Berbice Rebellion

Berbice Rebellion

The revolting plantations (highlighted)
Date23 February 1763 – 15 April 1764
(1 year, 1 month)[1]
Location
Berbice, Guyana
Result Dutch victory
Belligerents
 Dutch Republic
Barbados
Arawak
Kalina		 Rebels
Commanders and leaders
van Hoogenheim
Fourgeoud [nl]
Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel		 Governor Coffij
Captain Atta
Captain Accara
Captain Accabre[2]

The Berbice Rebellion was a slave rebellion in Guyana[3] that began on 23 February 1763[2] and lasted to December, with leaders including Coffij. The first major slave revolt in South America,[4] it is seen as a major event in Guyana's anti-colonial struggles, and when Guyana became a republic in 1970 the state declared 23 February as a day to commemorate the start of the Berbice slave revolt.[2]

In 1763, the slave rebellion in Berbice, in present-day Guyana, was led by a Coromantin man named Cuffy or Kofi and his deputy Akra or Akara. The slave rebellion lasted from February 1763 into 1764.[5] Cuffy, like Tacky, was born in West Africa before being trafficked and enslaved. He led a revolt of more than 2,500 against the colony's regime. After acquiring firearms, the rebels attacked plantations.[6] They gained an advantage after taking the house of Peerboom. They told the whites inside that they could leave, but the rebels killed many as they did and took several prisoners, including the wife of a plantation owner, whom Cuffy kept as his wife.

After several months, a dispute between Cuffy and Akra led to a war. On 2 April 1763, Cuffy wrote to Governor van Hoogenheim saying that he did not want a war against the whites and proposed a partition of Berbice with the whites occupying the coastal areas and the blacks the interior. Akara's faction won, and Cuffy killed himself. The anniversary of Cuffy's slave rebellion, 23 February, is Republic Day in Guyana, and Cuffy is a national hero commemorated in a large monument in the capital, Georgetown.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference slavenhandel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Cleve McD. Scott, "Berbice Slave Revolt (1763)", in Junius P. Rodriguez, Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion, Vol. 1, Westport, Ct: Greenwood Press, 2007, pp. 55–56.
  3. ^ Smith, Simon David (2006). Slavery, Family, and Gentry Capitalism in the British Atlantic: The World of the Lascelles, 1648–1834. Cambridge University Press. p. 116. ISBN 0-521-86338-4.
  4. ^ "The 1763 Berbice Slave Rebellion". People, History and Culture of Guyana. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  5. ^ Smith, Simon David (2006). Slavery, Family, and Gentry Capitalism in the British Atlantic: The world of the Lascelles, 1648–1834. Cambridge University Press. p. 116. ISBN 0-521-86338-4.
  6. ^ Ishmael, Odeen (2005). The Guyana Story: From Earliest Times to Independence (1st ed.). Retrieved 6 July 2008.
  7. ^ David Granger (1992). "Guyana coins". El Dorado (2): 20–22. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2008.