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Georgetown, estimated population 250,000 (1998), is the capital and largest city of Guyana, located in the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and is nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at 6°48′N 58°10′W / 6.800°N 58.167°W / 6.800; -58.167.

History

The city of Georgetown began as a small town in the 18th century. Originally, the capital of the Demerara-Essequibo colony was located on Borselen Island in the Demerara River under the administration of the Dutch. When the colony was captured by the British in 1781, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Kingston chose the mouth of the Demerara River for the establishment of a town which was situated between Plantations Werk-en-rust and Vlissengen.

It was the French who developed this town and made it their capital city when they captured the colony in 1782. The French called the capital La Nouvelle Ville. When the town was restored to the Dutch in 1784, it was renamed Stabroek after Nicolaas Geelvinck, Lord of Stabroek, and President of the Dutch West India Company. Eventually the town expanded and covered the estates of Vlissengen, La Bourgade and Eve Leary to the North, and Werk-en-rust and La Repentir to the South. Brickdam, the first paved road, was built by the French.

It was renamed Georgetown on 29 April 1812 in honour of King George III. On 5 May 1812 an ordinance was passed to the effect that the town formerly called Stabroek, with districts extending from La Penitence to the bridges in Kingston and entering upon the road to the military camps, shall be called Georgetown.

The ordinance provided that the various districts of Georgetown shall be known by their own names. The supervision of Georgetown was to be done by a committee chosen by the Governor and Court of Policy. Estimates of expenditure were to be prepared.

By 1806 the owner of Vlissingen asked to be exempted from the responsibility of maintaining the road which is now called Camp Street, but the Court refused the request. In 1810 the maintenance of the roads in the area called Georgetown cost 11,000 guilders per annum.

The governing body of Georgetown was once a Board of Police. The Board of Police was chosen by the governor and the Court of Policy. It came into existence as the result of disputes among various organisations which controlled the districts.

The Board met monthly but what was discussed is not on the records between 1825 and 1837. Newspapers in the colony were prohibited by law from reporting public matters.

The post of Commisary of Police was not regarded as important. People elected to the Board invariably declined to attend meetings and never gave reasons for their refusal.

It was, therefore, decided that individuals elected to the Board were bound to serve for two years, or suffer a penalty of 1,000 guilders.

The Board of Police was abolished when an ordinance was passed to establish a Mayor and Town Council.

Georgetown gained official city status on 24 August 1842 during the reign of Queen Victoria.

The names of Georgetown's wards and streets reflect the influence of the Dutch, French and English who administered the town at different periods of history.

Cummingsburg was originally named Pln. La Bourgade by its first owner, Jacques Salignac. It was laid out in streets and building lots by its second proprietor, Thomas Cuming, a Scotsman, after whom it is named. He made a presentation of the Militia Parade Ground and Promenade Gardens to the town as a gift. It is noteworthy that Carmichael Street was named after General Hugh Lyle Carmichael who served as Governor from 1812 to 1813. He died in March 1813 and was buried in the Officers' Cemetery, Eve Leary.

Water Street was so called because it ran along the riverside and formed the original river dam. High Street formed the leading road from the East Bank to the East Coast of Demerara. The part of High Street that ran through Cummingsburg was called Main Street. Camp Street received its name because it was the road which led to the camp or garrison at the northern end of the city. Kingston got its name from King George of England. It was part of Pln. Eve Leary which was named after the wife or daughter of its owner, Cornelis Leary. Some of the streets of Kingston have military names because the garrison used to be located there, e.g. Parade Street, Barrack Street and Fort Street.

Lacytown was another leasehold portion of Pln. Vlissengen. L.M. Hill claims that it was named after General Sir De Lacy Evans, a Crimean war hero. However, James Rodway claims that it was named after George Lacy who bought part of the plantation from R.B. Daly, representative of Vlissengen. The owner of Vlissengen was Joseph Bourda, Member of the Court of Policy. After his son and heir disappeared at sea, the government claimed the property under the authority of the Vlissengen Ordinance of 1876. A new district of Bourda was laid out and Lacytown was improved by the Board of Vlissengen Commissioners.

Bourda Street and the ward of Bourda were named after Joseph Bourda, Member of the Court of Policy and former owner of Pln. Vlissengen. It was laid out by the Commissioner of Vlissengen in 1879. The Bourda Cemetery holds the remains of many old citizens of Georgetown. Only those persons who owned family vaults or burial rights in the enclosed ground used it.

In 1945 a large fire (The Great Fire) broke out in the city causing widespread damage.

