Essequibo (colony)
Kolonie Essequebo (till 1803) Colony of Essequibo (1803-1812) County of Essequibo (1838-1958) Essequibo | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1616-1812 1838-1958 | |||||||||||
Flag (1616-1792) Indigenous religions | |||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||
• 1616–24 | Adrian Groenewegen | ||||||||||
• 1796–1802 | Abraham Jacob van Imbijze van Batenburg | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
• Commencement of building Fort Kyk-Over-Al | 1616 | ||||||||||
• Established as a Dutch West India Company colony | 1621 | ||||||||||
24–27 February 1781 | |||||||||||
22 January 1782 | |||||||||||
1783 | |||||||||||
• Colony of the Dutch Republic | 1 January 1792 | ||||||||||
27 March 1802 | |||||||||||
• Joined with Demerara to form Demerara-Essequibo | 28 April 1812 | ||||||||||
20 November 1815 | |||||||||||
• Demerara-Essequibo merges with Berbice to become British Guiana | 21 July 1831 | ||||||||||
• County of Essequibo | 1838 | ||||||||||
• Merged into the new regions | 1958 | ||||||||||
Currency | Spanish dollar, Dutch guilder, British Guiana dollar, British West Indies dollar | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Today part of | Guyana | ||||||||||
|
History of Guyana | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
|
||||
Guyana portal | ||||
Essequibo (
History
Essequibo was founded by colonists from the first Zeelandic colony, Pomeroon conquered in 1581, which had been destroyed by Spaniards and local warriors around 1596. Led by Joost van der Hooge, the Zeelanders founded Fort Kyk-Over-Al in the Essequibo river (actually a side-river called the Mazaruni). This location was chosen because of its strategic location and the trade with the local population. Van der Hooge encountered an older ruined Portuguese fort there (the Portuguese arms had been hewn into the rock above the gate). Using funds of the West Indian Company (WIC), van der Hooge built a new fort called "Fort Ter Hoogen" from 1616 to 1621, though the fort quickly became known amongst the inhabitants as Fort Kyk-Over-Al (English: Fort See-everywhere). The administration of the West Indian Company as well as the governor of the entire colony settled here in 1621.
Initially, the colony was named Nova Zeelandia (New Zeeland), but the usage of the name Essequibo soon became common. On the southern shore of the river the hamlet Cartabo was built, containing 12 to 15 houses. Around the river, plantations were created where slaves cultivated
In 1658, cartographer
The Chamber of the WIC in Zeeland kept control over the colonies, which sometimes led to criticism from The Chamber of the WIC in Amsterdam, who also wanted to start plantation there. The Zeelanders however, had established the colony by themselves, and after they retook possession of Essequibo under command of the commander of Fort Nassau Bergen in 1666, they considered themselves as rightful rulers of the region. Under governor Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande, English planters started coming to the colony after 1740.
After 1745, the number of plantations along the Demerara and her side-rivers rapidly increased. Particularly, British colonists from Barbados began settling here. After 1750 a commander of the British population was assigned, giving them their own representation. Around 1780 a small central settlement was established at the mouth of the Demerara, which received the name Stabroek in 1784, named after one of the directors of the West Indian Company.
A group of British privateers
In 1796 it was permanently occupied by the British and by 1800, Essequibo and Demerara collectively held around 380 sugarcane plantations.
Border disputes
At the
But it also became involved in one of Latin America's most persistent border disputes because the new colony had the Essequibo river as its west border with the Spanish Captaincy General of Venezuela. Although Spain still claimed the region, the Spanish did not contest the treaty because they were preoccupied with their own colonies' struggles for independence. On 21 July 1831, Demerara-Essequibo was united with Berbice to create British Guiana
In 1835 the British government asked German explorer
The discovery of gold in the contested area in the late 1850s reignited the dispute. British settlers moved into the region and the
For two years, the tribunal consisting of two Britons, two Americans, and a Russian studied the case in Paris (France). Their unanimous decision, handed down in 1899, awarded 94 percent of the disputed territory to British Guiana. Venezuela received only the mouths of the Orinoco River and a short stretch of the
In 1958, the county of Essequibo was abolished when Guiana was subdivided into districts. Historical Essequibo was divided in 1958,[7] and is part of a number of Guyanese administrative regions and the name is preserved in the regions of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara and Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo.[6]
In 1962, under
Governors
Governors of Essequibo
- Adrian Groenewegen (1616 – 24)
- Jacob Conijn (1624 – 27)
- Jan van der Goes (1627 – 38)
- Cornelis Pieterszoon Hose (1638 – 41)
- Andriaen van der Woestijne (1641 – 44)
- Andriaen Janszoon (1644 – 16..)
