Abraham van Peere was a Dutch merchant from Vlissingen in the County of Zeeland.
In 1602, a charter was given by the States General of the Dutch Republic to his father Jan van Peere to found a colony on the Berbice River on the coast of Guyana.
[2] Apparently some disputes arose between the Van Peere family and the Second Dutch West India Company, which was founded to succeed the First Dutch West India Company that went bankrupt in 1674.
This was resolved when on 14 September 1678 a charter was signed which established Berbice as a hereditary fief of the Dutch West India Company, in the possession of the Van Peere family.
[3] In November 1712, Berbice was briefly occupied by the French under Jacques Cassard, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.