French Guiana

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{{Infobox French region| native_name = Région Guyane| common_name = Guyane| image_flag = GuyaneFlag.jpg| image_flag_size = 130px| image_logo = GuyaneLogo1.png| image_logo_size = 100px| flag = Flag of French Guiana| capital = Cayenne
([Guianese Socialist Party) (since 1992)| population_rank = 26th| population_census = 157,213| population_census_year = 1999| population_estimate = 202,000| population_estimate_year = 2006| population_density = 2.4| population_density_year = 2006| arrondissements = 2| cantons = 19| communes = 22| departments = Guyane| image_map = Location-Guyane-France.png| image_map_size = 280px| footnotes =-->

French Guiana (French language: Guyane française, officially Guyane) is an overseas department (French: département d'outre-mer, or DOM) of France, located on the northern coast of South America. Like the other DOMs, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France. As a part of France, French Guiana is part of the European Union's territory, and its currency is the euro.French Guiana is pictured on all euro banknotes, on the reverse at the bottom of each note, right of the Greek ΕΥΡΩ (EURO) next to the denomination.

History French Guiana was originally inhabited by a number of indigenous American peoples. Settled by the French during the 17th century, it was the site of Penal colony settlements from 1852 until 1951; a border dispute with Brazil arose in the late nineteenth century over a vast area of jungle, leading to the short-lived pro-French independent state of Counani in the disputed territory and some fighting between settlers, before the dispute was resolved largely in favour of Brazil by the arbitration of the Switzerland government. The 1970s saw the settlement of Hmong people refugees from Laos. Its position in South America made it a suitable place for France to launch troops from should the need ever arise.

Politics French Guiana, as part of France, is part of the European Union, the largest part in area outside Europe, with one of the longest EU external boundaries. Along with the Spanish enclaves in Africa of Ceuta and Melilla, it is one of only three EU territories outside Europe that is not an island. Its head of state is the President of the French Republic, who appoints a Prefect (France) (resident at the Prefectures in France in Cayenne) as his representative. There are two legislative bodies: the 19-member General Council and the 34-member Regional Council, both elected.

French Guiana sends two Member of Parliament to the National Assembly of France, one representing the Communes of France (municipality) of Cayenne and the commune of Macouria, and the other representing the rest of French Guiana. This latter constituency is the largest in the French Republic by land area. French Guiana also sends one senator to the Senate of France.

French Guiana has traditionally been conservative, though the socialist party has been increasingly successful in recent years. Though many would like to see more autonomy for the region, support for complete independence is very low.

A chronic issue affecting French Guiana is the influx of illegal immigrants and clandestine gold prospecting from Brazil and Suriname. The border between the department and Suriname is formed by the Maroni River, which flows through rain forest and is difficult for the Gendarmerie Nationale (France) and the French Foreign Legion to patrol. The border line with Suriname is disputed.

Administrative divisions French Guiana is divided into 2 Arrondissements of France, 19 cantons of France (not shown here), and 22 communes of France:

] [Arrondissement of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni [Arrondissement of Cayenne

Awala-Yalimapo

Mana, French Guiana

Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni

Apatou

Grand-Santi

Saint-Georges, French Guiana

Ouanary

Régina

Roura

Sinnamary

Montsinéry-Tonnegrande

Matoury

Cayenne

Remire-Montjoly

See also:

Arrondissements of the Guyane department
Cantons of the Guyane department
Communes of the Guyane department

Geography Though sharing cultural affinities with the French language-speaking territories of the Caribbean, French Guiana cannot be considered to be part of that geographic region, with the Caribbean Sea actually being several hundred kilometres to the west, beyond the arc of the Lesser Antilles.

French Guiana consists of two main geographical regions: a coastal strip where the majority of the people live, and dense, near-inaccessible rainforest which gradually rises to the modest peaks of the Tumac-Humac mountains along the Brazilian frontier. French Guiana's highest peak is Bellevue de l'Inini (851 m). Other mountains include Mont Machalou (782 m), Pic Coudreau (711 m) and Mont St Marcel (635 m), Mont Favard (200 m) and Montagne du Mahury (156 m). Several small islands are found off the coast, the three Iles du Salut Salvation Islands which includes Devil's Island and the isolated Ile de Connetable bird sanctuary further along the coast towards Brazil.

The Barrage de Petit-Saut hydroelectric dam in the north of French Guiana forms an artificial lake and provides hydroelectricity. There are many rivers in French Guiana.

Economy French Guiana is heavily dependent on France for subsidies and goods. The main industries are fishing (accounting for three-quarters of foreign exports), gold mining and timber. In addition, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou accounts for 25% of the GDP and employs about 1700 people. There is very little manufacturing and agriculture is largely undeveloped. Tourism, especially eco-tourism, is growing. Unemployment is a major problem, running at about 20% to 30%. In 2004 the GDP per capita of French Guiana at real exchange rates, not at Purchasing power parity, was 12,887 euros (US$16,030), which was 59.9% of the European Union's average GDP per capita that year.

