Society of Berbice

The Society of Berbice (Dutch: Sociëteit van Berbice) was founded on 24 October 1720 by the owners of the colony of Berbice. These owners, brothers Nicolaas and Hendrik van Hoorn, Arnold Dix, Pieter Schuurmans, and Cornelis van Peere, had acquired the colony from the French on 24 October 1714, who in turn had occupied the colony which was previously a hereditary fief in the possession of the Van Peere family.[1]

In 1720, the five owners of the colony founded a Society of Berbice in a similar fashion to the Society of Suriname, which governed the neighbouring colony, in order to raise more capital for the colony. In the years following, Berbice became the second most flourishing Dutch colony in the Guianas after Suriname, consisting of 12 plantations owned by the society, 93 private plantations along the Berbice River, and 20 plantations along the Canje River.[2]