The Guayana natural region (Spanish: Región natural de Guayana), also simply known as Guayana (English: Guiana) in Venezuela, is a large massif of approximately 441,726 km (170,551 sq mi) area, equivalent to 48.2% of the total continental territory of the country.
It is on the geological Guiana Shield craton, and is the Venezuelan part of the biogeographic Guayana Highlands and their tepuis (mesas).
British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana.
The first known Europeans to encounter Guiana were Sir Walter Raleigh, an English explorer, and his crew.Raleigh published a book entitled The Discovery of Guiana, but this mainly relates to the Guayana region of Venezuela.