The Americas

Modern Guyana
AD 1966 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1966-2026), & Cooperative Republic of Guyana (1970-On)

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Located at the 'top' of South America, Guyana borders Venezuela to its west, Barbados to the north across the Gulf of Mexico, Suriname to the east, and Brazil to the south. The south-eastern corner of the country is disputed territory. Its capital is Georgetown on the Atlantic Ocean coast but about ninety percent of the country is covered in rainforest.

The Guiana highlands (with an 'i' not a 'y') occupy the north-western section of the country. The Kanuku mountains form a partial barrier to the southernmost quarter of the country, with the Rupununi savannah lying between this and the Acarai mountains which form Guyana's southern border. The River Courantyne forms the country's eastern border with Suriname.

Prior to 1966, Guyana was a British colony by the name of British Guiana. It achieved independence on 26 May 1966, retaining the British monarchy as its head of state and with a local governor-general to represent the crown. A shift to a republic took place in 1970, officially becoming the 'Cooperative Republic of Guyana'.

The name 'Guyana' is derived 'The Guianas', a colonial description for a larger region which included today's Guyana (British Guiana), Suriname (Dutch Guiana), French Guiana, the 'Guayana Region' in Venezuela (Spanish Guiana), and Amapá in Brazil (Portuguese Guiana). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name 'Guyana' originates in an indigenous Amerindian language with a meaning of 'land of many waters'.

In Georgetown, as the world's leading fossil fuel companies compete for local oil reserves which were discovered in 2015, many residents saw few benefits even ten years later. Guyana as a whole feels ambivalent about oil, as the wealth which is generated by fossil fuels tends to remain concentrated amongst a few.

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(Information by Peter Kessler and the John De Cleene Archive, with additional information from Anglo-American Rivalries and the Venezuela Crisis of 1895, R A Humphreys (Presidential Address to the Royal Historical Society, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 17, 1966), from Colonial Latin America, Mark A Burkholder & Lyman L Johnson (Tenth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2018), from Historical Atlas of the World, R R Palmer (Ed, Chicago, 1963), from Times Atlas of World History (Maplewood, New Jersey, 1979), from Washington Post (7 March 1997 & 8 August 1999), and from External Links: Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Guyana (Flags of the World), and Guyana (Rulers.org), and Guyana (Zárate's Political Collections (ZPC)), and Guyanan (Oxford English Dictionary), and Guyana found huge oil reserves (The Guardian), and Tensions rise in Guyana (The Guardian), and Opposition leader arrested (The Guardian), and Into the heart of darkness (CNN Travel).)

1966

British governor-general (May-Dec) ex-British Guiana colony.

1966

Shortly after Guyana achieves independence, Venezuela begins to take diplomatic, economic, and military action to enforce its territorial claim to the Essequibo region.

Venezuela claimed that an 1890s boundaries commission cheated it out of the mineral rich Essequibo region which represents two-thirds of Guyana's territory and lies near big offshore oil deposits (discovered in 2015)

Five months after independence, in October 1966, Venezuelan troops cross the international border to seize Ankoko Island which remains under occupation ever since. Venezuelan troops quickly build military installations and lay down an airstrip.

1966 - 1969

British governor-general. Died in office.

1969 - 1970

British acting governor-general (to Feb 1970).

1970

Guyana becomes a republic on 23 February 1970, officially known as the 'Cooperative Republic of Guyana'. The acting governor-general, Sir Edward Victor Luckhoo, now becomes the country's first (acting) president.

1970

Former governor-general, now acting president (Fe-Mar).

1970

President (Mar-Oct only). No party.

1970 - 1980

President. People's National Congress / Reform.

1978

'The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project' is better known by its informal name of Jonestown. It forms a remote settlement in Guyana which has been established by the 'Peoples Temple', an American religious cult which is lead by Jim Jones.

Jim Jones, founder of Jonestown and the murder-suicide massacre in 1978, was already suffering from declining health and increasing paranoia when he put his plan into motion

The settlement becomes internationally infamous on 18 November 1978 when a total of nine hundred and eighteen people die there at the command of Jim Jones, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a 'Temple'-run building in Georgetown.

1980 - 1985

First 'executive president'. PNC/R. Died in office.

1985 - 1992

Executive president. PNC / R.

1992

Elections in 1992 produce a result which differs from the norm during Guyana's twenty-six years of independent rule. Cheddi Jagan's victory is the first time the 'People's National Congress' party has succeeded at the polls.

1992 - 1997

Executive president. People's Progressive Party/Civic. Died.

1997

Executive president (Mar-Dec only). PPP/C.

1997 - 1999

First female exec president. PPP/C. Resigned from ill health.

1999 - 2011

Executive president. PPP/C.

2011 - 2015

Executive president. PPP/C.

2015 - 2020

Executive president. PNC/R.

2015

Stabroek discovers sizeable oil reserves in Guyana, promising an economic boom for the country. The Stabroek stake is later purchased by Chevron. Production begins in 2019 but the country's citizens see little improvement in their standard of living during the first decade of extraction.

Nicolás Maduro, a like-for-like replacement for Hugo Chavez, continued the policy of placing personal interests ahead of nation and picking international fights where possible, although his regime eventually became moderately less antagonistic than the previous one

2020 - On

Executive president for two terms.

2024

Venezuela continues to dispute the border which was drawn up in 1899 by international arbitrators. President Maduro claims for Venezuela the Essequibo region of Guyana, which accounts for two-thirds of the country's total territory.

2025

Azruddin Mohamed is arrested on 3 November 2025 and faces possible extradition to the United States of America. He had been the country's main opposition leader in September after emerging as the surprise contender in presidential elections which have kept Irfaan Ali in power.