French Guiana is a French overseas department in northeastern South
America. French Guiana is the only one of the three Guianas that is not
yet independent. This will probably never happen either, as the
inhabitants benefit from the highest standard of living in South
America, so that less than 10 percent of the population support
secession from France.
The area borders Brazil and Suriname and
is mostly covered by tropical jungle. It is still extremely sparsely
populated, but a large crowd of immigrants from neighboring countries
and from Asia is slowly changing this and contributing to a
multicultural flair. The Kourou spaceport and the capital Cayenne with
the former penal colony on the Îles du Salut archipelago are of interest
to travelers.
French Guiana is 90% covered with jungle. Apart
from a few towns and villages in the center of the country (e.g. Saul),
only the coast is populated. Besides a few smaller streams and
watercourses, there are two major rivers, the Maroni, which marks the
western border with Suriname, and the Oyapock, which forms the eastern
border with Brazil.
In addition to the Devil's Islands, there are
also some small islands off Rémire.
The population is made up of
different ethnic groups. These include around 40 different indigenous
peoples, Créolen and Noirs Marrons - the descendants of abducted slaves
at the time of colonization -, French, Hmongs from Laos, Brazilians,
Surinamese and Antillais, the immigrants from the Caribbean Antilles.
Immigration from nearby Brazil in particular has led to high population
growth since the end of the 20th century.
The country is divided into two arrondissements (Cayenne and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni) and 22 communes. The cantons have been abolished since 2016.
1 Cayenne – 65000 inhabitants, the prefecture. It is located on the
Atlantic in the central part.
2 Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni – 20,000
inhabitants. Sub-prefecture, border town to Suriname, on the Maroni
River.
3 Kourou – Population 20,000, known for the Center Spatiale
Guyannais Cosmodrome.
4 Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock - 4,000
inhabitants, until 2004 isolated border town to Brazil, slightly inland
on the Oyapock River in the east.
5 Maripasoula – Population 5,000,
largest inland community located on the Suriname border in the
southwest.
Îles du Salut (Salvation Islands) . Until 1951, France maintained a
prison for up to 2,000 prisoners on the entire archipelago. On the Île
Royale were the administration, the hospital and the death row. However,
most of the prisoners were housed in solitary cells on Île Saint-Joseph.
The prison conditions were inhuman. There were cells without a roof,
leaving the inmates exposed to the tropical sun and rain. One of the
most prominent prisoners on the Île du Diable was Captain Alfred
Dreyfus. Today the islands are a popular tourist destination. In
addition to the ruins of the penal colony, the fauna is also worth a
visit. Squirrel monkeys and macaws are used to visitors and can be
hand-fed. There are also iguanas and caimans.
Center Spatial
Guyanais. European Spaceport Kourou.
French Guiana has a checkered history that has been marked by many
setbacks from a European point of view. The area was originally
inhabited by indigenous peoples, including the Arawak, the Caribs and
the Wayana, after whom the area was named; these still settle in the
interior of the country and live in the field of tension between nature
and modernity. The members of an expedition by Columbus in 1498 were
probably the first Europeans to set foot in the area. In 1604 the first
French settlers arrived in the region, but they were driven out by the
competing Portuguese, and in 1643 another attempt was aborted after
attacks by the natives. In 1658, the Dutch tried to colonize the Cayenne
area, followed again in 1665 by the French, who finally took over
control.
The area became known through a tragedy: After France
had lost almost all areas in America after the Treaty of Paris in 1763,
Louis XV. 12,000 settlers for the region, over 7,000 of whom died from
tropical diseases in the following two years. About 3,000 returned to
their old homeland and spread the reputation of the colony as the "Green
Hell".