Transportation French Guiana's main international airport is Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport, located in the communes of France of Matoury, a southern suburb of Cayenne. There is one flight a day to Paris (Orly Airport), and one flight a day arriving from Paris. The flight time from Cayenne to Paris is 8 hours and 25 minutes, and from Paris to Cayenne it is 9 hours and 10 minutes. There are also flights to Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre, Port-au-Prince, Miami, Macapá, Belém, and Fortaleza.

French Guiana's main seaport is the port of Dégrad des Cannes, located on the estuary of the Mahury River, in the commune of Remire-Montjoly, a south-eastern suburb of Cayenne. Almost all of French Guiana's imports and exports pass through the port of Dégrad des Cannes. Built in 1969, it replaced the old harbor of Cayenne which was congested and couldn't cope with modern traffic.

An Pavement (material)#Asphalt paving road from Régina to Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock (a town by the Brazilian border) was opened in 2004, completing the road from Cayenne to the Brazilian border. It is now possible to drive on a fully paved road from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni on the Surinamese border to Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock on the Brazilian border. Following an international treaty between France and Brazil signed in July 2005, a bridge over the Oyapock River (marking the border with Brazil) is currently being built and is due to open in the end of 2008. This bridge will be the first land crossing ever opened between France and Brazil, and indeed between French Guiana and the rest of the world (there exists no other bridge crossing the Oyapock River, and no bridge crossing the Maroni River marking the border with Suriname - there is a ferry crossing to Albina, Suriname.). When the bridge is opened, it will be possible to drive uninterrupted from Cayenne to Macapá, the capital of the state of Amapá in Brazil.

Demographics French Guiana's population of 202,000 (January 2006 est.), most of whom live along the coast, is very ethnically diverse. At the 1999 census, 54.4% of the inhabitants of French Guiana were born in French Guiana, 11.8% were born in Metropolitan France, 5.2% were born in the French Caribbean departments of France (Guadeloupe and Martinique), and 28.6% were born in foreign countries (most notably Brazil, Suriname, and Haiti).

French censuses do not record ethnicity, so estimates of the percentages of French Guiana ethnic composition vary, a problem compounded by the large numbers of legal and illegal immigrants (about 20,000).

Guianese Creoles (People of primarily African heritage mixed with some French ancestry) are the largest ethnic group, though estimates vary as to the exact percentage, depending upon whether the large Haitian community is included as well. Generally the Creole population is judged at about 60% to 70% of the total population with Haitians (comprising roughly one-third of Creoles) and 30% to 50% without. Roughly 14% are Europeans, the vast majority of whom are French people.

The main Asian communities are the Hmong people from Laos (1.5%) and Overseas Chinese (3.2%, primarily from Hong Kong and Zhejiang). There are also smaller groups from various Caribbean islands, mainly Saint Lucia. The main groups living in the interior are the Maroon (people) (also called Bush Negroes) and Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The Maroon (people), descendants of escaped African slaves, live primarily along the Maroni River. The main Maroon groups are the Paramacca, Aucan (both of whom also live in Suriname) and the Boni (Aluku).

The main Amerindian groups (forming about 3%-4% of the population) are the Arawak, Emerillon, Galibi (now called the Kaliña), Palikour, Wayampi (also known as Oyampi) and Wayana.

The predominant religion in this region is Roman Catholicism, though the Maroons and some Amerindian peoples still practice their own religions. The Hmong people are also mainly Catholic owing to the influence of Catholic missionaries who helped bring them to French Guiana.

{]
estimate !! 1839
estimate !! 1857
estimate !! 1891
estimate !! 1946
census !! 1954
census !! 1961
census !! 1967
census !! 1974
census !! 1982
census !! 1990
census !! 1999
census !! 2006
estimate] estimates.|}

Notable People

Florent Malouda, French international football player who plays for Chelsea Football Club
Henri Charrière, an escaped French convict, imprisoned in and around French Guiana from 1933 to 1945.
Christiane Taubira, Politician of Socialist Party
Malia Metella, French swimmer, SC European Championships 2004: 1st 100m free.
Bernard Lama, former French international Football (soccer) player.
Cyrille Regis, former West Bromwich Albion and England player.
Léon Damas, Francophone poet widely notated for his influence on the literary movement known as la négritude
Henri Salvador, famous singer, one of the inspiration sources for the Bossa Nova movement.
Jean-Claude Darcheville, football (soccer) striker who joined Rangers F.C. from FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the summer of 2007.

Bibliography

France's Overseas Frontier : Départements et territoires d'outre-mer Robert Aldrich and John Connell. Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-03036-6
Dry guillotine: Fifteen years among the living dead René Belbenoit, 1938, Reprint: Berkley (1975). ISBN 0-425-02950-6
Hell on Trial René Belbenoit, 1940, Translated from the Original French Manuscript by Preston Rambo. E. P Dutton & Co. Reprint by Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 194 p. Reprint: Bantam Books, 1971
Papillon Henri Charrière Reprints: Hart-Davis Macgibbon Ltd. 1970. ISBN 0-246-63987-3 (hbk); Perennial, 2001. ISBN 0-06-093479-4 (sbk)
Space in the Tropics: From Convicts to Rockets in French Guiana Peter Redfield. ISBN 0-520-21985-6