Demerara Slave Rebellion, 1823

The Demerara Slave Rebellion was one of several revolts that erupted in the Caribbean in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Founded as a Dutch colony in 1746, Demerara stretched for about 25 miles along the Caribbean coast east of the Demerara River (the “East Coast”), between the colonies of Berbice to the east and Essequibo to the west. The three colonies changed hands several times between the Dutch, French, and English, and all three became British in 1814. At the time of the rising, about 75,000 slaves lived in Demerara‐Essequibo, which were under a single Court of Policy. The colonies became Guyana's three provinces of the same names, and Demerara accommodates today's capital, Georgetown.