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Berbice
Kolonie Berbice (1627–1803) Colony of Berbice (1803–1831) County of Berbice (1838–1958) Berbice | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1627–1831 1838–1958 | |||||||||
  Flag (1627–1792) Flag (1803–1831) | |||||||||
 Berbice around 1780. | |||||||||
| Status |
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| Capital | Fort Nassau (1627–1785) Fort Sint Andries (1785–1815) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Dutch, Berbice Creole Dutch, English, Guyanese Creole, Guyanese Hindustani (Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani), Tamil, South Asian languages, African languages, Akawaio, Macushi, Waiwai, Arawakan, Patamona, Warrau, Carib, Wapishana, Arekuna, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese | ||||||||
| Religion | Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Afro-American religions, Traditional African religions, Indigenous religions | ||||||||
| Governing company | |||||||||
• 1627–1712 | Van Peere family | ||||||||
• 1714–1815 | Society of Berbice | ||||||||
• 1627 | Abraham van Peere | ||||||||
• 1789–1802 | Abraham Jacob van Imbijze van Batenburg | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established as a Dutch West India Company colony | 1627 | ||||||||
| November 1712–24 October 1714 | |||||||||
| 24 October 1720–1821 | |||||||||
| 24–27 February 1781 | |||||||||
| 22 January 1782 | |||||||||
| 1783 | |||||||||
• Colony of the Dutch Republic | 1 January 1792 | ||||||||
| 27 March 1802 | |||||||||
| 20 November 1815 | |||||||||
• Berbice merges with Demerara-Essequibo to become British Guiana | 21 July 1831 | ||||||||
• County of Berbice | 1838 | ||||||||
• Merged into the new regions | 1958 | ||||||||
| Currency | Spanish dollar, Dutch guilder, British Guiana dollar, British West Indies dollar | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Guyana | ||||||||
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Berbice (/bɜːrˈbiːs/) is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 and 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the latter year, it was merged with Demerara-Essequibo to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831. It became a county of British Guiana in 1838 till 1958. In 1966, British Guiana gained independence as Guyana and in 1970 it became a republic as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
After being a hereditary fief in the possession of the Van Peere family, the colony was governed by the Society of Berbice in the second half of the colonial period, akin to the neighbouring colony of Suriname, which was governed by the Society of Suriname. The capital of Berbice was at Fort Nassau until 1790. In that year, the town of New Amsterdam, which grew around Fort Sint Andries, was made the new capital of the colony.
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