59 Interesting Facts About French Guiana That Will Amaze You

French Guiana (often referred to as Guyana) is a French overseas department and territory on South America's North Atlantic coast.

It is the largest overseas department in the country and the European Union, as well as France's second-largest region by land area. French Guiana borders are shared with some big countries.

Surinam is bordered on the west by French Guiana, and on the east and south by Brazil. The Atlantic Ocean is to the north.

A dense forest gradually rises to the modest peaks of the Tumuc-Humac mountains, and a coastal strip where the majority of the population resides, along the Brazilian border.

Devil's Island's three Îles du Salut, as well as the lonely Îles du Connétable further up the coast toward Brazil, are all small islands off the coast. The Petit-Saut Dam, located in the department's northwest corner, creates an artificial lake and generates hydroelectricity.

Since French Guiana is a French overseas territory, the official currency is the euro and not the dollar. Citizens of European Union member countries will find it easier to travel to Guiana. In comparison to its South American neighbors, it may appear to be an expensive resort.

Read on for some more interesting French Guiana facts.

History Of French Guiana

Here are some historical French Guiana facts to tell you more about the small country located along the Atlantic Ocean in South America:

• In 1500, Spaniards explored the coast of Guiana and settled in the Cayenne area in 1503.
• In 1624, French merchants from Rouen established a trading center in the coastal village of Sinnamary, and in 1643, others from Rouen or Paris founded Cayenne.
• The territory was handed to France in 1667 by the Treaty of Breda, and the Dutch, who had held Cayenne in 1664, was ejected in 1676.
• After 1877, the territory’s residents were proclaimed French citizens, with representation in the French Parliament.
• In the tradition of French Roman Catholic humanism, Anne- Marie Javouhey founded one of the first educational institutions for emancipated black slaves and women with Father Francis Libermann.
• In 1946, French Guiana was made a department of France, and in 1974, it was given regional status in South America.
• The establishment of a rocket-launching base and a new town for the European Space Agency at Kourou in 1968, as well as the adoption of the Plan Vert (Green Plan) in the late '70s, which encouraged increased agricultural and forestry production, all contributed to the country’s postwar economic stagnation.
• Economic gains were not sustainable, and high unemployment rates persisted, leaving many Frenc Guianeans dissatisfied with the French authorities.
• French Guiana, on the other hand, has a developing market economy that is modeled after that of metropolitan France and is assisted by French subsidies and technical assistance.
• The European Space Agency’s rocket-launching base in Kourou is vital to the economy, accounting for around one-fourth of the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).
• The largest economic sectors are services, manufacturing, and construction.
• The country’s per capita gross national income (GNI) is among the greatest in South America.
• Agriculture accounts for only a modest percentage of GDP.
• Cassava, rice, bananas, and cabbages are the most common crops grown for subsistence use.
• The majority of small farms are run and owned by families, but there are a few large estates that raise cash crops for export, primarily to metropolitan France.
• Cement, rum, and finished wood goods are the main manufacturing businesses. Imports are required for the majority of capital and consumer products.
• Thermal power facilities, which use imported fossil fuels, generate all of the electricity.
• The majority of the workforce is employed in services and industry, with agriculture accounting for only a small percentage.
• Wages and benefits are regulated in the same way that they are in France.
• Unemployment and inflation are both at high levels.

Capital Of French Guiana

Cayenne is not only French Guiana's capital city but also the main port on the northwestern tip of Cayenne Island. The island was formed by the estuary of the Cayenne and Mahury rivers.

• Originally known as La Ravardière, Cayenne was founded by the French in 1664, though was soon destroyed by Indians.
• The reoccupation only began in late 1664. Although, it took another century for La Ravardière to be renamed Cayenne in the year 1777.
• Cayenne was popularized by the title city of the damned since Napoleon III chose to send the convicts to French Guiana. However, all those jails were demolished in 1945.

Famous Places In French Guiana

Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are the three countries that make up the Guianas, and they are all distinct from each other and from the rest of South America.

• The Guiana Space Center is not only one of France’s most important institutions, but it is also the primary launch site for the European Space Agency in this region.
• Apart from government-controlled space agencies, Arianespace, a private space agency, also collaborates here.
• Tourists can take a guided tour of this space complex, which is located near the Kourou coast.
• There are various picturesque beaches located in French Guiana that are very popular with tourists.
• Plages Les Hattes, located in Awala Yalimapo, is known for a variety of turtles, including Leatherback turtles.
• The ideal time to see turtles is from April to September, when hundreds of these gentle creatures swim along the beach, lay eggs, and watch the eggs develop.
• Apart from Leatherback turtles, this beach is also home to the well-known Olive Ridley turtles.
• In his blockbuster controversial autobiographical book, Henri Chamere, also known as Pipillon, a convict who escaped from a French Guiana prison, made The Prison Facility Of Camp De La Transportation renowned.
• Tourists now flock in droves to see this prison, which served as a sort of processing center before transporting inmates to other institutions.
• The cells are in a state of disintegration. A tour with a guide is also available and you'll get to see the cell with the name Pipillon on it.

Interesting Facts About French Guiana

The demographic rates are those of a developing country in general. Beginning in the late twentieth century, there was immigration from Southeast Asia, Haiti, and the French Caribbean possessions.

• The cultural landscape of French Guiana reflects the ethnic diversity of the people who live there.
• Among their respective peoples, indigenous and African crafts, customs, and arts predominate.
• In the cities, a distinct mixed-Creole culture reigns supreme, with brightly colored and distinctively patterned costumes, dances with African, East Indian, and French 18th-century influences, and festivals, when much of the population devotes itself to costume design, musical composition, and dance competitions.
• Beginning in the 1930s, Léon Damas, a French Guianese poet, was a leader of the Negritude movement in Caribbean literature.
• The French government and its agencies are in charge of a wide variety of matters that are traditionally handled by the national executive, such as military and foreign policy.
• The map of northern South America shows the extent of the Guyanas region along with the French Guiana borders.
• French Guiana is an overseas department of France.
• Both the area and the French department have been governed by a single assembly since December 2015, as part of a new territorial collectivity known as the French Guiana Territorial Collectivity.
• The former regional council and departmental council were dismantled, and this assembly, the French Guiana Assembly, took their place.
• The regional and departmental governments are overseen by the French Guiana Assembly. Gabriel Serville is the organization's president. French is the official language used by people in French Guiana.
• It is very close to the North Atlantic ocean. French Guyana has a French space center which is used by the French Guianese and the French Constitution in the French territory.
• The three Îles du Salut, which comprise Devil’s Island, and the lonely Îles du Connétable further along the northeast coast towards Brazil, are all small islands off the shore.
• This region has tropical rain forest and beautiful creole houses.
• People here speak many regional languages as many people from European nations have accumulated here.
• Illegal immigration, inferior infrastructure than mainland France, greater living costs, higher crime rates, and more widespread social instability continue to plague the region.
• An immigrant is a person who was born in a foreign country and did not hold French citizenship at the time of birth, according to the French definition.
• The French have many sugar plantations.
• They also eat processed meat.
• There are many different cultures followed in the French Guiana capital, many other languages spoken as well besides the Guyana language which is their predominant language.
• It has many overseas departments in the overseas region and street markets.
• It is home to many Arawak Indians.
• It also has a space station. It celebrates bastille day.
• The Amazonian park is a famous location which is located at the highest point there.
• They have a penal colony at Saint Laurent Du Maroni, in France.
• French Guiana was once an exile point.
• Devil's Island which is an island off the coast of French Guiana is a place where dangerous French prisoners were exiled.