page_title: British Guiana
section_title: Stamps and postal history of British Guiana
hierarchical_section_title: British Guiana / Stamps and postal history of British Guiana
caption_attribution_description: English: Stamp of British Guiana
context_page_description: British Guiana was a former British colony, part of the British West Indies, which resided on the northern coast of South America, now known as the independent nation of Guyana since 1966.
  The first European to encounter Guiana was Sir Walter Raleigh, an English explorer. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle there, starting in the early 17th century, when they founded the colonies of Essequibo and Berbice, adding Demerara in the mid-18th century. In 1796, Great Britain took over these three colonies during hostilities with the French, who had occupied the Netherlands. Britain returned control to the Batavian Republic in 1802 but captured the colonies a year later during the Napoleonic Wars. The colonies were officially ceded to the United Kingdom in 1814 and consolidated into a single colony in 1831. The colony's capital was at Georgetown.
  The economy has become more diversified since the late 19th century but has relied on resource exploitation. Guyana became independent of the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966.
context_section_description: British Guiana is famous among philatelists for its early postage stamps, which were first issued in 1850. These stamps include some of the rarest, most expensive stamps in the world, such as the unique British Guiana 1c magenta from 1856, which was sold in 2014 for US$9.5 million.
caption: Stamp with a portrait of King George VI, 1938
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