POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF GUIANA. 3 



the whole of northern and western Guiana, along the crescent described by the 

 Orinoco, Portugal, now replaced by Brazil, appropriated that section of the 

 Guianas which lies on the Amazonian slope. Thus for the other European Powers 

 nothing remained except the maritime region comprised between the Orinoco delta 

 and the estuary of the Amazons. 



Here the English, Dutch, and French secured a footing as conquerors and 

 colonists. To their settlements on the seaboard they added the " hinterlands " of 

 all the coast streams traversing their several domains, claiming the whole region 

 between the sea and the unknown watersheds of those rivers. The three colonial 



Fig. 1. — Island of the Guianas. 

 Scale 1 : 20,000,000. 



500 Miles. 



domains thus constituted form the territory now specially known as Guiana, 

 properly so called. 



The frontiers of these colonies, however, are still fluctuating. Towards the 

 south the water-partings have not yet been surveyed in their entire length and in 

 all their intricate details. Numerous expeditions have been undertaken in this 

 direction, but none of them have been commissioned to determine with accuracy 

 the parting lines between the several conterminous territories. 



Towards the west and east the question of frontiers assumes a different aspect, 

 and here tracts of considerable extent are still a subject of contention. Great 

 Britain claims a right not only to the whole of the Essequibo basin, but also to a 

 section of the upper Ptio Branco, which is disputed by Brazil. In the direction 

 of Venezuela the frontiers of British Guiana have been advanced to the southern 

 margin of one of the chief branches of the Orinoco delta along the channel of 



