The New Amsterdam Town Council is currently celebrating 120 years of existence.
The Council which is headed by Mayor Claude Henry observed the milestone on Thursday 1st September with a simple Prayer Breakfast at the New Amsterdam Town Hall. Speaking to the media, Mayor Henry stated that over the years, the town has grown and has its fair share of challenges.
One of the main challenges is the disposal of solid waste, which he stated has been a bug bear over the years. Persons continue to dump indiscriminately and cause serious floods to the town. Job creation is another problem and many persons leave the town to seek jobs otherwise.
He stated that recently, the Council has acquired two machines, a grader and back hoe, to help with the beautifying of the town.
New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam as it is known in Dutch) is located in East Berbice-Corentyne Region 6, 62 miles from the capital city, Georgetown. It is one of the largest towns in Guyana and is located on the eastern bank of the Berbice River, immediately south of the Canje River.
New Amsterdam has its origins in a village which grew up alongside Fort Nassau in the 1730s and 1740s. The first New Amsterdam, as it was called then, was situated about 56 miles up the Berbice River on the right bank.
Before the 1763 uprising it comprised a Court of Policy building, a warehouse, an inn, a bakery, a Lutheran church and a number of houses, among other buildings. Built in 1740 by the Dutch, New Amsterdam was first named Fort Saint Andries, before being taken over by the British in 1803.
In March 1763, Cuffy had made the Court of Policy building his headquarters. When the revolutionaries were forced to retreat upriver in 1764, New Amsterdam was torched under the supervision of Prins, and only the brick Lutheran church survived.
Around 1784, as a result of the fluctuating fortunes of Fort Nassau, the Dutch relocated the town to its present site at the confluence of the Berbice and Canje Rivers.
The name New Amsterdam was chosen because most of the colonists originated from the province of Amsterdam in Holland. New Amsterdam was established as the seat of Government for Berbice between 1785 to 1790.
In May 1825 an Ordinance to establish a Board of Management for the town was passed. In 1844 a Board of Superintendents was established and Mr. Neil Ross McKinnon who was president of that Board was appointed as the Town’s first Mayor .
The town consists of three main roads with many cross streets. From New Amsterdam you can get to Crabwood Creek (about 45 miles away) via the Corentyne or to the East Canje area of Berbice. A road also leads up the Berbice River bank to the town of Mara about 25 miles south.
The New Amsterdam Town Hall was erected in 1868 after the establishment of the Board of Superintendents in 1844. The tower encircled by a ‘widow’s walk is one of the main architectural features of this edifice.
The main schools in New Amsterdam are Berbice High School, Berbice Educational Institute, Vryman’s Erven Secondary, Tutorial Academy and New Amsterdam Multilateral High School.
Other important landmarks are All Saints Scots Church, Mission Chapel Congregational Church, The All Saint Anglican Church, The New Amsterdam Public Hospital and the Ituni Temple: The population of New Amsterdam’s is approximately 50,000.