Demerara

Demerara grew along the lower river of the same name on the Guiana coast. The Dutch opened the district to plantation settlement in 1745, separating it from Essequibo. In 1755 the administration moved to Borsselen, an island some thirty kilometres upriver, near the plantation of Governor Laurens Storm van ’s Gravesande. The settlement at the river mouth later became Stabroek and replaced Borsselen as the colonial capital in 1782.