The Capital City

Georgetown is the seat of the central Government of Guyana. All Executive Departments are located in the city. Parliament Building, Guyana, Guyana's Legislative Building, is also found in Georgetown and so is the Court of Appeals, Guyana's highest judicial court.

The Official residence of the Head of State as well as the Head of Government are both located in Guyana's only city. Georgetown is the capital city as well as the economic powerhouse of Guyana.

It is a Sister City of St. Louis. Missouri, USA.

Economy

Georgetown is Guyana's largest city and it contians a good portion of the major businesses. It is an important city for Guyana and the Caribbean. Within the metro area there is the CARICOM headquarters which is the centre of the Caribbean government. Georgetown also is home to a seaport that is rapidly expanding. The city is seeing a major boom in construction and very strong economic growth. Georgetown's airport, Cheddi Jagan International Airport is a hub for BWIA or locally known as ""bwee"".

Closer to the city is Ogle Airport, where a major expansion project is taken place currently. The new airport will handle inter-Caricom flights to connect the CARICOM states quicker with the headquarters. The city has many highway projects under construction such as the East Coast Highway which was completed in 2005, it is four lanes wide. This city accounts for a large portion of Guyana's GDP and it also is the centre of major commerical business.

Construction Boom

Like most Caribbean nations, Guyana is preparing for the ICC Cricket World Cup. Georgetown is experiencing a large boom in construction. Here some ""major projects"":

Providence Stadium, Providence (a few miles south)
Buddy's Hotel and Resort, Providence
East Bank Highway (Four Lanes)
Georgetown Centre Shopping Mall
Providence Mall
Greater Georgetown Conference Centre
Georgetown Seawall
Repavement of all roads
Georgetown Beach
Repairing Demerara Harbour Bridge

SOME BUSINESSES INCLUDE: Demerara sugar, timber, bauxite, gold, and diamonds are exported through Georgetown's harbour.

List of businesses headquartered in Georgetown:

Bank of Guyana
N.Osman Investments
Western Union Guyana Ltd
Grace Kennedy Remitence Service
Money Gram Guyana
Scotia Bank Guyana
KFC
Laparkan Group of Companies
Gafoors Group of Companies
Sprint 151
Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company
Guyana Power & Light
Guyana Water Inc
Guyana Net
U-Mobile
St.Joseph's Mercy Hospital
KPMG Guyana
National Milling Company of Guyana
Le Mederian Pegasus Hotel
The Tower Hotel
Courts Guyana Ltd
Guyana Stores
John Lewis Styles
Giftland
National Communications Network
British Sky Broadcasting (Sky TV)

Politics

Executive- Georgetown is politically governed by a Mayor. The Mayor's office includes several supporting agencies and divisions including the offices of the Deputy Mayor, City Clerk and City Engineer. The Mayor's office also supervises the city constables, who are city police with special duties. The current mayor of Georgetown is former cabinet minister Hamilton Green. The Mayor is officially given the honour 'His Worship'. The Mayor's office space is housed at City Hall on Avenue of the Republic.

Legislative- The City Council is the legislative branch of the city government.

Judiciary- The Georgetown Magistrate Court has judicial responsibility for the Georgetown Magisterial Distict.

Performing arts

Georgetown's theatre scene is dominantly concentrated on the stages of the National Cultural Centre.

Points of interest

Georgetown is laid out in a N-S, E-W grid, interlaced with canals protected by kokers built by the Dutch and later the British that provide drainage to a city that lies 13 feet below high-tide level. A long sea wall helps prevent flooding. The city has an abundance of tree-lined streets and avenues 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, the 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.

To the south of this region is where the neo-Gothic City Hall (1889) is to be found, as well as the Victoria Law Courts (1887), the Parliament Building (1829-1834), the large Stabroek Market (1792) containing the prominent cast-iron clock tower that dominates the city sky line, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, City Engineer House, the Magistrate's Court, St. Andrew's Kirk (1818) and Independence Arch.

The northern area of the city near the Atlantic coast contains Fort William Frederick, a park and the Umana Yana, a conical thatched building built by Wai-Wai Amerindians using traditional techniques. It was built for the 1972 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference. The Georgetown Light House is a famous landmark.

The City is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the Georgetown Seawall.

Georgetown is the seat of the University of Georgetown and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. The University of Guyana is located in Turkeyen, on the city's outskirts.

Regions of Georgetown

Georgetown has expanded dramatically through the years and may be divided into three Geographical regions:

*Georgetown -referring to Central Georgetown includes the Business district as well as the seat of the Federal Government.

