The Trail Of Diplomacy

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Essequibo and the Orinoco Rivers from the time of early exploration and Dutch colonisation, and reference is made to historical documents and activities of the relevant periods.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."