ABSTRACT
The precise date of the first settlement of Essequibo has been keenly debated, and is probably one of those problems which will never be solved. In 1670 a new era commenced under the direct control of the West India Company and the new Commander Hendrik Roll, yet this episode did not directly affect the life of the Colony. It was not long after the date here named that the Zeeland Chamber of the Company, tiring of the heavy charge of their Guiana colony, transferred it to the three towns of Middelburg, Flushing and Veere. These towns decided to form a new settlement on the "Wild Coast of Essequibo" under the general jurisdiction of the Essequibo colony. Westward the sphere of the Dutch extended along the coast to the mouth of the Orinoco and in the interior also to the neighbourhood of that river: indeed it may be said to have permeated the whole country between the Essequibo and the Orinoco.
