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93-870: The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British rule , including Anguilla , the Cayman Islands , the Turks and Caicos Islands , Montserrat , the British Virgin Islands , Bermuda , Antigua and Barbuda , the Bahamas , Barbados , Dominica , Grenada , Jamaica , Saint Kitts and Nevis , Saint Lucia , Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , British Honduras , British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago . The Kingdom of England first established colonies in

186-751: A short-lived settlement on the Wiapoco River in 1604 (now the Oyapock, which forms the border between French Guiana and Brazil ). This was followed by failed attempts to established settlements in Saint Lucia in 1605 and Grenada in 1609. The first permanent settlement was established in St. Christopher (St. Kitts) by Thomas Warner . This was followed by settlements in Barbados in 1627, Nevis in 1628, and Montserrat and Antigua in 1632. Providence Island

279-718: A French department on 19 March 1946. Following the French withdrawal from Vietnam in the 1950s and subsequent war between the Viet Cong and the United States, France helped resettle several hundred Hmong refugees from Laos to French Guiana during the 1970s and 80s, who were fleeing displacement after the communist takeover of Laos by Pathet Lao in 1975. In the late 1980s, more than 10,000 Surinamese refugees, mostly Maroons , arrived in French Guiana, fleeing

372-572: A high level of biodiversity of both flora and fauna . This is due to the presence of old-growth forests (i.e., ancient/primary forests), which are biodiversity hotspots . The rainforests of French Guiana provide shelter for many species during dry periods and terrestrial glaciation. These forests are protected by a national park (the Guiana Amazonian Park ), seven additional nature reserves , and 17 protected sites. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and

465-718: A lack of popular support; consequently, it was dissolved by the British in 1963, with nine provinces eventually becoming independent sovereign states and four becoming current British Overseas Territories . "West Indies" or "West India" was a part of the names of several companies of the 17th and 18th centuries, including the Danish West India Company , the Dutch West India Company , the French West India Company , and

558-570: A second referendum , transition to a " single territorial collectivity " under Article 73 of the Constitution was approved. On 20 March 2017, French Guianese workers began going on strike and demonstrating for more resources and infrastructure . 28 March 2017 was the day of the largest demonstration ever held in French Guiana. French Guiana has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak , with more than 1% of French Guianese testing positive by

651-528: A space-travel base in French Guiana. It was intended to replace the Sahara base in Algeria and stimulate economic growth in French Guiana. The department was considered suitable for the purpose because it is near the equator and has extensive access to the ocean as a buffer zone. The Guiana Space Centre , located a short distance along the coast from Kourou , has grown considerably since the initial launches of

744-869: Is a volcanic island arc rising along the leading edge of the Caribbean Plate due to the subduction of the Atlantic seafloor of the North American and South American plates . Major islands of the Lesser Antilles likely emerged less than 20 Ma, during the Miocene . The volcanic activity that formed these islands began in the Paleogene, after a period of volcanism in the Greater Antilles ended, and continues today. The main arc of

837-489: Is an overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies . Bordered by Suriname to the west and Brazil to the east and south, French Guiana covers a total area of 84,000 km (32,000 sq mi) and a land area of 83,534 km (32,253 sq mi). As of January 2024, it is home to approximately 295,385 people. French Guiana

930-619: Is compatible with requirements for environmental protection. The coastal environment along the RN1 has historically experienced the most changes, but development is occurring locally along the RN2 , and also in western French Guiana due to gold mining. 5,500 plant species have been recorded, including more than a thousand trees, along with 700 species of birds, 177 species of mammals, over 500 species of fish including 45% of which are endemic and 109 species of amphibians . French Guiana's high biodiversity

1023-716: Is estimated that nearly 70% of Cuba consists of karst limestone . The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are a granite outcrop rising over 2,000 meters (6000'), while the rest of the island to the west consists mainly of karst limestone. Much of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands were formed by the collision of the Caribbean Plate with the North American Plate and consist of 12 island arc terranes . These terranes consist of oceanic crust , volcanic and plutonic rock . The Lesser Antilles

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1116-694: Is geologically the oldest of the three archipelagos and includes both the largest islands ( Cuba , Jamaica , Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico ) and the tallest mountains ( Pico Duarte , Blue Mountain , Pic la Selle , Pico Turquino ) in the Caribbean. The islands of the Greater Antilles are composed of strata of different geological ages including Precambrian fragmented remains of the North American Plate (older than 539 million years), Jurassic aged limestone (201.3-145 million years ago), as well as island arc deposits and oceanic crust from

1209-526: Is hot and oppressively humid all year round. During most of the year, rainfall across the country is heavy due to the presence of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and its powerful thunderstorm cells. In most parts of French Guiana, rainfall is always heavy especially from December to July – typically over 330 millimetres or 13 inches can be expected each month during this period throughout the department. Between August and November,

1302-693: Is in charge of regional and departmental government. Its president is Gabriel Serville . