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Guyana THE COMING OF THE EUROPEANS
Although Columbus sighted the Guyanese coast in 1498, during
his third voyage to the Americas, the Dutch were the first
Europeans to settle what is now Guyana. The Netherlands had
obtained independence from Spain in the late 1500s and by the early
1600s had emerged as a major commercial power, trading with the
fledgling English and French colonies in the Lesser Antilles. In
1616 the Dutch established the first European settlement in the
area of Guyana, a trading post twenty-five kilometers upstream from
the mouth of the Essequibo River. Other settlements followed,
usually a few kilometers inland on the larger rivers. The initial
purpose of the Dutch settlements was trade with the indigenous
people. The Dutch aim soon changed to acquisition of territory as
other European powers gained colonies elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Although Guyana was claimed by the Spanish, who sent periodic
patrols through the region, the Dutch gained control over the
region early in the seventeenth century. Dutch sovereignty was
officially recognized with the signing of the Treaty of Munster in
1648.
In 1621 the government of the Netherlands gave the newly formed
Dutch West India Company complete control over the trading post on
the Essequibo. This Dutch commercial concern administered the
colony, known as Essequibo, for more than 170 years. The company
established a second colony, on the Berbice River southeast of
Essequibo, in 1627. Although under the general jurisdiction of this
private group, the settlement, named Berbice, was governed
separately. Demerara, situated between Essequibo and Berbice, was
settled in 1741 and emerged in 1773 as a separate colony under
direct control of the Dutch West India Company.
Although the Dutch colonizers initially were motivated by the
prospect of trade in the Caribbean, their possessions became
significant producers of crops. The growing importance of
agriculture was indicated by the export of 15,000 kilograms of
tobacco from Essequibo in 1623. But as the agricultural
productivity of the Dutch colonies increased, a labor shortage
emerged. The indigenous populations were poorly adapted for work on
plantations, and many people died from diseases introduced by the
Europeans. The Dutch West India Company turned to the importation
of African slaves, who rapidly became a key element in the colonial
economy. By the 1660s, the slave population numbered about 2,500;
the number of indigenous people was estimated at 50,000, most of
whom had retreated into the vast hinterland. Although African
slaves were considered an essential element of the colonial
economy, their working conditions were brutal. The mortality rate
was high, and the dismal conditions led to more than half a dozen
slave rebellions.
The most famous slave uprising began in February 1763. On two
plantations on the Canje River in Berbice, slaves rebelled, taking
control of the region. As plantation after plantation fell to the
slaves, the European population fled; eventually only half of the
whites who had lived in the colony remained. Led by Cuffy (now the
national hero of Guyana), the rebels came to number about 3,000 and
threatened European control over the Guianas. The insurgents were
defeated with the assistance of troops from neighboring French and
British colonies and from Europe.
One of the most significant Dutch legacies in Guyana was the
method of land management. Settlement and agriculture initially
were limited to a belt of land extending 50 to 150 kilometers
upriver. The marshy coast flooded at high tide and did not appear
conducive to European settlement. The prospect of large profits for
tropical agricultural products, especially sugar, led to the
reclamation of coastal lands in the second half of the 1700s. The
Dutch were eminently suited to this task, having originated the
polder system, a technique by which a tract of usable land is
created by damming and then draining a water-covered area. Using
this system, the Dutch created a coastal plain that remains one of
Guyana's most productive plantation areas.
The polder system entailed the use of a front dam, or facade,
along the shorefront. This dam was supported by a back dam of the
same length and two connecting side dams, which formed a
rectangular tract of land known as a polder. The dams kept the salt
water out, and fresh water was managed by a network of canals that
provided drainage, irrigation, and a system of transportation. The
labor for the ""polderization"" of Guyana's coast was provided by
the Dutch colony's African slaves.
Data as of January 1992
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