Stabroek, Guyana

Stabroek
Ward
Stabroek
Coordinates: 6°48′25″N 58°09′36″W / 6.8070406°N 58.1599689°W / 6.8070406; -58.1599689Coordinates: 6°48′25″N 58°09′36″W / 6.8070406°N 58.1599689°W / 6.8070406; -58.1599689
Country Guyana
City Georgetown
Established 1782
Area
  Total 0.6 km2 (0.25 sq mi)

Stabroek was the name of Georgetown, Guyana, between 1784 and 1812.

The town was established in 1782 during a brief occupation by the French of the Dutch colony of Demerara. The original name of Longchamps was changed to Stabroek in 1784, after Nicholaas Geelvinck (1732 1787), Lord of Stabroek, the then President of the Dutch West India Company.[1] The city's name changed again in 1812 when, under British rule, it became Georgetown. A ward of the city, one fourth of a mile broad and one mile long, retains the name Stabroek.

Brickdam, Stabroek's main street, was paved with bricks and made of burnt earth until 1921 when it was paved over for the arrival of the Prince of Wales. The upper side of Brickdam was once lined with palm trees.

The old name of the city is still reflected in Georgetown's main market, Stabroek Market, which has existed on or near its present location since the 18th century,[2] and the newspaper Stabroek News, established in 1986.[3]

References

  1. Smith, Raymond T. 1956, Chap. II.
  2. Lloyd Kandasammy, Celebrating Guyana's built heritage: Stabroek Market, a brief history in Stabroek News, April 14, 2005
  3. Andrew Graham-Yooll, The newspaper Stabroek News, Round Table, Oct 94 Issue 332, p447

Bibliography


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