of its lexicon stemming from Arawak varieties. It is considered a unique Creole language because it consists of only one African language influence, with 0% of its structure or lexicon stemming from parts of Africa outside of Eastern Ijo. It is suspected that the cause of this is a lack of diversity in groups of enslaved Africans in the region. At the time, slaves from the Bight of Biafra were considered undesirable. Due to Berbice's relatively small size, they would use undesirable slaves as they were cheaper, leading to a single language coming over from Africa, though in multiple varieties. Compared to Negerhollands and Skepi Creole Dutch, other contact languages from the area, Berbice Dutch is typologically closer to Dutch but lexically farthest from it. It is not based on a Hollandic dialect of Dutch (the dialect that is closest to the modern standard of the Dutch Language Union) but on Zeelandic. The language was originally spoken along the Wiruni Creek and the Berbice River where plantations were often located. The language survived on the upper reaches of the Berbice River, the areas around which the old Dutch colony of Berbice was concentrated prior to a shift downriver to the coast in the 19th century. This shift was accompanied by the area being claimed by Britain in 1814. Berbice became part of the British Guiana at this time and a new English-lexified Creole emerged. As missionaries and enslaved people from Barbados arrived, this new Creole gained popularity and Berbice Dutch started to disappear. For the next century, small groups of multi-lingual mixed heritage people continued to live in the original location up-river and spoke Berbice Dutch. The language came into decay in the 20th century and by 1993, there were some 4 or 5 elderly speakers of the language left, although other sources report tens of speakers. The last speakers of Berbice Dutch were found in the 1970s by Professor Ian Robertson of the University of the West Indies. These Amerindian speakers were living on the upper reaches of the Berbice River in and around the area of the Wiruni Creek. Dutch linguist Silvia Kouwenberg did further investigations on the language and published a grammar in 1994 as well as a variety of other works relating to the language. The last known Berbice Dutch Creole speaker was Albertha Bell, who was 103 years old when last interviewed by Ian Robertson