Fort Nassau | |
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Part of Berbice | |
![]() Fort Nassau | |
Coordinates | 5°45′09″N57°39′42″W / 5.752515°N 57.661728°W |
Site history | |
Built | 1627 |
Garrison information | |
Occupants | Netherlands (1627–1815) |
Fort Nassau was the capital of the Dutch colony of Berbice, in present-day Guyana. It was situated on the Berbice River approximately 88 kilometres upstream from New Amsterdam.
About 1627 Abraham van Peere, a Dutch settler in Guyana, sought permission from the Zeeland Chamber of the Dutch West India Company to settle in Berbice. His intention was to exploit the resources of Berbice by trading with the indigenous Amerindians. Van Pere intended to do this mainly by planting export crops, such as sugar, tobacco, cotton and annatto, as well as by exporting minerals. In return for the permission that was granted to Van Pere, he was asked to give the Dutch West India Company one-fifth of his income from the sale of gold, silver and other precious stones.
Van Pere built a fort about 80 kilometres (50 mi) up the Berbice River which he named Nassau, after Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, who subsequently became the conqueror of a large part of Brazil. This settlement was started by Van Pere with about 40 men and 20 boys.
The settlement around Fort Nassau became a successful trading post. The Dutch bartered goods such as knives, hardware and cloth for tobacco and annatto. Slaves from Africa were few and the Dutch were dependent on the goodwill of the indigenous inhabitants who sold them Amerindian slaves captured and taken from other tribes. The settlers who were involved in this Amerindian slave trade dissipated their energies and affected the settlement adversely. There was little progress.
The original fort was burnt by the French when they attacked Berbice in 1712, but it was rebuilt by the Dutch. In 1733, a village which had sprung up around Fort Nassau was named New Amsterdam (Dutch : Nieuw Amsterdam). The fort was later destroyed by order of Governor Van Hoogenheim in 1763 to prevent its capture by the slaves during the Berbice Slave Uprising.
The fort and the village were abandoned in 1785 in favour of Fort Sint Andries, situated further downstream, at the confluence of the Berbice with the Canje River. This new settlement eventually became the town of New Amsterdam, and is still known by that name in contemporary Guyana. [1]
The remains of Fort Nassau were declared a National Monument by the Guyanese government in 1999. Recently, efforts have been started to preserve the fort. [2] [3]
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading factory gave rise to the settlement around Fort Amsterdam. The fort was situated on the strategic southern tip of the island of Manhattan and was meant to defend the fur trade operations of the Dutch West India Company in the North River. In 1624, it became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625. New Amsterdam became a city when it received municipal rights on February 2, 1653.
New Netherland was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the east coast of what is now the United States of America. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
The Netherlands began its colonization of the Americas with the establishment of trading posts and plantations, which preceded the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. While the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600, the first forts and settlements along the Essequibo River in Guyana date from the 1590s. Actual colonization, with the Dutch settling in the new lands, was not as common as by other European nations.
Demerara is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 until 1815. It was merged with Essequibo in 1812 by the British who took control. It formally became a British colony in 1815 until Demerara-Essequibo was merged with Berbice to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831. In 1838, it became a county of British Guiana until 1958. In 1966, British Guiana gained independence as Guyana and in 1970 it became a republic as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. It was located around the lower course of the Demerara River, and its main settlement was Georgetown.
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Coffy, also spelled as Cuffy, Kofi or Koffi, was an Akan man who was captured in his native West Africa and stolen for slavery to work on the plantations of the Dutch colony of Berbice in present-day Guyana. In 1763, he led a major slave revolt of more than 3,800 slaves against the colonial regime. Today, he is a national hero in Guyana.
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The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, is a region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guyanas: Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch and French Guyana. Broadly it refers to the South American coast from the mouth of the Oronoco to the mouth of the Amazon.
Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 and 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the latter year, it was merged with Demerara-Essequibo to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831. It became a county of British Guiana in 1838 till 1958. In 1966, British Guiana gained independence as Guyana and in 1970 it became a republic as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
Essequibo was a Dutch colony in the Guianas and later a county on the Essequibo River in the Guiana region on the north coast of South America. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1616 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 until 1815. It was merged with Demerara in 1812 by the British who took control. It formally became a British colony in 1815 until Demerara-Essequibo was merged with Berbice to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831. In 1838, it became a county of British Guiana till 1958. In 1966, British Guiana gained independence as Guyana and in 1970 it became a republic as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. It was located around the lower course of the Essequibo River.
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The Berbice slave uprising was a slave revolt in Guyana that began on 23 February 1763 and lasted to December, with leaders including Coffy. The first major slave revolt in South America, it is seen as a major event in Guyana's anti-colonial struggles, and when Guyana became a republic in 1970 the state declared 23 February as a day to commemorate the start of the Berbice slave revolt.
The Dutch Empire is a term comprising different territories that were controlled by the Netherlands from the 17th to 20th centuries. They settled outside Europe with skills in trade and transport. In the late 16th century, the Netherlands reclaimed their lead at sea, and by the second half of the 17th century, dominated it. This hundred-year period is called the Dutch Golden Age. The Dutch built their empire with corporate colonialism by establishing the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (GWC), following Britain's footsteps, which led to war between both empires. After the French Revolutionary Wars, the Netherlands lost most of its power to the British after the French armies invaded the Netherlands and parts of the Dutch colonies. Hence, Dutch leaders had to defend their colonies and homeland. Between 1795 and 1814, the French restored the VOC in Indonesia and Suriname which remained under Dutch control.
Jan van Ryen was a 17th-century Dutch privateer, explorer, and colonist. He was granted a commission by the Dutch West Indies Company and active against the Spanish in the West Indies during the 1620s. He and Claude Prevost attempted to establish Dutch colonies in Guyana, although they both failed with most Dutch colonists being killed by natives in 1627. However, Zeelandian merchant Abraham van Peere was able to found a successful colony in the area shortly after.
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