Georgetown celebrates its 200th anniversary

Apr 29, 2012 News

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–    Contention surrounds  date of anniversary
By Rabindra Rooplall
Today the capital city of Georgetown will be marking a bicentennial.

The city’s 200th anniversary was in 1981 so today actually represents two centuries since Georgetown acquired its name.
The city began as a small town in the 18th century, when it was called the city of Stabroek. It was renamed Georgetown on April 29, 1812 in honour of England’s King George III.
History revealed that it was the French who developed this town and made it their capital city when they captured the colony in 1782.
On 5 May, 1812 an ordinance was passed to the effect that the town formerly called Stabroek, with districts extending from La Penitence to the bridges in Kingston and entering upon the road to the military camps, shall be called Georgetown.
The ordinance provided that the various districts of Georgetown shall be known by their own names. The supervision of Georgetown was to be done by a committee chosen by the Governor and Court of Policy. Estimates of expenditure were to be prepared.
Georgetown is the seat of the central Government of Guyana. All executive departments are located in the city. Parliament Building, Guyana’s Legislative Building, is also found in Georgetown and so is the Court of Appeal.
The State House (the official residence of the Head of State), as well as the offices and residence of the Head of Government, are both located in the city. Georgetown is the capital city as well as the main economic base of Guyana.
According to City Mayor, Hamilton Green, who can be considered the longest serving Mayor in the World, in 1752 the earliest European colonizers wisely identified an Island about 27 Kilometers or 17 miles up the Demerara River near to our International Airport; (Formally Atkinson Air Field) as a suitable place from where to administer the affairs of the ‘settlement’ colony.
He explained that the Island Capital was named Borsselen after the stallholder’s representative on the Dutch West Indian Company, Mr. R.J. Van Borsselen Van Der Hooge, now officially recorded as Borslem Island.
Green further said that by 1759, Borsselen Island was becoming unsuitable as the Capital, since new plantations were continually growing up and being extended north towards the mouth of the river. During the European struggle for control of the area, a new site was not suggested.
However, in 1777, the Commander recommended that the new Capital site should be at Plantation Coverden, East Bank Demerara.
A plan was obtained for this exercise. The cost was then estimated at 200,000 Guilders, but this was considered exorbitant, and therefore never implemented.
On January 31, 1782, the French who were at that time allies of the Dutch attacked and demolished the British Fort St. George. Green said that on February 22, 1782, a proclamation was made stating that it was necessary to establish a Capital.
Nevertheless, he underscored that the birth of Georgetown occurred shortly after the 1803 Treaty of Amiens, which awarded the colonies of Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo to Britain from the Dutch. Dutch and English were the primary language then, as English culture and laws slowly took over.
The separate three former Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice were finally united into one entity called British Guiana in 1831 and were governed from Georgetown.
Underscoring that there was the contention that Georgetown was also called the cathedral city when St Georges Cathedral was erected, the Mayor said he disputed that Georgetown was named after King George III since he was considered illucid (he suffered from Propheria or Porphyria) and at one stage the Parliament accepted a report that the King had taken leave of his senses on a number of occasions.
“After Parliament determined that he should no longer function as King, his eldest son, the Prince of Wales was elected Prince Regent from February 1811, and carried out the duties of sovereign during the last decade of his father’s life….the rest is history” Green explained.
Georgetown laid out in a north-south, east-west grid, interlaced with canals protected by kokers, or sluices, was built by the Dutch and later the British that provide drainage to a city that lies 3 feet (0.91 m) below high-tide level. A long seawall helps prevent flooding. The city has numerous boulevards and contains many wooden colonial buildings and markets.
The town has expanded dramatically through the years, and Greater Georgetown contains some of the most expensive and luxurious metropolitan neighbourhoods such as Bel Air Park, Bel Air Gardens, Lamaha Gardens and Bel Air Springs. These are well known ultimately as places for the rich and powerful.
Most residents here are high ranking executives or government officials. These closed gated neighbourhoods of the city are mostly concentrated in the northeastern part of Greater Georgetown and the Atlantic.
The history of early Georgetown also witnessed the abolition act of Slavery in 1833 which eventually brought an end of the Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade in Africans and the most repugnant industry known to the history of humanity.
Georgetown was once called the Garden City because of the many trees that grace its avenues. The city’s avenues were created when some of its historical canals were filled in. These unique avenues and urban streets are lined with flowering tropical trees, which shed their colorful blossoms at various times of the year on the pedestrian pathways that run between them.
Despite some of the modern developments, Georgetown is still a city of wooden structures, including most of its houses and public buildings. Its most famous landmark is the St. Georges Anglican Cathedral, one of the tallest wooden structures in the world.
Underscoring that the Mayor and City Council has plans to acknowledge the event, Green said that he plans to mobilize resources and tomorrow the senior staff of the City Council will be meeting to develop a programme to enhance the city.

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