The Birth of the City

 The Dutch First Arrive 

I n the 18th century, the Dutch ruled Guyana as three separate settlements ¾ Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice, each with its own capital. The Dutch founded Demerara, where Georgetown is situated, in 1745-46 with plantations at the river mouth and there must have been some call for protection as the Dutch erected a Brandwagt (signal-station) there in 1748. Later, they established a settlement on three small unnamed islands situated about 32 Km (20 Miles) up the Demerara River. The second largest of these was declared to be the capital of the Dutch settlement, and in 1753, the island was named Booresselen after the representative of the Dutch West India Company, Mr. P.J. Van Booresselen Van Der Hooge. Plantations were, however, still being opened closer to the mouth of the Demerara River. The Brandwagt site was on the riverbank between present day Croal Street and Hadfield Street. Some sources giving the location of St. Andrew’s Kirk as the exact site. The Dutch originally reserved this strip of land extending eastwards from the Brandwagt for public purposes (a desire which was re-introduced in the 1950s but which was never fully implemented).Records indicate that in 1759 it was agreed that Booresselen Island had become unsuitable as a capital as plantations were continually growing up at the mouth of the river. A new site was not then agreed upon, however.

First arrival of the British

In 1781, British forces arrived in Demerara and forced the Dutch settlement to surrender. The British Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Kingston, was mandated to select the site for a new town and to erect a fort. He chose the site at the mouth of the river, erecting Fort St. George, reputedly, where the National Museum now stands. Kingston decided that the “Brandwagt strip” should hold the seat of Government, and during the same year (1781) an office was erected here.

The British are credited with laying out the nucleus of Georgetown following on from the initial layout of plantations during the early years of the Dutch.

The French take Over

On January 31, 1782, the French, who were allies of the Dutch, attacked and demolished Fort St. George, and terms of the British surrender were accepted on 3 rd February of that year. The French commander, Admiral the Comte Kersaint, readily appreciated the strategic value of the site chosen as a Capital City by the British and on 22 nd February 1782, he issued a proclamation deeming it necessary to have a capital which would become a business center, where “religion would have a temple, justice a place, war its arsenals, commerce its counting houses, and industry its factories; where also the inhabitants might enjoy the advantages of social intercourse.” For protection, the French built-bank was named Le Dauphin and was situated on Battery Road, Kingston; the other one, on the western side of the river, was named Le Reine.

With slaves requisitioned from the planters, the French, according to James Roadway, dug two canals running eastwards from the river, on either side of the Dutch Brandwagt. That to the north was called North Canal and it corresponded to the present Croal Street canal; that on the south was the South Canal, corresponding to present Hadfield Street Avenue. (The canal was filled in later). These canals made two lines of building lots looked on to a middle-dam (now Brickdam). There were no cross streets then, and the, development extended for about ¾ mile from the riverbank. This strip, then named Longchamps and also La Novelle Ville (the Newtown) by the French, was the nucleus of Georgetown.

Return of the Dutch

The grand plans of the French Commander had to be continued by others, however, as the colonies of Demerara and Essequibo were restored to the Dutch in 1784. On September 14 1784, by resolution, the new town of Longchamps was renamed Stabroek after the President of the Dutch West India Company, Nicholas Geelvink, Lord of Castricum, Buckum (or Bockman). Stabroek is the oldest ward in Georgetown. The Dutch also renamed the fort Le Dauphin and Fort Williams Frederick. By 1789, Stabroek was a town of 88 houses and 780 inhabitants.

The Dutch probably had the greatest influence on the layout of Georgetown. For example, apparently believing that there was plenty of land for everyone, they laid out house lots of about 19 millimeters (approximately 60ft) by 30 millimeters deep (100ft) allowing for a spacious layout of buildings. Also, for proper drainage of the plantations on the low lying coast, they built numerous canals and kokers (sluices) which have given Georgetown its rectangular grid pattern and, later, it’s much admired tree-lined avenues. Other settlements sprang up around Stabroek, such as Werk-en-Rust and Vlissengen and the capital of Demerara began its expansion and growth.

