The English made at least two unsuccessful attempts to colonize the lands that would later be known as British Guiana in the 17th century, at a time when the Dutch had established two colonies in the area: Essequibo, administered by the Dutch West India Company, and Berbice, administered by the Berbice Association. Map of the Guianas depicting the Guiana coast, which became British, Dutch, and French Guiana after centuries of war and settlement; now sovereign Guyana and Surinam, though French Guiana remains a French overseas possession. Despite Spain's claim in 1593, the Dutch started settling along the Essequibo, Courantyne, and Cayenne rivers in 1602. They were followed by the Dutch West India Company (1621), which received what is now Guyana and subsequently Suriname.African slaves were brought in to labor on the company's tobacco, cotton, and coffee farms. The Brits re-occupied much of Dutch Guyana under the Batavian Republic. Following the Napoleonic Wars in 1814, British acquired control of the three territories west of the Courantyne River (Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo). These three territories merged to form British Guiana.