Schomburgk Line

The dispute arose because when the United Kingdom acquired British Guiana (known as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice until 1831) from the Netherlands in 1814, the western border with Venezuela was not defined.

The United States expressed concern but did little in the way of resolving the situation, until Venezuela's hiring of William L. Scruggs as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. brought the dispute to a head in the shape of the Venezuelan crisis of 1895.

The key issue in the crisis became Britain's refusal to include in the proposed international arbitration the territory east of the Schomburgk Line.

[1] The first deviation from the Schomburgk line was that Venezuela's territory included Barima Point at the mouth of the Orinoco, giving it undisputed control of the river, and thus the ability to levy duties on Venezuelan commerce.

[3] On a related issue the southern boundary between British Guiana and Brazil was settled after arbitration by the King of Italy in 1904, where Schomburgk's survey also played a role.