There are various market centers in Georgetown, but none has the standing and history of the Stabroek Market hall. Named by the Dutch in honor of the director of the Dutch East India Company. In 1792 enslaved Africans were selling their goods there. The current building is the third market and second building in that location. Sailors, although officially prohibited from interacting with African slaves or indigenous Indians in 1765, indicate that there was trading going on between all of those parties. After a large fire devastated much of the city, a wooden market hall was not deemed acceptable. The English were in control of the area by then and commissioned the construction of the iron framed building opened for business in AD 1880.