The border dispute between Suriname and Guyana

Reflections on a contested territorial triangle

Preface 9

Introduction 11

1 The colonisation of the ‘Wild Coast’ 15

1.1 A shifting border between Suriname and Berbice 15

1.2. Changing mother countries 18

1.3 Rival claims regarding the border between Suriname and Berbice 20

1.4 Concluding remarks: Need for regulation of Suriname-Berbice border 23

2 An ‘Amical Arrangement’ 25

2.1 ‘An Act relating to the Boundaries between Berbice and Surinam’ 25

2.2 British administration’s tacit approval of the’Amical Arrangement’ 30

2.3 The ‘Amical Arrangement’ enshrined in a British-Dutch treaty 32

2.4 Concluding remarks 34

2.4.1 The left bank of the Corentyne is the border between Berbice and Suriname 34

2.4.2 ‘The Corentyne’ referred to the river from origin-to-mouth 34

2.4.3 The Corentyne is under the sovereignty of Suriname 35

2.4.4 The islands in the Corentyne belong to Suriname 36

3 The exploration of the new colony of British Guiana 39

3.1 An initial survey of British Guiana commissioned by the Royal Geographical Society 39

3.2 British government attracts Robert Schomburgk as border explorer 41

3.3. Concluding remarks 44

3.3.1 The exploration of British Guiana’s borders was a British affair 44

3.3.2 Some uncertainty regarding the border between British Guiana and Suriname 44

4 In search of the source of the Corentyne 47

4.1 The exploration of the border with Venezuela 47

4.2 Exploring the border with Suriname 49

4.3 Schomburgk ignores information on the ‘Pani’ 51

4.4 Schomburgk goes in search of the ‘Curuni’ instead of the ‘Corentyne’ 53

4.5 Setbacks when descending the Curuni 56

4.6 Concluding remarks 58

4.6.1 The Netherlands was only asked to provide Schomburgk with full cooperation if requested 58

4.6.2 ‘Unbekannte Einöden’ was not a ‘terra nullius’ 58

5 Barrington Brown identifies the main source river of the Corentyne 61

5.1 An initial exploration of the headwaters of the Corentyne River 61

5.2 The New River/Upper Corentyne main source river of the Corentyne 62

5.3 A cartographic incorporation of the ‘Unbekannte Einöden’ 64

5.4 Concluding remarks 65

5.4.1 Scientific support for the ‘New River’ as the main source river of the Corentyne 65

5.4.2 Schomburgk’s ‘Pani’ is Brown’s ‘New River’ 66

5.4.3 Schomburgk’s fabrication of an erroneous map of British Guiana 67

6 Conflicting views on the headwaters of the Corentyne River 69

6.1 Correction of border lines between Brazil and Venezuela as drawn by Schomburgk 69

6.2 The ‘De Martens Deal’ 72

6.3 The Netherlands claims the New River as the headwaters of the Corentyne 73

6.4 Britain claims the Curuni-Cutari as the headwaters of the Corentyne 74

6.5 Concluding remarks 78

6.5.1 No refusal by the Netherlands to jointly explore the boundary 78

6.5.2 The Netherlands did not accept Schomburgk’s boundary line 79

6.5.3 England did not act in good faith 80

7 The Dutch government avoids confrontation with England 83

Annexes 131

I. Guyana White Paper on the land border between Guyana and Suriname 132

II. Map of the area west of the Corantyne with the Devil’s Creek in the upper left corner 142

III. The Amical Arrangement of 1799, referred to as ‘Governors Agreement’ 144

IV. Map of Guiana or the ‘Wild Coast’ showing the Corentyne from origin to mouth as early as 1656 145

V. Robert Schomburgk’s sketch map showing the Corentyne to its origin with the ‘Pani’ as its westernmost source river (Retrieved from Schomburgk, Description, 1840) 146

VI. Map showing Schomburgk’s route from Pirara. The ‘Pani’ is drawn in 1843 many times longer than in 1840 (Retrieved from Rivière, 2006, Vol. II, p. 114) 147

VII. The sketch map of the Corentyne produced in 1720 by Sallomon Herman Sanders (Retrieved from TKNAG 1911, p. 652) 148

VIII. Left: The Corentyne as depicted by Robert Schomburgk and right: The Corentyne mapped according to the findings of Charles Barrington Brown (Retrieved from TKNAG 1898) 149

IX. Caricature of the large part of the territory of British Guiana allocated to England according to Schomburgk’s indicated boundaries 150

X. Letter from the Prime Minister of the Netherlands to the Prime Minister of Suriname on the transfer of the territory of the colony of Suriname to the Republic of Suriname 151

XI. The Chaguamaras Protocol 153

XII. Joint Record Meeting British Guiana – Surinam Frontier Question, London, April 20th, 1966 154