Treaty of Georgetown

The Treaty of Georgetown was signed in 1907 by the respective governments of Great Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands in response to calls from their colonies on the Azazian Archipelago for more opportunities for inter-island, and thus inter-colony trading.

Geographic isolation imposed upon the colonies the necessity of self-sufficiency; however, such self-sufficiently could not be achieved by the colonies in their own right as near two hundred years had shown and consequently the colonies agreed in 1905 that more work needed to be done to allow the colonies the right to trade amongst themselves.

The treaty that was signed in Georgetown signified to the colonists not only their right to self-government but more importantly the capacity for self-government and cooperative work between the different colonies. Many historians cite this treaty as the start of de facto independence. De jure independence would not come until the Treaty of Kingston signed in 1912.