Uitvlugt (pronounced "owt-flut") is a village in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region of

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 ...

. On the coastal public road on the west bank of 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 ...

, it lies immediately to the west of Stewartville and to the south of Zeeburg, about 20 minutes by road from

Vreed-en-Hoop Vreed en Hoop is a village at the mouth of the Demerara River on its west bank, in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region of Guyana, located at sea level. It is the location of the Regional Democratic Council office making it the administrati ...

. The name is Dutch and translates to excuse/pretext, but in this case, it was the surname of Ignatius Uitvlugt, who owned an enormous sugar plantation. The plantation continued as a sugar estate and merged with the neighbouring Leonora estate in 1981. In 1871, the village became known for the sugar factory that is now owned by

GuySuCo The Guyana Sugar Corporation, or GuySuCo, is a Guyanese sugar company owned by the government. It is the country's largest cultivator and producer of sugar, a historically important commodity in the country. They produce Demerara Sugar for export ...

. The sugar factory supplied its sugar via a pipeline to the nearby rum distillery. The rum distillery closed in 1999. As of 2012 the population was 2,980 people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Unusually for the region, the village has seven churches.

References

{{Settlements in Guyana Populated places in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara

See also

References