After the French Revolution, starting in 1795, a few
hundred opponents of the revolution were deported to this area, which
had made a very bad impression on France. After Napoleon revoked the
abolition of slavery in 1802, which had been proclaimed in 1794 but not
enforced in all colonies, people in Africa were again kidnapped and sold
as slaves in the region. This was the beginning of a first permanent
establishment. At the beginning of the 19th century, the area came under
Portuguese rule for a short time until 1814. Gold was found for the
first time in 1853. A year earlier, French Guiana's notorious history as
a penal colony (bagne) began with the systematic establishment of penal
camps. Two goals were pursued: on the one hand, criminals and repeat
offenders were to be removed from society and "improved" through work,
on the other hand, after the definitive abolition of slavery in 1848,
they were to serve as cheap labor and populate the colony. Those
sentenced to imprisonment in the "Bagne" had to remain in Guyana for the
same period of time, or for the rest of their lives in the case of
sentences of more than eight years, as "freedmen" (redoublage) after
they had served their sentence, in order to give them an incentive to
settle down in the colony give. The experiment failed because many
convicts did not survive the very harsh prison conditions and the others
after their release mostly had neither the means nor the opportunity to
build up a middle-class existence in the colony, let alone were wealthy
enough to return to France at their own expense. Most of them eked out
their existence in "freedom" as beggars, petty criminals or, in the best
case, as domestic servants.
Sensational reports, including those
by Albert Londres, drew the attention of the French public to the
conditions in the "Bagnes" between the wars, so that from 1938 no more
prisoners were deported to French Guiana. However, those who had already
been imprisoned had to continue serving their sentences, so that it was
not until 1953 that the last convicts were released and the camps
closed.
Since 1946, French Guiana is no longer a colony, but an
overseas department. An era of stabilization, growth and immigration
began that continues to this day. The founding of the Space Center
(Centre Spatial Guyanais, CSG) in 1964 in Kourou further promoted
economic development. In the 1990s, the CSG contributed about 25% of
French Guiana's GDP. Since the end of the 20th century, after the
decline of countries like Argentina, the overseas department has been
the most prosperous area in South America and a magnet for people from
neighboring countries, many of whom immigrate to search for gold, mostly
illegally.
As an overseas department of France, French Guiana is a French
territory that has partly adopted the culture of the mother country.
Most of the population is Catholic and the holidays are the same as for
Catholics and the French in general.
The country's carnival
showcases this mix of traditions. It originally goes back to a Creole
festival that was adopted from France. Since the beginning of the
massive immigration, Brazilian dance groups can be found in the parades
alongside the traditional groups, and residents of Asian origin also
take part in them with dragon costumes.
French Guiana is part of the European Union but not part of the
Schengen area. EU citizens can therefore freely reside in the territory
and also look for work, but their passport or identity card will be
checked upon entry.
Airplane
Cayenne Airport (Aéroport
international Félix Éboué, CAY) is located south of the capital Cayenne
in the suburb of Matoury. It is served from France (Paris-Orly), Brazil
(Belém, Macapá, São Luiz, Fortaleza, Recife) as well as Fort-de-France,
Pointe-à-Pitre, Santo Domingo, Port-au-Prince and Miami. Airlines are
Air France, Air Caribe and TAF.
Domestic connections are
available to Maripasoula and Saul with Air Guyane Express.
Rail
There are no rail connections in and to French Guiana.
bus
The
border towns to Brazil (Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock / Oiapoque) and
Suriname (Saint-Laurent du Maroni / Albina) are served by "Taxi-Co"
(shared taxis), which are significantly cheaper than regular taxis but
more expensive than buses are. However, there are no direct connections
to these countries yet.
From Brazil by public transport overland:
The only good starting point is Macapá (the capital of Amapá), which can
be reached by ferry from Belém (and by plane from other cities). From
Macapá there are afternoon buses to Oiapoque, arriving in the morning.
Otherwise, there is the option of renting an off-road vehicle with a
driver (also at the bus station) as an "unofficial shared taxi", which
is a bit more expensive but also faster. In Oiapoque you take a
passenger boat to cross to French Guiana. If you are not an EU citizen
and need a stamp or visa, you have to report to the immigration
authorities yourself, as there are no border controls. Then take a
Taxi-Co to Cayenne (see above).
car/motorcycle/bicycle
By car,
entry is best possible from Suriname via a ferry from Albina to St.
Laurent-du-Maroni. Getting there by car from Brazil is still cumbersome.
