Editing History of Guyana (section)

===Transition to British Rule===
[[File:Boundary lines of British Guiana 1896.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Map of British Guiana.]]
Eager to attract more settlers, in 1746 the Dutch authorities opened the area near the [[Demerara River]] to British immigrants. British plantation owners in the Lesser Antilles had been plagued by poor soil and erosion, and many were lured to the Dutch colonies by richer soils and the promise of land ownership. The influx of British citizens was so great that by 1760 the English constituted a majority of the European population of Demerara. By 1786 the internal affairs of this Dutch colony were effectively under British control,{{sfn|MacDonald|1993|pp=7}} though two-thirds of the plantation owners were still Dutch.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Kreeke |first=Frank van de |date=2013 |title=Essequebo en Demerary, 1741-1781: beginfase van de Britse overname |url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20720/VdKreeke,%20Essequebo%20en%20Demerary%201741-1781.pdf |type=Masters |publisher=[[Leiden University]] |access-date=July 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051216/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20720/VdKreeke,%20Essequebo%20en%20Demerary%201741-1781.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Under the British, the colonies became a huge cotton producer. This was thanks to the groundwork laid "during the Dutch colonial era".<ref name="lei2020" />

As economic growth accelerated in Demerara and Essequibo, strains began to appear in the relations between the planters and the Dutch West India Company. Administrative reforms during the early 1770s had greatly increased the cost of government. The company periodically sought to raise taxes to cover these expenditures and thereby provoked the resistance of the planters. In 1781 a [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War|war]] broke out between the Netherlands and Britain, which resulted in the British occupation of Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara.{{sfn|Shameerudeen|2020|pp=149}} Some months later, France, allied with the Netherlands, seized control of the colonies. The French governed for two years, during which they constructed a new town, Longchamps, at the mouth of the Demerara River. When the Dutch regained power in 1784, they moved their colonial capital to Longchamps, which they renamed Stabroek. The capital was in 1812 renamed [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]] by the British.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mccgt.com/history/|title=History of Georgetown|website=M&CC Georgetown, Guyana|date=11 December 2020 |access-date=July 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130073304/https://mccgt.com/history/|archive-date=January 30, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>

The return of Dutch rule reignited conflict between the planters of Essequibo and Demerara and the Dutch West India Company. Disturbed by plans for an increase in the slave tax and a reduction in their representation on the colony's judicial and policy councils, the colonists petitioned the Dutch government to consider their grievances. In response, a special committee was appointed, which proceeded to draw up a report called the [[Concept Plan of Redress]]. This document called for far-reaching constitutional reforms and later became the basis of the British governmental structure. The plan proposed a decision-making body to be known as the [[Court of Policy]]. The judiciary was to consist of two courts of justice, one serving Demerara and the other Essequibo. The membership of the Court of Policy and of the courts of justice would consist of company officials and planters who owned more than twenty-five slaves. The Dutch commission that was assigned the responsibility of implementing this new system of government returned to the Netherlands with extremely unfavourable reports concerning the Dutch West India Company's administration. The company's charter, therefore, was allowed to expire in 1792 and the Concept Plan of Redress was put into effect in Demerara and Essequibo. Renamed the [[Demerara-Essequibo|United Colony of Demerara and Essequibo]], the area then came under the direct control of the Dutch government. Berbice maintained its status as a separate colony.{{sfn|MacDonald|1993|pp=8-9}}

The catalyst for formal British takeover was the [[French Revolution]] and the subsequent [[Napoleonic Wars]]. In 1795 the French occupied the Netherlands. The British declared war on France and in 1796 launched an expeditionary force from [[Barbados]] to occupy the Dutch colonies. The British takeover was bloodless, and the local Dutch administration of the colony was left relatively uninterrupted under the constitution provided by the Concept Plan of Redress.{{sfn|MacDonald|1993|pp=9}} Like the Dutch, the British, during their occupation of Guyana, also worried about not having control over indigenous people.{{sfn|Thompson|1991|pp=19}} By means of the [[Treaty of Amiens]], both were returned to Dutch control. Peace was short-lived, however. The war between Britain and France resumed in less than a year, and in 1803 the United Colony and [[Berbice]] were seized once more by British troops.{{sfn|Black|2005|pp=151}} At the [[London Convention of 1814]], both colonies were formally ceded to Britain. In 1831, Berbice and the United Colony of Demerara and [[Essequibo (colony)|Essequibo]] were unified as [[British Guiana]].{{sfn|Black|2005|pp=150}}<ref name="ciawfguy" /> The colony would remain under British control until independence in 1966.{{sfn|Shameerudeen|2020|pp=149}}{{sfn|Black|2005|pp=152}}