Georgetown, Demerara was a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It was first charted by Spain in 1499 and came under Dutch control in the mid-1700s. The British gained possession of it in 1814, shortly before Simon Wiess (then a young man of 14) began his travels. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars the Convention of London (1814) confirmed at the Peace of Paris (1815) gave Suriname back to the Dutch while retaining for the British the states of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice. Simon had settled in Louisiana when the three British colonies of Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice were united in 1831 and became British Guiana.
Demarara had vast forests and became a major source of timber. The western part at the colony abounded in some of the finest timber trees for naval architecture.
Simon was in Georgetown, Demarara on June 2, 1829 when he visited Union Lodge No. 462 there.
