Talk:Guiana Shield

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Has anybody else heard of Venezuela being referred to as: "Spanish Guiana"?

or Brasil being: "Portuguese Guiana"?

Source: The British Commonwealth Secretariat - On the History of Guyana. CaribDigita 23:36, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

No, but either way, that isn't the usage of "Guiana/Guyana" described in the article, so it sure as heck isn't a Venezuela geo stub. --YixilTesiphon 02:10, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

I looked up this article for information about "Spanish Guiana" after hearing about the new Flag of Venezuela, which adds a eighth star for the former Spanish colonial province of Guayana. According to that article, it seems to be "roughly coterminous with the present" Bolívar State, and also formerly included parts of modern Guyana west of the Essequibo River, although it is also listed as one of the administrative regions of Venezuela including also the states of Amazonas and Delta Amacuro, in other words, all of Venezuela southwest of the Orinoco. It would also presumably include those disputed parts of Guyana west of the Essequibo.

As for "Portuguese Guiana", obviously this is not all of Brazil, but from what I can gather applies to the part north of the Amazon and east of the Rio Negro.

According to the article, "The term The Guianas is often used as a collective name for Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana", which I agree with, but according to Conceptualisation and History of the Guianas:

The ‘Guianas’ is the name or term that applies collectively to that vast area that stretches “between the Amazon and the Orinoco rivers in northern South America...

I do not know what the exact boundaries of the Shield are, so I suppose that the area of Guiana (or the Guaiana Shield) may differ from that of the Guianas Coast, which is delineated by the rivers. --Nike 11:29, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

I, too, had heard of the "Guiana Coast" being described as located (roughly) between the estuaries of the Amazon and the Orinoco. But I think this usage belongs in historical writings about the era of Western European exploration and colonialism. Today, the Amapá and Suriname are not referred to as "Guiana", although the name is used by the other states involved. // Big Adamsky • BA's talk page 12:25, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

I think too the fact that the Guyana/Venezuela border has shifted also accounts for part of this non-clarity. These a nice map on British Guiana that someone uploaded that shows the 1) extereme border territory claimed by Britain(Which is like 1/3 of Venezuela), 2) the somewhat agreed upon line(by both i.e. today's border) and 3) The extreme border territory claimed by Venezuela(which is half of Guyana.) CaribDigita 15:10, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Geologically (which seems to be the main thrust of this article), the Guiana Shield or Craton extends far into Brazil, to the margin of the rift valley in which the Amazon flows. The craton includes more territory within Brazil than in Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana combined; it also includes most of Venezuela south and east of the Orinoco. Rocks of east-central Colombia are also Precambrian and should probably be thought of as part of the Guiana Craton. Just FYI. Cheers--Geologyguy 23:11, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] This article needs a map

Needless to say ... 66.92.53.49 00:23, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Added a simple one, good enough I hope until something better comes along. Geologyguy 02:08, 6 December 2006 (UTC)