The Berbice Colony was a Dutch colony located in present-day Guyana, established in the early 17th century. It was founded by the Dutch West India Company in 1627 and became an important site for sugar production. The colony was named after the Berbice River, which flows through the region. In 1796, the British captured the colony during the Napoleonic Wars, and it was officially ceded to Britain in 1814. The Berbice Colony played a significant role in the transatlantic slave trade, relying on enslaved Africans for labor on sugar plantations. It was eventually merged into British Guiana in 1831.