Entry via the eastern border (via Oiapoque) takes a long time and is
also quite expensive. One must first drive to Macapá, which can only be
reached from Belem by ferry, which takes a full day to cross the Amazon
estuary (departures are usually in the morning). Then take the BR-156 to
Oiapoque (about 500 km) which is paved - certain sections may become
impassable during rainy weather, nor should you ever stop outside of
built-up areas as car thefts by armed gangs are common on this route. In
Belem (cheaper) and Macapá you should definitely fill up, as there is no
petrol station on the entire route. The border river between Oiapoque in
the Brazilian state of Amapá and Saint-Georges in French Guiana has been
accessible via a bridge since March 2017.
The route over the
Transamazónica (BR-230 and BR-319, via Manaus and Boa Vista (Roraima))
is currently almost impassable, especially in the rainy season. The
problem is the BR-319, which has not been maintained. Few adventurers
venture on the route in off-road vehicles or motorbikes - a BBC team
took six days to complete the 600km a few years ago.
If you accept
the hardships despite everything, you can easily get to French Guiana
from Manaus via Suriname. While the BR-319 is currently undergoing
refurbishment, there is no guarantee that the entire route will actually
be paved as planned.
Ship
There is a car ferry on the western
border to Suriname.
Unfortunately, there is hardly any public transport in French Guiana.
Regular buses only operate in Cayenne, but it is not recommended to
rely on the bus being on time. The price is a standard €1.10.
Medium-distance transport is handled exclusively by shared taxis
("taxi-co"). These are minibuses with up to 10 seats that run on the
coast road without a timetable. The buses only leave when they are full
- so you have to plan quite a bit of time. Prices are moderate, for
example Cayenne-Kourou costs €10, Cayenne - Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni €35
and Cayenne - Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock €40.
Most places in the
rainforest can only be reached by plane with the regional airline Air
Guyane, as there are no roads yet. The cities of Saul and Maripasoula
are served.
Taxi boats operate between Saint-Laurent and Apatou.
The main roads around Cayenne and Kourou, which have been developed
and signposted according to French standards, are easy to drive on with
a rental car. Due to the heavy rainfall, however, the roads can have
large potholes, and deer crossing is to be expected. At night, the
streets outside of town are unlit. Outside the cities, the condition of
the roads, especially after rain, can be quite "adventurous".
The official language in French Guiana is French. The second most
important language is Creole. It is spoken mainly by the Creole part of
the population, but also by others. Créole is very common among young
people. You also hear a lot of Portuguese.
English doesn't get
you very far in Guiana. It is recommended to have at least a basic
knowledge of French.
There is a "Hypermarché" just outside of Cayenne. This is a shopping
center which, in addition to a large supermarket (Hypermarché), also has
smaller shops such as a supermarket. B. jewelers or mobile phone shops.
The supermarket stocks everything from books to clothes and a wide range
of groceries.
In the city you will find other small supermarkets
and also opportunities for shopping. There is also a large number of
"Épiceries" (sort of like a corner shop). There you will mainly find
groceries, but also other everyday necessities such as anti-mosquito
spray, toothpaste and other hygiene items, stationery, etc. While
supermarkets usually close at 7 or 8 p.m., the shops, which are often
run by Asians, are also open in the evenings.
Most goods,
including food, come from the European continent. Branded articles and
hygiene products in particular are therefore expensive. As in all of
France, electronic goods are subject to a kind of "luxury tax".
Regionally produced fruit and vegetables, on the other hand, are
inexpensive, as is the rum produced in the country and in the French
Antilles.
Similar to e.g. the Canary Islands, French Guiana is
part of the customs area, but not the tax area of the EU. Accordingly,
customs levies import sales tax and excise duties (e.g. spirits tax) on
souvenirs if the (narrow) exemption limits are exceeded.
The Guayanese cuisine is very exotic for Europeans. There is a lot of
fish and meat from animals from the jungle. Some restaurants also offer
protected animal species (e.g. green turtles or caiman). One should
think twice before ordering one of these exotic dishes.
A typical
Guayanese dish consists of fish and other seafood or game served with
rice, red beans or couac (flour made from dried cassava) and can be
quite spicy as generous amounts of spices are often used. What do you
expect from a region whose capital gave the cayenne pepper its name? Of
course, it is always possible to ask the chef to make the dish less
spicy.
