Essequibo River

From Freepedia

The Essequibo River is the longest river in Guyana, and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon. Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil-Guyana border, the Essequibo flows to the north for 1,000 kilometres through forest and savanna into the Atlantic Ocean. There are countless rapids and waterfalls along the route of the Essequibo, and its 20km wide estuary is dotted with numerous small islands. It enters the Atlantic 21km from Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana.

The first European settlement in Guyana was built by the Dutch along the lower part of the Essequibo in 1615. The colonists remained on friendly terms with the Native American peoples of the area, establishing riverside sugar and cacao plantations.

In August 1995 there was an acid spill in the river by the Canadian mining company Cambior. An estimated one billion gallons (four billion liters) of waste laced with cyanide was released into the river causing much destruction.

The river's name is said to come from an Arawak word meaning "hearth-stones". This is explained as being a reference to the Arawak custom of collecting stones from the river’s banks for their firesides.

Venezuela claims that the Essequibo is the true border between it and Guyana, claiming all territory west of it (roughly 70% of Guyanese territory).

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Essequibo is also the name of a Dutch colony founded in 1616 and located in the region of the Essequibo River. It became a British territory in 1814, and was made part of British Guiana in 1831.

Former Dutch colonies
Aruba (current) | Berbice | Brazil (part) | Cape Colony | Ceylon | Demerara | Deshima | Dutch East Indies | Dutch Guiana | Essequibo | Dutch West Indies or Netherlands Antilles (current) | Netherlands New Guinea | New Netherland (New Amsterdam, New Sweden) | New Zealand (part) | Smeerenburg | Taiwan | Tobago | Travancore | Virgin Islands (part)
See also: Dutch colonisation of the Americas | Dutch East India Company | Dutch West India Company | New Holland