*Greater Georgetown- contains some of the most expensive and luxurious metropolitan neighbourhoods. Bel Air, Bel Air Park, Bel Air Gardens,Lamaha Gardens, Prashad Nagar and Bel Air Springs are well known as places for the rich and powerful. Most residents here are high ranking executives or government officials.These close gated neighbourhoods of the city are mostly concentrated in the northeastern part towards Greater Georgetown and the Atlantic. Greather Georgetown contains some notbale places such as:

The University of Guyana (headquarters)
The Cyril Potter College of Education
The Caribbean Community Secretariat (Headquarters of CARICOM)
The Guyana International Conference Center
Ocean View Internatioal Hotel
Guyana Sugar Corporation (Headquarters of the country's largest corporation)
Ogle Airport (Guyana's local air transport facility)

*South Georgetown- incorporated communities of neighbourhoods along the eastern bank of the Demerara river such as Sophia, Roxanne Burham Gardens, Alboystown, Gyhoc Park and Agricola. This is a well known and highly regarded poor areas of the city while some places like Houston Estates, Ruimvelt and Thirst Park have retained high levels of affluency.

City neighbourhoods

Known for its historic importance, today Georgetown remains the Administrative center for the central Government. North of Georgetown lies Main Street, where the Head of State's official residence can be found along with several other important Government buildings including the Ministry of Finance. East of Georgetown stretches towards the Avenue of the Republic where Georgetown's City Hall building is located as well as the magestic world famous St.Georges building.Also on the East side is Brickdam which is the single most concentrated area of Executive departments and agencies. The Ministries of Health, Education, Home Affairs, Houising and Water are all located on Brickdam. West of Stabroek Market is the Port of Georgetown,the largest and busiest shipping point in Guyana. Stabroek Market itself contains the Ministry of Labour as well as the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.Also is host facility to the equally famous Stabroek markets.

Regent Street- known as Georgetown's premir shopping district. It is said if you don't find it on Regent street, you won't find it anywhere else in Georgetown.
Sheriff Street- this is Guyana's ultimate and only hot spot for entertainment. It contains most of the city's clubs, bars and restaurants.It is said to be the only street in Georgeotwn that never sleeps.

Suburbs

Suburban Georgetown is comprised of Greater Georgetown and Uptown Georgetown and contains the following suburbs of the city :

Republic Park
Nandy Park
Providence
Felicity
Bel Air
Vreed en Hoop
Kingston

Travel

Georgetown is served by the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, 41 km south of the city. International flights/connections from New York, Miami, Bridgetown, Port of Spain and Paramaribo are routine. There is also a regular coach service between Georgetown and Boa Vista in Brazil, and ready travel to Paramaribo, Suriname via a ferry crossing on the Courantyne River. There are many hotels in the city, including: Blue Wave Apartments, Brandsville's Apartments, Campala Hotel, Cara Inn, Cara Lodge, Cara Suites, Florentine's Hotel, Friends Apartment Hotel, Grand Coastal Hotels (two locations), Hotel Arizante, Hotel Glow, Hotel Tower, Le Méridien Pegasus Hotel, Main Street Plaza, New Tropicana Hotel, Plaza Hotel, lima Guest House and Woodbine International Hotel.

Utilities

Power is suppied by the State owned and controlled Guyana Power and Light.

Water and Solid Waste Disposal is handled by State owned and foreign managed Guyana Water Incorporated.

Telephone, High Speed Internet are supplied by US owned Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company.

Satellite TV services are offered by Sky Digital Networks (Guyana) Inc.

Sister cities

Georgetown has one sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International:

- St Louis (United States)

