"There was one European nation which was not likely to hunt for a golden city, when gold was to be earned by plain and matter of fact commerce. The Dutch had as early as 1542 established a systematic if contraband trade with the Spanish Main; and in 1580 they began to settle in Guiana by planting a depot on the river Pomeroon, in what is now the county of Essequibo. In 1599 they built two forts at the mouth of the Amazon, but were driven out by the Portuguese; and about 1613 they established a colony on the Essequibo, building the fort of 'Kyk over al', 'Look over all,' on an island where the Massaruni flows into the Essequibo. The colony was founded by Zeeland merchants, was known as Nova Zeelandia, and came under the control of the Netherlands West India Company, which was incorporated in 1621. Shortly afterwards colonisation began further to the east on the Berbice river. The founder was a Flushing merchant, Van Peere by name; he founded his settlement about 1624, and he held his rights under contract with the Chamber of Zeeland. … Thus was the present province of British Guiana colonised by Dutchmen. … While English discovery was attracted to the west and Orinoco, the first attempts at English settlement were far to the east on the Wyapoco or Oyapok river. Here, in 1604, while Ralegh was in prison, Captain Charles Leigh founded a colony at the mouth of the river. … In 1609 Robert Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire took up the work in which Leigh had failed. … In 1613 he obtained from King James a grant of 'all that part of Guiana or continent of America lying between the river of Amazones and the river of Dessequebe,' which was not actually possessed or inhabited by any Christian power in friendship with England. … In 1619 a scheme was started for an Amazon Company, the leading spirit in which was Captain Roger North. … The company was fortunate enough to secure the powerful patronage of the Duke of Buckingham. Harcourt threw in his lot with them, and on the 19th of May 1627 a royal grant was made to the Duke of Buckingham and 55 other adventurers, including the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, who were incorporated under the title of 'the governor and company of noblemen and gentlemen of England for the plantation of Guiana.' The Duke of Buckingham was Governor, North was Deputy-Governor, and the grant included the 'royal' river of the Amazon. For about two years the company did some solid work, sending out four ships and 200 colonists; an attempt was then made in 1629 to bring the territory covered by their grant immediately under royal protection, and upon its failure their efforts at colonisation appear to have gradually died away. The English were not the only Europeans who tried their hand at settlement in the east of Guiana. … In 1613, 160 French families settled in Cayenne.