Rice, red beans or couac (cooked cassava flour) are almost
always served as side dishes. Lentilles (lentils) or haricots rouges
(red beans) are often served with game or fish.
Bouillon d'Awara
- the pulp of a palm tree (Astrocaryum vulgare) is fried with smoked
chicken and fish
Colombo - a Creole dish with pork or chicken
Kalou, Kalalou, is a fish dish with spinach and okra
Pimentade is a
peppered and lemon flavored fish in a tomato sauce
Blaff is a
bouillon made from onions, garlic, celery and basil
Blaf de poisson
is fish prepared with court bouillon
Roti couniad, fish is grilled
with its scales
Poulet boucané is smoked chicken
Poisson boucané
is smoked fish
During Carnival (from the 1st Sunday in January to Ash Wednesday)
there is a lot of celebration. Every Sunday there are parades in
Cayenne, Kourou and Saint Laurent.
In the evening you can go to
the disco or a bar. In Cayenne "Le Soleil Levant" and "Chez Polina" are
recommended for the carnival season, in Kourou "La Matadô". Outside the
carnival period, you can go to the following discos and bars: "Petit Bar
De L'ouest", "Bar des Palmistes", "Lido Night", "Loft" and "Acropolis".
There is also a bowling center in Rémire-Montjoly.
In Cayenne, the "Amazonia", the "Central Hotel" and the "Novotel"
belong to the upper category. However, they are more geared towards
business travelers than tourists. There are also small pensions, but
these are often not listed on the internet.
There are two hotels
in Kourou. Hotel Mercure Kourou Ariatel and Hotel Kourou Atlantis. Both
are also in the upper price sector.
In addition, the hotel
"Atlantis" which is used a lot by fitters and the relatively new "El
Marina" on the outskirts of Kourou in the middle price sector.
If
you want to spend the night in the forest, you should rent a "carbet" (a
kind of spacious hut). There you can sleep in a hammock.
EU citizens also benefit from free movement of workers and freedom of establishment in French Guiana. However, unemployment is very high at 29.5%, which is also due to the extreme population growth (from 1990 to 2009 the number of inhabitants doubled!). So if you want to emigrate to French Guiana, you are well advised to get plenty of information, good knowledge of French is a must. You are most likely to find what you are looking for in the medical field.
Parts of the country are patrolled by the French Foreign Legion (Légion Étrangère), which takes action against illegal gold prospectors there. The Foreign Legion also protects the spaceport and maintains a jungle combat training camp in the country.
The European health insurance card is recognized in all French
overseas departments.
A yellow fever vaccination that is no more
than 10 years old and documented in the vaccination card is mandatory
for entry. Other vaccinations, e.g. B. against typhus and hepatitis, are
recommended. Malaria and dengue fever are also common in French Guiana,
and typhoid and cholera occur occasionally. Outside the cities, medical
care can be patchy.
When handling food and water, the usual
precautions for tropical regions should be observed.
In nature,
long clothes and sturdy shoes protect against mosquitoes, ants and the
extremely unpleasant Pou d'Agouti (a skin parasite related to the autumn
mite). Mosquito repellent sprays also help to keep these animals away.
Fair-skinned people should also think about adequate sun protection.
Although Creole culture is very present in French Guiana, the Guianas are proud to be French and consider themselves French. Criticizing the behavior of the Guayanese or similar should be avoided. Another issue to be careful about is slavery.
French Guiana has a tropical climate. The temperature stays the same
all year round, at around 26 °C. However, due to the high humidity, it
feels warmer. It cools down at night, but wearing long pants and a
long-sleeved t-shirt or light sweater is sufficient.
The rainy
season is from December to May/June and the dry season is from June to
December. During the rainy season, there are heavy rain showers or
continuous rain every day. It is therefore somewhat cooler than during
the dry season (approx. 25 °C). "Dry season" means that it only rains
occasionally. The humidity is still very high.
The EU roaming regulation applies in French Guiana, so there are no
roaming fees for travelers from Germany and Austria.
