Map of a planned fort between the Canje Creek and the Berbice River

Title Leupe: Plan vertoonende hoe een nieuw te maken Hoofdfortres in de Colonie de Berbice, aan den hoek van Canje sal dienen geplaatst te worden,1767.

During the evacuation of Fort Nassau and Nieuw-Amsterdam on 8th March 1763 due to the advance of Cuffy’s slave army, the Dutch burned the fort down to prevent its occupation. After the war was won, the need arose for new defenses.

In addition to his first version of a design for the new fortifications intended to replace the ruined Fort Nassau on site in 1764, François Samuel de Veije drew his project plans for a main fort on the confluence of the Berbice and the Canje as well as various secondary posts. The main idea behind François Samuel de Veije’s recommendations for the reorganization of the defence of Berbice involved moving the main fort and the government house from its existing Nieuw-Amsterdam location to the headland between the Canje and the Berbice. He maintained that the new fortification should be designed to be much larger than the old fort so that it could be equipped with such heavy batteries that in the event of an attack from the sea, the river mouth downstream of the confluence of the two rivers could be effectively defended over the entire breadth. This would have to be supplemented with auxiliary batteries situated on both banks which would be able to initiate crossfire in the event of enemy ships approaching the main fort.

The local situation displayed great similarity with that of the confluence of the Commewijne and Surinam Rivers where, in 1747, the new main fort of the colony of Surinam, Fort Nieuw Amsterdam, was completed. The construction of the stronghold on muddy ground as soft as the swampy promontory of land between the Canje and the Berbice had, in its time, cost more than a million guilders; undoubtedly that was the main reason why the Society of Berbice did not want to ultimately commit itself to this project.

This ground plan, with an elaborate index on the left and right side, is in line with the most modern innovations in European fort construction of the day, and clearly shows how De Veije carefully supported his designs.

Just as with most of De Veije’s other project plans for Berbice from the years 1764-1767, there are a number of consecutive versions of his plans for a main fort. The varieties categorized under the letter ‘A’ are VEL1635A1-3, those under ‘B’ VEL1635 and 1635A4-5 and those under ‘C’ VEL1635A6, 1536 and 1637; all of which derive from the year 1765. In addition, profiles are available on the maps VEL1638-1640, which derive from the year 1767.

Once he returned to the Republic he was repeatedly asked to adapt or further elaborate on his plans and to give various explanations which meant that he was not able to complete his duties for the Society of Berbice until sometime in the year 1767.

See also the maps from the Nationaal Archief under number 4.OBPV 1.38 and VEL1638-1640 for one of the last, at any rate most extensive, variants from 1767.

Scale bar of 72 Rhineland rods = 60 ‘strepen’.