A Comparative Study of the Impact of Smuggling on Colonial State Formation in the Guyanas, 1700–1800

The colonial world of the eighteenth century was far more integrated across imperial boundaries than national historiographies have us believe. Especially in the Caribbean and in the Guyanas there was a great temptation to cooperate across the borders of competing empires. Supplies, mainly from British North America, were indispensable for the survival of these slave based plantation colonies. This was the case for all the Guyana colonies, regardless if they were Dutch (Suriname), French (Cayenne) or formally Dutch but quickly Anglicizing (Demerara. Essequibo and Berbice). The abundance of North American products and ships willing to smuggle them greatly diminished the ability of the colonial empires to protect their overseas markets. The colonies on the Guyana Coast were notorious for rampant smuggling by small intra-colonial trading vessels. Manned by small crews these vessels catered to plantation managers who eagerly exchanged their sugar and coffee for provisions, building material, life-stock and slaves.

Not all colonial governments in the Guyanas responded to this challenge in the same way. This paper explores the smuggling that went on in the Guyanas and the various responses by colonial states to this challenge. This exploration will reveal the balancing act that colonial states performed between protecting the interests of the metropolis and those of the locally developing colonial counter economy.