Victoria is located on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

coast of

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, east of Georgetown and bordered by Cove and John to the west and Belfield to the east. It was the first village in Guyana to be bought by the combined resources of Africans who had recently won their freedom from slavery. The village is often also claimed to be the first African village that was bought by freed slaves from the

trans-Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage. Europeans est ...

History

The community was initially established as a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

called Fort Wellington. In November 1839, 83 ex-slaves from five nearby estates (Douchfour, Ann's Grove, Hope,

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

and Enmore) pooled their resources and bought Plantation Northbrook for 30,000 guilders, or $10,283.63. Each of the 83 owned one lot of land. After its purchase it was renamed Victoria, presumably in honor of England's

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, although some suggest it may have been named as such in honor of the freed slaves' victory. It is credited with one of the first codes of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

in Guyana, established in 1845. The village grew up to become one of the leading exporters of products made from

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

s and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

. The first church built there, a Congregationalist church, named after

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

, the abolitionist, was erected in 1845. A memorial tablet was placed in the church honoring William Africa Baptiste, known as 'Boss Africa', who became accepted as the Father of the village. Baptiste, who died in 1881, was the first village schoolmaster. Wilberforce Congregational Church at Victoria still stands today. Pioneering Guyanese playwright, Bertram Charles was born in Victoria and in 1963, organized a series of Creole Breakfasts in order to stimulate artistic and cultural life in the area. . William Nicholas Arno's ''History of Victoria Village'' gives an account of the origins and development of the village.

Notes

Guyana Jottings

reprinted at Land of Six Peoples

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Demerara-Mahaica 1830s in British Guiana 1839 in South America 1839 in the British Empire