BRITISH GUIANA

BRITISH GUIANA.

Definitive stamps.
Location map of Guiana in South America, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Fifth stamp in a set of 15, issued on 01.12.1954.
Face value: 5 Guyanese cents.
Printing: Recess.
Size: 34 x 28 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 203.
- Scott No. 257.
- StampWorld No. 205.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 335.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 189.

British Guiana was a colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, on the northern coast of South America. The first European to encounter Guiana was the English explorer Walter Raleigh in 1595. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle there, starting in the early 17th century, when they founded the colonies of Essequibo and Berbice. The colonies were officially ceded to the United Kingdom in 1814 and consolidated into a single colony in 1831. In 1928 the British Government abolished the Dutch-influenced constitution and replaced it with a Crown colony constitution. The colony's capital was at Georgetown. Guyana became independent of the United Kingdom on May 26, 1966.

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Thanks to Daniel Mathieu for his contribution (http://lettresdumonde.blogspot.com/)

BRITISH GUIANA

BRITISH GUIANA.

Definitive stamps.
Kaieteur Falls and King George VI.
Second stamp in a set of 12, issued on 01.02.1938.
Face value: 2 Guyanese cents.
Printing: Recess.
Size: 28 x 33 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 177.
- Scott No. 231.
- StampWorld No. 179.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 309.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 163.

Kaieteur Falls is a waterfall on the Potaro River, in the central territory of Essequibo, Guyana. It is currently located in the Kaieteur National Park, in the Potaro-Siparuni region, which is claimed by Venezuela as part of the Guayana Esequiba. It is 226 m (741 ft) high. The Potaro River empties into the Essequibo River, which is one of the longest and widest rivers in South America. The first European to see the falls, on April 24, 1870, was Charles Barrington Brown, one of two British geologists appointed as government surveyors for the Colony of British Guiana.

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Thanks to R. Gómez-Val for his contribution.