Dutch Guiana

This article is about the specific polity Dutch Guiana and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.

If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics

The Dutch started the colonisation of modern-day Guyana's coast in 1616 when they founded the city of Essequibo.

Establishment

January 1617: Essequibo was founded by colonists from the first Zeelandic colony, Pomeroon, which had been destroyed by Spaniards and local warriors around 1596. Led by Joost van der Hooge, the Zeelanders travelled to an island called 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).

Chronology

Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

1. American Revolutionary War

Was the war of independence of the United States of America (at the time the Thirteen Colonies) against Great Britain.

1.1.Fourth Anglo-Dutch War

Was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic during the American Revolutionary War.

April 1781: During the American Revolutionary War, the British military under the command of Sir George Rodney and Sir John Vaughan captured the Dutch colonies of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo in 1781. This was part of the British strategy to secure control over the valuable sugar-producing colonies in the Caribbean.

2. Seven Years´ War

Was a global conflict that involved most of the European great powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. At the end of the war the main winner was Great Britain, that obtained territories in North America, the Caribbean and India, becoming the most powerful maritime and colonial of the European powers.

2.1.Treaty of Paris (1763)

Was a treaty signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, after Great Britain and Prussia's victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years' War.

September 1783: The territories of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo were restored to the Dutch with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

3. French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Were a series of conflicts between France and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars against the newly declared French Republic and from 1803 onwards the Napoleonic Wars against First Consul and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. They include the Coalition Wars as a subset: seven wars waged by various military alliances of great European powers, known as Coalitions, against Revolutionary France - later the First French Empire - and its allies.

3.1.War of the First Coalition

Were a series of wars between the Kingdom of France (later the French Republic) and several European Monarchies. The French Revolution had deteriorated the relations of France with the other European countries, that tried several times to invade France in order to crash the revolutionary government.

April 1796: The colony was on 22 April 1796 again captured by Britain, however who now remained in possession of the colony until 27 March 1802, when Berbice was restored to the Batavian Republic under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.

3.2.French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars - Theatre of war in the overseas colonies

The theatre of war in the overseas colonies during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

January 1797: Eseequibo annexed by the British.

January 1797: The British forces, led by Sir Ralph Abercromby and Lieutenant Colonel Alured Clarke, recaptured the territories of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice from the Dutch in 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars. This military occupation solidified British control over the region.

October 1803: In September 1803 the British occupied Berbice again, this time for good.

January 1804: The British again occupied Essequibo during the Napoleonic Wars.

January 1804: Birtish reconquest of the Demerara territories.

3.3.War of the Second Coalition

Was the second war that saw revolutionary France against most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria, and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples, and various German monarchies. Prussia did not join this coalition, and Spain supported France.

March 1802: In 1802, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens, ending the war of the War of the Second Coalition. Britain returned most of occupied Dutch Guiana to the Batavian Republic.

3.3.1.Treaty of Amiens

Was a treaty between France and Great Britain that ended the War of the Second Coalition.

March 1802: At the Peace of Amiens (1802), the Netherlands received the Essequibo colony for a short time.

4. Further events (Unrelated to Any War)

January 1628: Berbice was settled in 1627 by the businessman Abraham van Peere from Vlissingen, under the suzerainty of the Dutch West India Company.

January 1651: An attempt to colonize the Pomeroon River mouth was started by the British in 1650.

January 1666: Essequibo was occupied by the British in 1665.

January 1671: In 1670, the Chamber of the West India Company (WIC) in Zeeland, Netherlands, regained control of the Essequibo colony in South America.

January 1690: French privateers destroyed the colony of Pomeroon in 1689.

January 1713: In November 1712, Berbice was briefly occupied by the French under Jacques Cassard, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.

February 1713: In November 1712, Berbice was briefly occupied by the French privateer Jacques Cassard, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. The Dutch regained control in 1713 when the territory was transferred to Dutch Guiana.

January 1753: The Dutch were the first Europeans to establish colonies: Demerara.