A report on Guayana Esequiba, Guyana, Cuyuni River and British Guiana

Guayana Esequiba, sometimes also called Esequibo or Essequibo, is a disputed territory of 159500 km2 west of the Essequibo River that is administered and controlled by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela.

The boundary dispute was inherited from the colonial powers (Spain in the case of Venezuela, and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in the case of Guyana) and has been complicated by the independence of Guyana from the United Kingdom in 1966.

It rises in the Guiana Highlands of Venezuela, where it descends northward to El Dorado, and turns eastward to meander through the tropical rain forests of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region of Guyana.

Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana.

The Cuyuni River marks the limit of the disputed territory of Guyana Essequibo for approximately 100 km.

On January 2, 1895, the "Incident of the Cuyuni river", so named by the general Domingo Antonio Sifontes, was an armed confrontation between Venezuelans and British in the region of the river over the territorial dispute between Venezuela and British Guyana, which under Sifontes the Venezuelans left winners.

It was governed as British Guiana, with a mostly plantation-style economy until the 1950s.

Shortly after independence, Venezuela began to take diplomatic, economic and military action against Guyana in order to enforce its territorial claim to the Guayana Esequiba.

Dutch settlements were also established on the Cuyuni River, Caroní River and Moruka River.

Venezuela did not accept the Schomburgk Line, which placed the entire Cuyuni River basin within the colony.

When the British surveyed British Guiana in 1840, they included the entire Cuyuni River basin within the colony.