GUIANA, GUYANA, or GUAYANA, an extensive territory in the north-eastern part of South America, comprehending in its widest acceptance all that extent of country lying between the rivers Amazon and Orinoco, between Lat. 3. 30. S., and 8. 40. N., and Long. 50. 22., and 68. 10. W. It is bounded on the N. by the Orinoco and the Atlantic, E. by the Atlantic, S. by the Amazon and the Rio Negro, and W. by the Orinoco and the Cassiquiare. Its greatest length from E. to W. is about 1200 miles, and its greatest breadth about 850 miles; estimated area 700,000 square miles. This vast territory is divided into Brazilian (formerly Portuguese) Guiana, Venezuelan (formerly Spanish) Guiana, and Colonial Guiana. The two former, comprising about five-sixths of the entire region, are now included within the limits of their respective countries; while Colonial Guiana is that to which the general term of Guiana is now commonly applied. It is subdivided into British, Dutch, and French Guiana.