Overview of Surinam, Guyana and French Guyana

Guyana Location: Northern coast of South America, just north of the Equator. The country is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and west by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela and to the north by the Atlantic Ocean.

Size: 214,970km²

Capital: Georgetown

Population: About 751 000 people

Language: English

History: European settlement began in the early 17th century with the Dutch, who established three separate colonies; Essequibo, Berbice, and Demerara. The British assumed control in the late 18th century and the Dutch formally ceded the area in 1814. The three became a single British colony known as British Guiana in 1831.

In 1889 Venezuela claimed the land up to the Essequibo. Ten years later an international tribunal ruled the land belonged to British Guiana; however, the dispute continues. Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966 and became a republic in 1970, remaining a member of the Commonwealth.

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Surinam Location: Northern South America. between French Guiana to the east and Guyana to the west. The southern border is shared with Brazil and the northern border is the Atlantic coast.

Size: 163,270km²

Capital: Paramaribo

Population: About 487 000

Language: Dutch

History: It was in the Treaty of Breda, that the Dutch gained full control of what is now called, Suriname . In 1883 native people of Suriname were taken to Amsterdam and placed in human zoos for the International Colonial and Export Exhibition, held behind the Rijksmuseum. After becoming an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1954, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 and a military regime dominated until the 1980's, when democracy was restored.