Prepaid
cards can be bought on site without any problems.
The department covers an area of about 83,534 km² and is almost as
big as Austria. It has 378 km of Atlantic coastline, a 730 km[4] border
with Brazil and 510 km with Suriname. The border with Brazil is thus the
longest border between France and another country.
The area is
part of the Guayan Highlands, which stretches over 1.5 million km² in
the north-east of the South American continent. Due to its climatic
isolation from the rainforest, this highland has an endemic flora and
fauna.
The highest elevation is the Bellevue de l'Inini at 851 m
above sea level. In the south of the country there is a smaller low
mountain range with maximum elevations of around 800 m, the Massif
Tabulaire. The most important rivers are, from west to east, the Maroni,
which forms the border with Suriname, the Sinnamary, the Approuague and
the Oyapock, which is also the border with Brazil. On the position map
shown here, French Guiana, which is disputed with Suriname in the south
of the country, is included.
French Guiana has the largest
contiguous forest area in France and the European Union. 90% of the
country is covered with tropical rainforests. The vast majority of the
population lives on the coast, where the largest cities are located.
These are:
Cayenne, 65,956 inhabitants (2020), capital
Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, 49,173 inhabitants (2020)
Kourou, 24,805
inhabitants (2020)
Matoury, 34,474 inhabitants (2020), belongs to the
Cayenne agglomeration
Remire-Montjoly, 25,793 inhabitants (2020),
belongs to the Cayenne agglomeration
The climate is tropical. Temperatures are constant throughout the year, averaging around 28°C. The dry season is from August to December, while the rest of the year is the rainy season. The average relative humidity is between 80 and 90%. The coastal region benefits from the Atlantic trade winds and the coolness of the rainforest to the south and west. Due to the proximity to the equator and the prevailing air currents, the occurrence of tropical cyclones is practically impossible, unlike over the Caribbean Sea.
As of January 1, 2020, French Guiana had a population of 285,133. The
population is growing very quickly due to the high birth rate. In 1999,
the Overseas Department still had 157,000 inhabitants. French Guiana is
the French department with the highest birth rate. In addition, the
population is very young with an average age of 28.6 years. Population
growth is 3.3%, almost as high as that of New Caledonia.
The
population is also growing due to immigration. Most immigrants come from
nearby states such as Guyana, Suriname, Brazil and Haiti. Significant
immigration is also recorded from South Asia. On September 6, 1977, the
first of 2,100 Hmong people who had fled China and Laos arrived. They
were settled in the villages of Cacao and Javouhey (Municipality of
Mana). Within a few decades, they achieved some prosperity, and as early
as the 2010s were harvesting up to 90% of the fruit and vegetables sold
in the country.
The population is ethnically very mixed. The majority of the
population is made up of Creoles and Afroguyans, whose ancestors were
shipped from West Africa to French Guiana as slaves during the colonial
period. The descendants of European immigrants make up 12% of the
population. Other important minorities are the indigenous peoples with
about 5-10% and the Southeast Asians, there are mainly Laotians and
Vietnamese from the former French colony of Indochina.
A special
feature are the descendants of escaped African slaves, known as Maroons
or Bushinengue, who have been living isolated in the riparian forests of
the Maroni for centuries. There are four ethnic groups that make up the
majority of the population along the Maroni: Alukus (or Bonis), Ndyukas,
Paramaccanians and the Saramaccanians. Most of the latter group live in
Suriname, but some fled to Guyana to escape the ruling military
dictatorship during the civil war there in the 1980s. The escaped slaves
found almost the same living conditions in the primeval forests as in
their original homeland, the rainforests of Central and West Africa,
from where they had previously been abducted. They were therefore able
to continue their original way of life more or less unchanged on the new
continent, even though the new home was thousands of kilometers away
from their country of origin. They mostly live in subsistence farming
from hunting and fishing, others work as gold panners or in tourism.
They are significantly poorer than the average population of Guyana and
are greatly underrepresented in political bodies.
