Guyana’s gifts to the world – By Alex Murray – BBC News

Guyana’s gifts to the world

By Alex Murray  – BBC News  – 26 May 2016

It’s 50 years since the British colony of British Guiana became Guyana.

Covering 214,969 sq km (83,000 sq miles), it is the only English-speaking country on mainland South America.

In popular culture, the country is sadly best known for the tragic events of Jonestown, where more than 900 people died in a mass suicide.

To mark the 50th anniversary of independence, BBC News highlights some of the positive contributions from “the land of a thousand rivers”.

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The Lost World        

Mount Roraima

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s sci-fi dinosaur adventure draws heavily on the Guyana Highlands – which extend across three countries – Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela.

Lying on the border of all three, Mount Roraima’s tabletop shape is unmistakably that described in the book.

It was first scaled by a European team in 1884, according to Unesco, by “a British expedition team led by Everard Im Thurn”.

You might also recognise it for inspiring the landscape of the Disney/Pixar film Up.   [Read more]