 British plantation owners in the Lesser Antilles had been plagued by poor soil and erosion, and many were lured to the Dutch colonies by richer soils and the promise of landownership.The influx of British citizens was so great that by 1760 the English constituted a majority of the European population of Demerara.By 1786 the internal affairs of this Dutch colony were effectively under British control, though two-thirds of the plantation owners were still Dutch.