According to a French census of December 31, 2007, 84.4% of the inhabitants are Christians, of whom over 90% are Catholics. 3.6% support Chinese universism. 3.3% are attributed to spiritualism and 2.9% are agnostics. Between a quarter and a half of the country's indigenous people also adhere to traditional religions; the census indicates 2.2% of the total population.
Like all other departments, French Guiana is also represented in the
French legislature by representatives of the people and municipalities:
it has two mandates each in the National Assembly and in the Senate.
All French laws apply in French Guiana. However, according to
Article 73 of the French Constitution, local peculiarities can be taken
into account.
Since the decentralization laws of 1982, French
Guiana has formed both a department and a region of France. Guiana is
divided into two arrondissements, one around Cayenne, the other with the
sub-prefecture of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. The area is further divided
into 22 municipalities. The cantons have been dissolved since 2016 (see:
administrative structure).
Every six years, citizens elect the
Conseil général (for the department) with 19 members and the Conseil
régional (for the region) with 31 members. Martin Jaeger is the prefect
(as of January 2017).
In a referendum initiated by the French
state on January 10, 2010 on more autonomy for the department, 69.8
percent of those voting against voted with a turnout of 55 percent. In
another vote on January 24, 2010, a majority of 57.58% voted in favor of
merging the department and region. However, turnout was only 27.44%.
French Guiana is part of the European Union. Therefore, the borders
with Suriname and Brazil are also EU external borders.
There are approximately 920 French Gendarmerie officers in the Guyana
Gendarmerie Command (COMGEND). Customs has around 200 employees.
The University of French Guiana offers 31 degree programs at two
locations. It covers five areas of study, namely art, literature and
languages, health sciences, science and technology as well as law and
economics.
The French army maintains in Rochambeau u. a. an Air Force military base. A unit of the Foreign Legion, the 3rd Infantry Foreign Regiment (French 3° REI), is stationed in Kourou. Their primary tasks include securing the border and the spaceport in Kourou. Soldiers of the Foreign Legion came from there in March 2004 for a deployment in Haiti. In Régina, about 70 km south of Cayenne, is the "jungle combat school" (Centre d'entraînement à la forêt équatoriale, CEFE) of the Foreign Legion, in which special units from other countries (e.g. KSK, Navy Seals) also take part in short training be formed.
ESA operates the Center Spatial Guyanais spaceport in Kourou together
with the French space agency CNES. There Arianespace launches the
Ariane-type carrier rockets with communication satellites and other
payloads, there are also launch facilities for Soyuz and Vega rockets.
Due to its proximity to the equator, the rockets need less fuel when
launched from here than from Europa in order to carry a payload to a
certain orbital altitude.
The Cosmodrome is the mainstay of
French Guiana's economy. In the meantime, the aerospace site in Kourou
has also become a tourist motor for the domestic economy.
Forestry is an important industry in the country due to the tropical
rainforest. Agriculture is practiced only near the coast. The only other
industries worth mentioning are crab fishing and gold mining.
The
main trading partners are metropolitan France, Trinidad and Tobago and
Italy. The main exports are fish, rice and gold, while the most
important import products from French Guiana include machines and
vehicles. The mercury used in the (usually illegal) gold mining gets
into the water and is ingested by the fish. In those parts of the
indigenous population that mainly eat fish, this leads to symptoms of
illness similar to Minamata disease in Japan. French officials are
stepping up action against the illegal prospectors by arresting them and
deporting them to Brazil. However, the prospectors soon penetrated
French-Guyanese territory again, since the rainforest is very difficult
to control. In addition, the French military has little legal recourse
against the smugglers and environmental criminals who work in mafia-like
structures. The prospectors, who do the actual work and take great
health and legal risks, are usually in an oppressive, slave-like working
relationship with their donos (Portuguese for owners) in the background,
who often do not shy away from violence. The rise in the price of gold
in recent years further exacerbates the problem.
In comparison
with the gross domestic product of the EU expressed in purchasing power
standards, French Guiana has an index of 57.6 (EU-25: 100) (2003). This
makes French Guiana the poorest region in France. However, the high rate
of self-sufficiency must also be considered here, which is not taken
into account when determining the GDP.
In 2017, the unemployment
rate was 22.4%.