Essequibo

The land west of the river

Essequibo is everything in Guyana west of the Essequibo River, which rises in the Acaraí Mountains on the Brazilian border and flows north for about 1,010 km to the Atlantic. The area is mostly forest, with highlands, savannas and a low coastal plain, and it covers six of Guyana’s ten administrative regions.^[1]

Spain claimed the area, but the Dutch settled the Essequibo valley, founding Guyana’s first settlement in 1616. Britain took Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice from the Netherlands in 1814, without a defined western boundary, and joined them as British Guiana in 1831.^[1]

Schomburgk and the 1899 award

Independent Venezuela claimed the land, up to the Essequibo River, as part of the old Spanish Captaincy General of Venezuela. In 1841 Britain sent the explorer Robert Schomburgk to survey a boundary; his Schomburgk Line put Essequibo inside British Guiana, and Venezuela disputed it at once. Gold brought British miners, and in 1887 Venezuela broke off relations with Britain.^[1]

Largely through United States influence, the dispute went to a tribunal of two American, two British and one Russian judge. Its Paris award of 1899 gave Venezuela land at the mouth of the Orinoco and Britain about 90% of the contested region. Venezuela, dissatisfied, ratified it.^[1]

Void, says Venezuela

In 1949 a memorandum was published suggesting that the Russian judge had pressed the American arbitrators into siding with Britain. In 1962 Venezuela declared the award invalid and took the issue to the UN.^[1] It argues that the award came from collusion between the British and Russian arbitrators; Guyana points out that Venezuela had accepted the boundary for more than 60 years.^[2]

The Geneva Agreement of 1966 between Britain and Venezuela, which newly independent Guyana joined, set up a mixed commission to find a peaceful settlement. It failed, a 1970 protocol froze the issue for 12 years, and from 1990 a series of UN “good officers” made little headway.^[1]

Oil and the World Court

In 2015 Exxon Mobil found large oil reserves off Essequibo, in waters both countries claim, and President Nicolás Maduro revived Venezuela’s claim.^[1] In 2018 the UN secretary-general referred the dispute to the International Court of Justice, and in March Guyana filed its case asking the court to confirm the 1899 award.^[1][2] The court confirmed its jurisdiction in 2020 and again in 2023.^[1]

Two days before a referendum in December 2023 on making Essequibo a Venezuelan state, the court ordered Venezuela not to change the status quo. The referendum went ahead and endorsed the claim, though turnout appeared low. Maduro and Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali then met in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and agreed not to use force against each other.^[1] In April 2024 Maduro signed a law purporting to incorporate the region, and in May 2025 the court ordered Venezuela not to hold elections there.^[2]

Hearings on the merits ran in The Hague from 4 to 11 May 2026.^[2] At the UN on 24 September 2026, Ali urged Venezuela to abide by the coming ruling; Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, had asked the day before for talks under the 1966 Geneva Agreement. No date has been set for the judgment, which Guyana expects between November 2026 and January 2027.^[3]