Saturday, 29 September 2018 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: South America / Südamerika Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 5minutes
Georgetown is the capital of Guyana, located in Region 4, which is also known as the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is the country’s largest urban centre. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed Garden City of the Caribbean. Georgetown serves primarily as a retail and administrative centre. It also serves as a financial services centre. The city recorded a population of 200,500 in the 2016 census. Georgetown is the seat of the central Government of Guyana. All Executive Departments are located in the city. Parliament Building, Guyana’s Legislative Building, is also found in Georgetown and so is the Court of Appeals, Guyana’s highest judicial court. The State House (the official residence of the Head of State), as well as the offices and residence of the Head of Government, are both located in the city. Georgetown is the capital city as well as the main economic base of Guyana.
Georgetown is Guyana’s largest urban centre, containing a large portion of its commerce. It is an important city for Guyana and the Caribbean. Within the metro area there is the CARICOM headquarters, the Administrative Arm of the Caribbean Regional Integration Organisation. Georgetown also is home to a seaport. Guyana’s international airport, Cheddi Jagan International Airport/Timehri, an hour south of Georgetown is a destination for Caribbean Airlines (the airline formerly known as BWIA or “bwee”), LIAT, META, and Travel Span GT. Closer to the city is the newly expanded Ogle Airport, with a terminal facility geared to handle regional, international and inter-Caricom flights, connecting CARICOM states with the CARICOM Secretariat. The city has many highway projects under construction although the four-lane East Coast Highway was completed in 2005. Georgetown accounts for a large portion of Guyana’s GDP.
Georgetown is laid out in a north-south, east-west grid, interlaced with canals protected by kokers, or sluices, built by the Dutch and later the British that provide drainage to a city that lies 0.91 metres (3 ft) below high-tide level. A long sea wall helps prevent flooding. The city has numerous boulevards and contains many wooden colonial buildings and markets. Most of the main buildings are centred around the western region of the town. Around the western-central area is Independence Square and Promenade Gardens, the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology, the National Library (built by Andrew Carnegie), the Bank of Guyana, Company Path Garden, the National Museum of Guyana and State House (built 1852) where the President resides, and St. George’s Anglican Cathedral. There are many churches, mosques and mandirs in Georgetown. The Georgetown Cenotaph, at Main and Church Streets, was built in 1923. It is the site of Remembrance Day (Remembrance Sunday) services in November each year.
[caption id="attachment_169066" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Rheinsberg Palace on Lake Grienerik/Pelz-cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Rheinsberg Palace lies in the municipality of Rheinsberg, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) no...