- Aert Adriaenszoon Groenewegel (1657 – 64)
- John Scott (1665 – 66)
- Abraham Crijnssen (1666)
- Adriaen Groenewegel (1666)
- Baerland (1667–70)
- Hendrik Bol (1670 – 76)
- Jacob Hars (1676 – 78)
- Abraham Beekman (1678 – 90)
- Samuel Beekman (2 November 1690 – 10 December 1707)
- Peter van der Heyden Resen (10 December 1707 – 24 July 1719)
- Laurens de Heere (24 July 1719 – 12 October 1729)
- Hermanus Gelskerke (d. 1742) (12 October 1729 – April 1742)
- Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande (d. 1775) (April 1743 – 50)[11]
- Robert Nicholson (27 February 1781 – 82)
- Abraham Jacob van Imbijze van Batenburg (22 April 1796 – 27 March 1802)
Directors-general
- Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande (1752 – 2 November 1772)[11]
- George Hendrik Trotz (2 November 1772 – 81)
Commanders of Essequibo
- Albert Siraut des Touches (1784)
- Johannes Cornelis Bert (1784 – 87)
- Albertus Backer (1st time) (1787 – 89)
- Gustaaf Eduard Meijerhelm (1789 – 91)
- Matthijs Thierens (1791 – 93)
- Albertus Backer (2nd time) (1793 – 22 April 1796)
- George Hendrik Trotz (27 March 1802 – September 1803)
Lieutenant governors of Demerara and Essequibo
- Robert Nicholson (September 1803 – 18 August 1804)
- Antony Beaujon (18 August 1804 – 17 October 1805)
- James Montgomery (acting) (19 October 1805 – 8 May 1806)
- Henry William Bentinck (*1765 – †1821) (8 May 1806 – February 1812)
- Hugh Lyle Carmichael (*1764 – †1813) (February 1812 – 11 May 1813)
- E. Codd (acting) (11 May 1813 – 23 May 1813)
- John Murray (23 May 1813 – 26 April 1824)
- Sir Benjamin d'Urban(26 April 1824 – 21 July 1831)
See also
Notes
- ^ Luttenberg, G. (1840). Register der wetten en besluiten: betrekkelijk het openbaar bestuur in de Nederlanden,over het tijdvak van 1796 tot en met 1839 : nwe verm. en verb. uitg (in Dutch). Doijer.
- ^ Kampen, Nicolaas Godfried van (1832). Geschiedenis der Nederlanders buiten Europa, of verhaal van de togten, ontdekkingen, oorlogen, veroveringen en inrigtingen der Nederlanders in Azië, Afrika, Amerika en Australië, van het laatste der zestiende eeuw tot op dezen tijd (in Dutch). Erven François Bohn.
- ^ This map has not been recovered but used in later maps
- ^ "No. 12181". The London Gazette. 21 April 1781. p. 1.
- ^ Henry (1855), p.239.
- ^ a b Regions of Guyana at Statoids.com. Updated 20 June 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- ^ "ADMIN REGIONS DETAILED – GUYANA LANDS AND SURVEYS COMMISSION'S FACT PAGE ON GUYANA". Retrieved 2021-03-16.
- ^ a b Schoenrich, Otto, "The Venezuela-British Guiana Boundary Dispute", July 1949, American Journal of International Law. Vol. 43, No. 3. p. 523. Washington, DC. (USA).
- ^ Isidro Morales Paúl, Análisis Crítico del Problema Fronterizo "Venezuela-Gran Bretaña", in La Reclamación Venezolana sobre la Guayana Esequiba, Biblioteca de la Academia de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales. Caracas, 2000, p. 200.
- ^ de Rituerto, Ricardo M. Venezuela reanuda su reclamación sobre el Esequibo, El País, Madrid, 1982.
- ^ a b P.J. Blok & P.C. Molhuysen (1927). "Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 7". Digital Library for Dutch Literature (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 August 2020.
- ^ "Demerara-Essequibo". Rulers. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
References
- Henry, Dalton G. (1855) The History of British Guiana: Comprising a General Description of the Colony: A narrative of some of the principal events from the earliest period of products and natural history.
- Paasman, A.N., (1984) Reinhart: Nederlandse literatuur en slavernij ten tijde van de Verlichting, 4.1: Korte geschiedenis van de kolonie Guiana