External links

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Image:Cottage_of_city_Georgetown.jpg|thumb|right|299px|Victoria Law Courts]]
-'''Georgetown''', estimated population 250,000 ([[1998]]), is the [[capital]] and largest city of [[Guyana]], located in the [[Demerara-Mahaica]] region. It is situated on the [[Atlantic]] coast at the mouth of the [[Demerara River]] and is nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at {{coor dm|6|48|N|58|10|W|}}.
+'''Georgetown''', estimated population 250,000 ([[1998]]), is the [[capital]] and largest city of [[Guyana]], located in the [[Demerara-Mahaica]] region. It is situated on the [[Atlantic Ocean]] coast at the mouth of the [[Demerara River]] and is nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at {{coor dm|6|48|N|58|10|W|}}.
 == History ==
-Georgetown was originally called [[Stabroek, Guyana|Stabroek]] when the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] controlled the region. The settlement gained permanence during a period of [[France|French]] control when the first paved street, Brickdam, was built.
+The city of Georgetown began as a small town in the 18th century. Originally, the capital of the [[Demerara-Essequibo]] colony was located on [[Borselen Island]] in the [[Demerara River]] under the administration of the [[Netherlands|Dutch]]. When the colony was captured by the [[British Empire|British]] in 1781, Lieutenant-Colonel [[Robert Kingston]] chose the mouth of the Demerara River for the establishment of a town which was situated between Plantations Werk-en-rust and Vlissengen.
-On [[5 May]] [[1812]] an ordinance was passed to the effect that the town formerly called Stabroek, with districts extending from [[La Penitence]] to the bridges in Kingston and entering upon the road to the military camps, shall be called Georgetown.
+It was the [[France|French]] who developed this town and made it their capital city when they captured the colony in [[1782]]. The French called the capital La Nouvelle Ville. When the town was restored to the Dutch in [[1784]], it was renamed [[Stabroek, Guyana|Stabroek]] after [[Nicolaas Geelvinck]], Lord of Stabroek, and President of the [[Dutch West India Company]]. Eventually the town expanded and covered the estates of Vlissengen, La Bourgade and Eve Leary to the North, and Werk-en-rust and La Repentir to the South. Brickdam, the first paved road, was built by the French.
+It was renamed Georgetown on [[29 April]] [[1812]] in honour of [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]]. On [[5 May]] [[1812]] an ordinance was passed to the effect that the town formerly called Stabroek, with districts extending from [[La Penitence]] to the bridges in Kingston and entering upon the road to the military camps, shall be called Georgetown.
 The ordinance provided that the various districts of Georgetown shall be known by their own names.  The supervision of Georgetown was to be done by a committee chosen by the Governor and Court of Policy.  Estimates of expenditure were to be prepared.
 By [[1806]] the owner of Vlissingen asked to be exempted from the responsibility of maintaining the road which is now called Camp Street, but the Court refused the request.  In [[1810]] the maintenance of the roads in the area called Georgetown cost 11,000 guilders per annum.
-It was renamed Georgetown in [[1812]] in honour of [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]], after the [[British Empire|British]] occupied the colony, and gained official city status on [[24 August]] [[1842]] during the reign of [[Queen Victoria]].
 The governing body of Georgetown was once a Board of Police.  The Board of Police was chosen by the governor and the Court of Policy.  It came into existence as the result of disputes among various organisations which controlled the districts.
@@ Line 23: / Line 24: @@
 The Board of Police was abolished when an ordinance was passed to establish a Mayor and Town Council.
+Georgetown gained official city status on [[24 August]] [[1842]] during the reign of [[Queen Victoria]].
+The names of Georgetown's wards and streets reflect the influence of the Dutch, French and English who administered the town at different periods of history.
+Cummingsburg was originally named Pln. La Bourgade by its first owner, Jacques Salignac. It was laid out in streets and building lots by its second proprietor, Thomas Cuming, a Scotsman, after whom it is named. He made a presentation of the Militia Parade Ground and Promenade Gardens to the town as a gift. It is noteworthy that Carmichael Street was named after General Hugh Lyle Carmichael who served as Governor from 1812 to 1813. He died in March 1813 and was buried in the Officers' Cemetery, Eve Leary.
+Water Street was so called because it ran along the riverside and formed the original river dam. High Street formed the leading road from the East Bank to the East Coast of Demerara. The part of High Street that ran through Cummingsburg was called Main Street. Camp Street received its name because it was the road which led to the camp or garrison at the northern end of the city. Kingston got its name from King George of England. It was part of Pln. Eve Leary which was named after the wife or daughter of its owner, Cornelis Leary. Some of the streets of Kingston have military names because the garrison used to be located there, e.g. Parade Street, Barrack Street and Fort Street.
+Lacytown was another leasehold portion of Pln. Vlissengen. L.M. Hill claims that it was named after General Sir De Lacy Evans, a Crimean war hero. However, James Rodway claims that it was named after George Lacy who bought part of the plantation from R.B. Daly, representative of Vlissengen. The owner of Vlissengen was Joseph Bourda, Member of the Court of Policy. After his son and heir disappeared at sea, the government claimed the property under the authority of the Vlissengen Ordinance of 1876. A new district of Bourda was laid out and Lacytown was improved by the Board of Vlissengen Commissioners.
+Bourda Street and the ward of Bourda were named after Joseph Bourda, Member of the Court of Policy and former owner of Pln. Vlissengen. It was laid out by the Commissioner of Vlissengen in 1879. The Bourda Cemetery holds the remains of many old citizens of Georgetown. Only those persons who owned family vaults or burial rights in the enclosed ground used it.
 In [[1945]] a large fire (The Great Fire) broke out in the city causing widespread damage.