Demerara

Kolonie Demerary (1745–1803) Colony of Demerara (1803–1812) County of Demerara (1838–1958) Demerara
1745–1812 1838–1958
Flag (1627–1792) Flag (1803–1812)
The Demerara colony in 1759 (Note this map has East at its top.) See here for its exact location (6° 48' N 58° 10' W).
Status	Colony of the Dutch West India Company (1745–1792) Dutch colony (1792–1815)[a] British occupation (1781–1782; 1796–1802; 1803–1815)[b] French occupation (1782–1783) De facto Colony of the United Kingdom (1803–1812) Combined with Essequibo as a de facto Colony of the United Kingdom (1812–1815) Combined with Essequibo as a Colony of the United Kingdom (1815–1831) County of British Guiana (1838–1958)
Capital	Fort Zeelandia (1745–1755) Borsselen (1755–1782) Stabroek (1782–1815)
Common languages	Dutch, English, Guyanese Creole, Guyanese 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
History
• Established as a Dutch West India Company colony	18 October 1745
• Raid on Essequibo and Demerara	24–27 February 1781
• Capture of Demerara and Essequibo	22 January 1782
• Peace of Paris	1783
• Colony of the Dutch Republic	1 January 1792
• Treaty of Amiens	27 March 1802
• Joined with Essequibo to form Demerara-Essequibo	28 April 1812
• Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814	20 November 1815
• Demerara-Essequibo merges with Berbice to become British Guiana	21 July 1831
• County of Demerara	1838
• Merged into the new regions	1958
Currency	Spanish dollar, Dutch guilder, British Guiana dollar, British West Indies dollar
Preceded by Succeeded by Essequibo (colony) Demerara-Essequibo
Today part of	Guyana
^ After 1803 it was a de jure Dutch colony but was a de facto British colony. Dutch Republic (1792–1795) Batavian Republic/Commonwealth (1795–1806) Kingdom of Holland (1806–1810) First French Empire (1810–1813) Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands (1813–1815) United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815) ^ Great Britain (1781–1800) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1800–1802)

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Essequibo 1616–1815 Berbice 1627–1815 Pomeroon 1650–1689 Demerara 1745–1815 British Guiana 1814–1966 Independence 1966–1970 Co-operative Republic 1970–present
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Demerara (Dutch: Demerary, [ˌdeːməˈraːri]) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 until 1815. It was merged with Essequibo in 1812 by the British who took control. It formally became a British colony in 1815 until Demerara-Essequibo was merged with Berbice to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831. In 1838, it became a county of British Guiana until 1958. In 1966, British Guiana gained independence as Guyana and in 1970 it became a republic as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. It was located around the lower course of the Demerara River, and its main settlement was Georgetown.

The name "Demerara" comes from a variant of the Arawak word immenary or dumaruni, which means "river of the letter wood" (wood of Brosimum guianense tree).^[1] Demerara sugar is so named because originally, it came from sugarcane fields in the colony of Demerara.