RORAIMA AS PART OF THE GUYANAS: Rio Branco Valley and the “Guyana Island”

Abstract

Abstract: This paper discusses why historical studies on the basin of the Branco river (corresponding to the current Brazilian state of Roraima) should take in account its relations with the wider space of the  Guyana.  Although  the  Luso-Brazilian  colonial  sources  rarely  denominate  the  northern  border  as "Portuguese  Guyana  ",  this  toponym  was  used  since  an  early  age  by  foreigners  and  by  international cartography  to  refer  to  the  area  where  it  was  opposed  to  zones  controlled  by  other  colonial  powers (Spain, France, Holland  and later England). Europeans  were  aware  of interethnic relational networks of the Guyana space, interfering in the framework of alliances and local rivalries. The colonial history of the  Branco river Valley is  defined by geopolitical and strategic disputes between  Portugal and the European competitors in that space. Successive treaties between the colonial powers and subsequently the National States gradually modifyed the social and ethnic relations and settings in the region. The Congress  of Vienna  (1815),  contemporary  of  independence  wars  in  Latin  America,  ended  a  cycle of worldwide conflict between France and England and ratified the new correlation of forces between the colonial  powers  on  the  island  of  Guyana,  but  did  not  end  the  territorial  disputes.  In  addition  to imposing  the  return  of  Cayenne  to  France  (and  intervene  on  the  issue  of  borders  with  Portuguese America),  signed  an  indelible  change  in  the  region:  the  transfer  of  the  former  Dutch  colonies  of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice to British sovereignty.

Keywords: Colonial Brazil. Brazil -International Treaties. Colonial Amazon; Guianas -History.