"Guiana" redirects here. For the former French province, see Guyenne.
Not to be confused with Guainía.
Political map of The Guianas
The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, is a region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guyanas: Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch and French Guyana. Broadly it refers to the South American coast from the mouth of the Oronoco to the mouth of the Amazon.
Politically it is divided into:
So called Spanish or Venezuelan Guiana, now the Delta Amacuro and Guayana Region of Venezuela.
Guyana, formerly British Guiana, independent since 1966.
Suriname, formerly Dutch Guiana, independent since 1975.
French Guiana, an overseas department of France.
So called Portuguese or Brazilian Guiana, now the Amapá state of Brazil.
The three Guianas proper have a combined population of 1,718,651; Guyana: 804,567, Suriname: 612,985 and French Guiana: 301,099 [1][2] Most of the population is along the coast. Due to the jungles to the south, the Guianas are one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth.
Prior to c. 1815 there was a string of mostly Dutch settlements along the coast which changed hands several times. They were mostly several miles upriver to avoid the coastal marshes which were only drained later.
British Guiana (before 1793 part of Dutch Guyana):
Pomeroon (colony) (70 miles NW of Georgetown) 1581:Dutch, 1589:expelled by Spanish, 165?: Dutch, 1689:abandoned after French destruction, Dutch later return, 1831 to British Guyana.
Essequibo (colony) (20 miles NW of Georgetown) c 1616 Dutch, 1665 British occupation, (1781 British, 1782 French occupation, 1783 Dutch), 1793 British, 1831 British Guiana
Demerara (Georgetown) 1745 Dutch from Essequibo, 1781-1831: like Essequibo
Berbice (114 miles SE of Georgetown) 1627 Dutch, 1781-1831: like Essequebo
Dutch Guiana
Nickerie (200 miles SE of Georgetown)(small) 1718 Dutch
Surinam 1651 English, 1667 Dutch, 1799 English during French wars, 1814 restored to Dutch but England keeps British Guiana
French Guiana
Sinnamary: (100 miles NW of Cayenne) 1624 French, captured by Dutch and English several times, 1763: French
Cayenne 1604,1643 French fail,1615 Dutch fail, 1635 Dutch, 1664 French, 1667 English capture and return, French, 1676? Dutch, 1763? French, 1809 Anglo-Portuguese, 1817 French
To the east and up the lower Amazon, there were a number of English, French and Dutch outposts that either failed or were expelled by the Portuguese. To the west, Spanish Guyana was thinly settled and interacted slightly with Pomeroon.
^"Population, total". World Bank. 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
^"Produits intérieurs bruts régionaux et valeurs ajoutées régionales de 2000 à 2020" (in French). Retrieved 13 March 2023.
Brazil. The three Guianas proper have a combined population of 1,718,651; Guyana: 804,567, Suriname: 612,985 and French Guiana: 301,099 Most of the population...
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The Dutch began their colonisation of theGuianas, the coastal region between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers in South America, in the late 16th century...
fisheries The three Guianas (Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana) have between 80 and 98% pristine forest cover and are part of the complex ecosystem of The Guiana...
British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has...
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coordinates) TheGuiana Space Centre (French: Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of...
Guiana Island Guiana Island (or Guana Island) is an island off the northeast coast of Antigua, between the Parham Peninsula and Crump Island. It forms...
French Guiana. This was not recognized by the superior regional council. Both councils were disbanded in late 2015 and replaced by the French Guiana Assembly...
French Guiana is not a separate territory but is both an overseas région and overseas department of France, with the same government institutions as areas...
in the aquarium trade. This species' native range is tropical northeastern South America; it naturally occurs in northeastern Brazil, theGuianas, and...
of catfish of the family Pimelodidae and genus Brachyplatystoma that is native to Amazon and Orinoco River basins and rivers in Guianas and northeastern...
biodiversity. The country also hosts a part of the Amazon rainforest, the largest tropical rainforest in the world. The region known as "theGuianas" consists...
the French West Indies. It was previously part of a larger institution in combination with campuses in French Guiana known as the University of the French...
the Caribbean Football Union of CONCACAF alongside Suriname and French Guiana. Until the independence of Guyana (1966), it competed as British Guiana...
The Demographics of French Guiana are characterized by a young population with 44% below the age of 20 as of 2017. The total population stood at 268,700...
administrative regions, and France uses the name "Guiana Amazonian Park" for French Guiana's protected rainforest area. The Amazon represents over half of Earth's...
the coast of TheGuianas (which fell to the French, English and Dutch) and the Orinoco valley, which fell to the Spanish. The Dutch, allied with the Caribs...
The economy of French Guiana is tied closely to that of mainland France through subsidies and imports. Besides the French space center at Kourou, fishing...
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, located on the northern coast of South America between Suriname and Brazil. The country is part of Caribbean...
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