Guyana's climate is warm and tropical throughout the year. The rainfall is generally high for most of the year, as is the humidity. December to January and May to June are the rainy seasons, while in coastal areas the climate is tempered by sea breezes.
Guyana lies in the northeast of South America, bordered by Venezuela to the west, Surinam to the southeast and Brazil to the south. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The word 'Guiana' (the original Amerindian spelling) means 'land of many waters' and the name was well chosen, for there are over 1,600km (965 miles) of navigable rivers in the country. The interior is either high savannah uplands (such as those along the Venezuelan border, called the Rupununi, and the Kanuku Mountains in the far southwest), or thick, hilly jungle and forest, which occupy over 83% of the country's area. The narrow coastal belt contains the vast majority of the population, and produces the major cash crop, sugar, and the major subsistence crop, rice. The country has 322km (206 miles) of coastline. More than 25% of the population lives in or near Georgetown.
