A mining village, Mango Landing, in a region close to Guyana's border with Venezuela, is home to people of various nationalities including Venezuelans, Brazilians and Guyanese, who live off farming, fishing and artisanal mining.
Essequibo has been administered by Guyana for more than a century and is the subject of border litigation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
In a controversial December 3 referendum, 95 percent of Venezuelan voters allegedly supported Venezuela being declared the rightful owner of Essequibo.