caricom.