Borsselen (also Borslem) is an island in the

Demerara River The Demerara River is a river in eastern Guyana that rises in the central rainforests of the country and flows to the north for 346 kilometres until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. Georgetown, Guyana's largest seaport and capital, is situated o ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, and was the capital of

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) 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 ...

between 1755 and 1782.

History

In 1745,

was created as a separate colony out of Essequibo, and was initially governed from Essequibo. The colony grew rapidly, and attracted many English planters. In 1755, Gedney Clarke, a Barbados merchant requested political representation, therefore the administration was moved to the island of Borsselen, upriver near plantation

Soesdyke Soesdyke is a village in the Demerara-Mahaica Region (Region 4), Guyana, located between the Demerara River and the East Bank Public Road. Soesdyke is located just after the village called Den Heuvel (Coverden) if you are coming from Georgetown, w ...

which was owned by the Governor

Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande (12 October 1704 – 14 August 1775) was a Dutch governor of the colonies of Essequibo and Demerara from 1743 to 1772. He turned Demerara in a successful plantation colony, and the borders of Guyana are mainly ba ...

. Two administrative buildings, a small fort and barracks were built on the island. The decision was criticised, because the island was hard to defend, and the planters had started to build houses around the guard post near the mouth of the river. In 1765,

Jan Cornelis van den Heuvel Baron Jan Cornelis van den Heuvel (December 23, 1742 – May 6, 1826) was a Dutch born plantation owner and politician who served as governor of the Dutch province of Demerara from 1765 to 1770 and later became a merchant in New York City with the ...

became governor of Demarara. Van den Heuvel owned plantation de Parel across from the island, but the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...

forced him to move to the island with his assistants and clerks. Arguments about the island continued for many years. The settlement near the guard post became known as

Stabroek :''Georgetown, Guyana was known as Stabroek prior to 1812.'' Stabroek () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of and Stabroek proper. In 2021, Stabroek had a total population of 18,6 ...

, and in 1782 became the capital of the colony. In 1812, the town was renamed to Georgetown.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{cite book, last1=Storm van 's Gravesande, first1=Laurens, last2=Villiers, first2=J.A.J. de, year=1920, url=https://www.delpher.nl/nl/boeken/view?coll=boeken&identifier=MMKB02:100001562:00056, title=Storm van 's Gravesande: zijn werk en zijn leven uit zijne brieven opgebouwd, language=nl, location=The Hague, publisher=Nijhoff

External links

The Wonderful Demerara River
(featuring a picture of the island) Demerara Geography of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara History of Guyana Populated places in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara River islands of Guyana