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Guyana TRANSITION TO BRITISH RULE
Eager to attract more settlers, in 1746 the Dutch authorities
opened the area near the Demerara River to British immigrants.
British plantation owners in the Lesser Antilles had been plagued
by poor soil and erosion, and many were lured to the Dutch colonies
by richer soils and the promise of landownership. The influx of
British citizens was so great that by 1760 the English constituted
a majority of the population of Demerara. By 1786 the internal
affairs of this Dutch colony were effectively under British
control.
As economic growth accelerated in Demerara and Essequibo,
strains began to appear in the relations between the planters and
the Dutch West India Company. Administrative reforms during the
early 1770s had greatly increased the cost of government. The
company periodically sought to raise taxes to cover these
expenditures and thereby provoked the resistance of the planters.
In 1781 a war broke out between the Netherlands and Britain, which
resulted in the British occupation of Berbice, Essequibo, and
Demerara. Some months later, France, allied with the Netherlands,
seized control of the colonies. The French governed for two years,
during which they constructed a new town, Longchamps, at the mouth
of the Demerara River. When the Dutch regained power in 1784, they
moved their colonial capital to Longchamps, which they renamed
Stabroeck. The capital eventually would become known as Georgetown
(see
fig. 1).
The return of Dutch rule reignited the conflict between the
planters of Essequibo and Demerara and the Dutch West India
Company. Disturbed by plans for an increase in the slave tax and a
reduction in their representation on the colony's judicial and
policy councils, the colonists petitioned the Dutch government to
consider their grievances. In response, a special committee was
appointed, which proceeded to draw up a report called the Concept
Plan of Redress. This document called for far-reaching
constitutional reforms and later became the basis of the British
governmental structure. The plan proposed a decision-making body to
be known as the Court of Policy. The judiciary was to consist of
two courts of justice, one serving Demerara and the other
Essequibo. The membership of the Court of Policy and of the courts
of justice would consist of company officials and planters who
owned more than twenty-five slaves. The Dutch commission that was
assigned the responsibility of implementing this new system of
government returned to the Netherlands with extremely unfavorable
reports concerning the Dutch West India Company's administration.
The company's charter therefore was allowed to expire in 1792 and
the Concept Plan of Redress was put into effect in Demerara and
Essequibo. Renamed the United Colony of Demerara and Essequibo, the
area then came under the direct control of the Dutch government.
Berbice maintained its status as a separate colony.
The catalyst for formal British takeover was the French
Revolution and the resulting Napoleonic Wars. In 1795 the French
occupied the Netherlands. The British declared war on France and in
1796 launched an expeditionary force from Barbados to occupy the
Dutch colonies. The British takeover was bloodless, and local Dutch
administration of the colony was left relatively uninterrupted
under the constitution provided by the Concept Plan of Redress.
Both Berbice and the United Colony of Demerara and Essequibo
were under British control from 1796 to 1802. By means of the
Treaty of Amiens, both were returned to Dutch control. Peace was
short-lived, however. War between Britain and France resumed in
less than a year, and the United Colony and Berbice were seized
once more by British troops. At the London Convention of 1814, both
colonies were formally ceded to Britain. In 1831, Berbice and the
United Colony of Demerara and Essequibo were unified as British
Guiana. The colony would remain under British control until
independence in 1966.
Data as of January 1992
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