Complex sentence: The area was originally settled by the Dutch as the colonies of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo, then captured by the British in 1796 and officially ceded in 1814, and consolidated into a single colony in 1831.
Split into simpler sentences: The area was originally settled by the Dutch as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice. These three colonies were captured by the British in 1796, officially ceded to the United Kingdom in 1814, and consolidated into a single colony in 1831.