Part
One - Dutch and British Colonisation (1500-1895) (Chapters
1-8)
Part Two - American Intervention (Chapters
9-12)
Part Three - The Arbitral Award (Chapters
13-14)
Part Four - Renewal Of The Venezuelan Claim
(Chapters 15-18)
Part Five - From the Geneva Agreement to
the Protocol of Port of Spain (Chapters 19-28)
Part Six - 1970-1981 (Chapters 29-32)
Part Seven - Build Up Of Tensions (Chapters
33-37)
Part Eight - Ending The Protocol (Chapters
38-42)
Part Nine - Involvement Of The United
Nations (Chapters 43-49)
Appendix 1 - Venezuela's Conflicting Claims
Appendix 2 - Sketch map showing the boundaries as
claimed by Great Britain and Venezuela
Appendix 3 - Boundary between Guyana and Venezuela
showing the division of Ankoko Island
Appendix 4 - Map showing the twelve-mile belt of
sea extending from the coast of Guyana
Appendix 5 - Map showing boundary lines of British
Guiana, 1896
"The
Trail of Diplomacy" is a documentary history of the Guyana-Venezuela
border controversy which first arose in the mid-nineteenth century.
The documentary traces the history of settlement in the territory between
the Essequibo and the Orinoco Rivers from the time of early exploration and
Dutch colonisation, and reference is made to historical documents and activities
of the relevant periods.
In the pre-1899 period, the British Government, which ruled Guyana then, claimed
ownership of the entire basins of the Essequibo River, including those of its
main tributaries, the Mazaruni and Cuyuni. Venezuela, which had claimed almost
the entire area west of the Essequibo River, was awarded the upper Cuyuni basin
by the international Arbitral Tribunal which made a "full, perfect and final"
settlement to the border dispute in 1899 — one hundred years ago.
An official border, with the full participation of the Venezuelan Government,
was surveyed and drawn shortly after. However, in 1962, Venezuela declared that
it no longer recognised the 1899 Award, and re- stated its claim to Guyanese
territory west of the Essequibo River.
Since then, a "controversy" has dragged on and has now reached a stage where
the Secretary General of the UN is in the lengthy process of finding a practical
solution to the existing issue.
"A lengthy collection of original documents on the Guyana-Venezuela border
issue, Guyana's
Western Border, supplements The Trail of Diplomacy."