On the northeastern tip of South America, there are three little countries stacked in a row; anomalies of empire whose imperial histories still have resonance today. Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. One formerly of the British Empire; one formerly of the Dutch Empire; one still an overseas department of France and all speaking the language that their colonial masters left them. Of these, Guyana, formerly British Guyana and the only English-speaking country in South America, has been in the news lately following a referendum in Venezuela where President Maduro invited Venezuelans to decide if a large chunk of Guyana should, in fact, be Venezuelan. Given the vast oil riches off the coast of Guyana, the referendum unsurprisingly passed. Once the sabre-rattling verbal aggression died down, there was agreement that no one wanted to go to war and that the foreign ministers of each country would negotiate a solution over the next three months.