The British Return and Remain

When the British returned in 1796, the streets of the town were described as very oozy and difficult to walk on after a shower of rain. The central dam in Stabroek was by then paved with bricks, earning the name Brickdam, which it still carries, and Water Street that we know now was a muddy dam, which restrained the river. The Dutch faith in canals and dams did not appeal to the Englishmen and plans were immediately made for a new system of roads. An ordinance to this effect was made in 1797 and the street we now call High Street was the first road constructed in February 1797. In September of the same year, a new burial ground (St. Philips) was laid out in Plantation Werk-en-Rust which was earlier (in March) included in the town limits. During this time, other areas were being developed, including Robbstown and Cummingsburg. For a short period, 1802–1803, Georgetown was again under Dutch rule, and it would appear the plans were drawn up to improve the town. For example, the town architect Mr. Abraham Van Der Hart (1747–1820) of Amsterdam (inHolland) designed a new governmental residence in 1802, but the project was not given any priority. The design had been described as having a stately, but simple façade.

In September 1803, Demerara and Essequibo returned to British rule definitively and all-developmental plans by the Dutch were abandoned.

With sovereignty finally established, the English continued their planned development of Georgetown with more streets being laid down. Example, in 1804, Bourda, Wellington, King and other streets, and in 1805, Camp Street. Also, in 1804, a part of Plantation Vlissengen was converted into a town called Lacytown, by a Mr. Lacy. He built bridges crossing over into Stabroek in the south, and Cummingsburg in the north. The latter town was named after Mr. Thomas Cummings, a Scotsman, and it was described then as a well laid out and quite a respectable district, whilst Kingston, on the other hand, was a village of small consequence.

In 1812, the collection of little “towns” and villages extending from the bridges of Kingston in the north to the sideline of La Penitence in the south was named Georgetown, in honour of the British Prince Regent who later became King George III. The addition of new wards continued and by the 1820s/1830s, other areas such as Eve Leary, Charlestown, and Le Repentir were included in the town. In 1831, the British united the three colonies of Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice as British Guiana and George Town was made the Capital of the colony.

Georgetown (George Town became Georgetown in 1842) had thus grown from a collection of small villages, “towns” and plantations with mud and brick roads, canals and dams, into a well laid-out town of tree-lined avenues and wide streets. On 21 st August 1843, Georgetown was raised to the rank of a city with the colony being declared a Bishop’s see by Queen Victoria.

Outline of the History of Georgetown

G eorgetown is the Capital of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. The City lies at the mouth of the Demerara River on the country’s Atlantic Coast, an area of approximately fifteen square miles. The French first occupied this area in 1782 and built a simple town where Georgetown stands, today, calling it Longchamps or La Nouvelle Ville, and setting stringent building regulations for private buildings in an attempt to guard against the dangers of flood and fire. All buildings within the limits of the town were required to meet these regulations, which included, brick foundations and tiled kitchen areas.

In 1873, when it was reoccupied by the Dutch, the town was renamed Stabroek. At that time, two (2) canals, the Croal Street Canal and the Hadfield Street Canal, bordered the small town. There was one main dam at that time known as Brickdam. The condition, of this town closely resembled those of the Netherlands, the original home of the Dutch. These early settlers soon adopted measures to those used in their homeland to deal with the incursion of the Atlantic to the north and with the water coming from the higher ground to the south.

In 1812, with English occupation, it was renamed Georgetown after the then reigning sovereign George III. The town began to expand and develop and in the early years thereafter, the following wards were added: - Robbstown, Cummingsburg, Kingston and Werk-en-Rust. Under the English administration, a Board of Police controlled the town. However, with the abolition of slavery in the year 1834, the powers of the Board of Police proved unequal to the new conditions and on 1 st March 1837, an Ordinance was passed to establish a Mayor and Town Council. Under the Municipal District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01, Greater Georgetown came into being on 29 th April 1970, which extended the City from 2 ½ square miles to 15 square miles, covering Cummings Lodge on the East Coast to Agricola on the East Bank Demerara.