4 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



tlie Amacuru. The boundary has also been drawn so as to include the rich 

 auriferous alluvia of the Cuy\iui valley, and the whole of the disputed territory, 

 which has already led to sanguinary conflicts, comprises a superficial area more 

 extensive than that of the region recognised as belonging indisputably to Great 

 Britain. 



At the other extremity of the Guianas, France contests with Brazil a large 

 tract estimated at about half the size of France. The district in dispute forms a 

 long strip of the Amazons basin, extending along the Atlantic seaboard between 

 the Araguari and the Rio Branco. All these disputed lands on the south, west, 

 and east frontiers form so many distinct political domains comprised within the 

 natural limits of the " island of Guiana." The whole region thus contains five 

 separate territories, with superficial areas as under : — 



sq. miles. 

 British Guiana, including: the district disputpd by Brazil . . 45,700 



Guiana contested by Great Britain and Venezuela . . . 50,000 



Dutch Guiana (undisputed) ........ 45,700 



French Guiana (undisputed) ........ 31,000 



Guiana contested by France and Brazil . ..... 100,000 



Total according to H. Coudreau . . . 272,400 



All these Guianas greatly resemble each other in their general physical 

 aspects, their geographical constitution, the direction and character of their 

 running waters and marine currents, the erosions and deposits of their coastlands, 

 their climatic relations, the distribution of their animal and vegetable species, 

 the affinities of their indigenous populations. To human agencies are mainly 

 due the chief contrasts observed in the different colonial territories, which have 

 been subjected by the respective mother countries to different social and economic 

 conditions. Numerous travellers, some acting on individual impulse, some 

 in their official capacity, have carefully studied many of the river vallej's, agri- 

 cultural and mining districts, and their itineraries have been connected with those 

 of other explorers who have traversed the whole region, either from one slope to 

 the other, or from the banks of the Orinoco to those of the Amazons. Thanks 

 to these collective surveys, a general picture may now be formed of the physical 

 and biological features of the Guianas. 



Progress of Discovery and Settlement. 



Our first knowledge of the seaboard is due to the Spanish navigator, Vicente 

 Yanez Pinzon, who had accompanied Columbus on his voj-age of discovery. In 

 the year loOO this pioneer, after coasting the shores of Brazil east of the Amazons, 

 crossed the estuary and skirted the low-lying coasts of Guiana as far as the Orinoco 

 delta. He was followed by Diego de Lepe and other mariners, who explored the 

 same waters ; but nearly a century passed before an}- European settlers ventured 

 to penetrate into the interior. 



A few Spaniards had already landed on the coasts near the Orinoco, when some 

 Dutchmen attempted in 1581 to establish themselves on the banks of the Demerara 

 and open trade with the natives. Other pioneers were attracted by the love of 



