After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the latter year, it was merged with Demerara-Essequibo to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831.

In that year, the town of New Amsterdam, which grew around Fort Sint Andries, was made the new capital of the colony.

Berbice was settled in 1627 by the businessman Abraham van Peere from Vlissingen, under the suzerainty of the Dutch West India Company.

[4] 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.

[5] In November 1712, Berbice was briefly occupied by the French under Jacques Cassard, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.

[13] In 1735, a minister was installed in Fort Nassau, but after a personal conflict with the governor, he was transferred to Wiruni Creek.

In 1757,[15] the missionaries left, and joined the congregation at the village of Pilgerhut founded in 1740 outside the plantation area, where they lived with 300 Arawak.

This colony did not intervene in wars between the tribes, and no Amerindian was allowed to be taken into slavery unless they were sold by the Kalina or the Arawak and captured from the interior of the country.

[20] The relatively sound economic situation of the colony was dealt a severe blow when a slave uprising broke out under the leadership of Coffy in February 1763.

[9][22] The uprising led to a steep population decline,[23] abandonment and destruction of many plantations, and serious financial problems for the Society.

[25] In 1785 the village was abandoned in favour of Fort Sint Andries, situated more downstream, at the confluence of the Canje River.

[30] The British now remained in possession of the colony until 27 March 1802, when Berbice was restored to the Batavian Republic under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.

[36] The plantations and the enslaved people of the Society of Berbice remained under their ownership,[4] but they had already made a decision to sell their possessions in 1795,[37] and they closed their offices in 1821.