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The
Dutch West Indies campaign
was a series of minor conflicts in 1781 and 1782, in the
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
and the
American Revolutionary War
. Following Great Britain's declaration of war on the
Dutch Republic
in December 1780, British Admiral
George Brydges Rodney
, the commander of the
Royal Navy
in the
West Indies
, was notified by a fast-sailing
packet ship
of the declaration. He immediately acted to ensure control over as many of the Dutch colonies as possible,
capturing Sint Eustatius
, a vital
entrepot
of French and Dutch trade between their colonies and Europe, in early February 1781. He also captured
Saba
and
Sint Maarten
, and orchestrated the capture of the Dutch colonial outposts of
Berbice
,
Demerara
, and
Essequibo
in
South America
. A planned expedition by
Samuel Hood
against
Curacao
was called off on rumors that a French fleet was approaching. A French expedition in 1782
captured Demerara and Essequibo
, although the fate of the other colonies were settled at the conclusion of the war.
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