Discover

'Berbice' is a region in Guyana, sometimes known as the "ancient county." The Berbice River runs through it. It is a former Dutch colony, as is evidenced by the existence of the nearly extinct Berbice Creole Dutch ( based on lexicon and grammar on the West African language of Ijo).
Berbice was settled in 1627 by the Dutchman Abraham Van Pere. A few years later Suriname was settled by Lord Willoughby and Lawrence Hyde under a grant from the English King, Charles II. In the beginning, therefore, Suriname was a British and Berbice a Dutch possession.
In November 1712 Berbice was briefly occupied by the French under Baron de Mouans. From 27 Feb 1781 to Feb 1782 British forces occupied Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice (subordinated to Barbados). From February 1782 to 1784 the French occupied Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo. In 1784 Berbice was restored to the Netherlands.
On 22 April 1796 the British occupied the territory. On 27 March 1802 Berbice was restored to the Batavian Republic (the then-current name of the Netherlands). In September 1803 the British occupied the territory again. On 13 August 1814 Berbice became a British colony. The colony was formally ceded to Britain by the Netherlands on 20 November 1815. On 21 July 1831 Berbice was united with Demerara-Essequibo as British Guiana.

Contents

Commanders

Governors

Lieutenant governors

See also

Commanders

★ Matthijs Bergenaar (1666 - 1671)

★ Cornelis Marinus (1671 - 1683)

★ Gideon Bourse (1683 - 1684)

★ Lucas Coudrie (1684 - 1687)

★ Matthijs de Feer (1687 - 1712)

★ Steven de Waterman (1712 - 1714)

★ Anthony Tierens (1714 - 1733)

Governors

★ Bernhardt Waterman (1733 - 1740)

★ Jan Andries Lossner (1740 - 1749)

★ Jan Frederik Colier (1749 - 1755)

★ Hendrik Jan van Rijswijck (1755 - 1759)

★ Wolfert Simon van Hoogenheim (1760 - 1764)

★ Johan Heijlinger (1764 - 1767)

★ Stephen Hendrik de la Sabloniere (1768 - 1773)

★ Johan Christoffel de Winter (1773 - 1774)

★ Isaac Kaecks (1774 - 1777)

★ Peter Hendrik Koppiers (1st time) (1778 - 27 Feb 1781)

★ Robert Kingston (27 Feb 1781 - 1782)

★ Louis Antoine Dazemard de Lusignan (1782)

★ Armand Guy Simon de Coëtnempren, comte de Kersaint (1782) (b. 1742 - d. 1793)

★ Georges Manganon de la Perrière (1783 - 1784)

★ Peter Hendrik Koppiers (2nd time) (1784 - 1789)

★ Abraham Jacob van Imbijze van Batenburg (1st time, acting to 1794) (1789 - 27 Mar 1802)

★ J.C.W. Herlin and G. Kobus (acting) (27 Mar 1802 - Sep 1803)

★ Robert Nicholson (Sep 1803 - Jun 1804)

★ Abraham Jacob van Imbijze van Batenburg (2nd time) (Jun 1804 - 1806)

Lieutenant governors

★ Robert Nicholson (1806 - 1807)

★ James Montgomery (1807 - 1809)

★ William Woodly (1809 - 1810)

★ Samuel Dalrymple (1810)

★ Robert Gordon (1st time) (1810 - 1812)

★ John Murry (1812 - 1813)

★ Robert Gordon (2nd time) (1813)

★ Grant (acting) (1813 - 1814)

★ Henry William Bentinck (1814 - 1820)

★ Thistlewayte (acting) (1820 - 1821)

★ J. Cameron (acting) (1821)

★ Henry Beard (1821 - 21 Jul 1831)

See also

★ History of Guyana