Q 01/05

What is the capital and largest city of Guyana?

A) Georgetown

B) Linden

C) Paramaribo

D) New Amsterdam

Answer · why

A) Georgetown

The capital sits at the mouth of the Demerara River, partly below high-tide level and protected by a long seawall.

Q 02/05

Guyana is the only country in mainland South America with which official language?

A) Dutch

B) English

C) French

D) Portuguese

Answer · why

B) English

Most people actually speak Guyanese Creole day to day, and the country is treated culturally as part of the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Q 03/05

The name "Guyana" comes from an Indigenous Amerindian word meaning what?

A) Land of many waters

B) Place of the jaguar

C) Mouth of the great river

D) Green mountains

Answer · why

A) Land of many waters

The name once covered a much larger region including Suriname, French Guiana and parts of Venezuela and Brazil.

Q 04/05

Which European power was the first to establish colonies in what is now Guyana?

A) The Dutch

B) The British

C) The Portuguese

D) The Spanish

Answer · why

A) The Dutch

Pomeroon, Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara were all Dutch foundations before Britain took control in 1796.

Q 05/05

In which year did Britain merge its three former Dutch colonies into the single colony of British Guiana?

A) 1822

B) 1802

C) 1831

D) 1814

Answer · why

C) 1831

The name lasted until independence 135 years later; Britain had formally acquired the territories under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814.