Addenda: December 1683 | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 11, 1681-1685. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1898.

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Citation:

'Addenda: December 1683', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 11, 1681-1685, ed. J W Fortescue( London, 1898), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol11/pp773-774 [accessed 29 November 2024].

December 1683



[Dec. 11.]	2089. State of the Duke of Courland's pretensions to Tobago. In 1659 he possessed a fort at the mouth of the Gambia river which his Agent sold to the Dutch West India Company. In 1661 the King granted a charter to the Royal African Company, which sent a ship to the Gambia, and finding the Dutch fort demolished it. The Duke of Courland complained, and the King, in 1664, granted him, among other things, the Island of Tobago in compensation. Notwithstanding this the Dutch West India Company took the Island by agreement with the Duke, until driven out by the English in 1672. The Dutch resettled it in 1676, when they were driven out by Count d'Estrées, since which the Island has been deserted. It would be very prejudicial if the Island were settled by foreigners, and it may be questioned whether the Duke of Courland's title is good now that the Island has changed hands so often. Draft with corrections. 3 pp. Endorsed. Annexed,
	2089. I. Copy of the grant of Tobago to the Duke of Courland, 17th November 1664. Latin. 4 pp. [Col. Papers, Vol. LIV., Nos. 150, 150 I.]
Dec. 19. Whitehall.	2090. Order of the King in Council. Repealing the Act of St. Christophers for speedy payment of debts, and the Act of Antigua for extending lands. [Col. Entry Bk., Vol. XLVII., p. 134.]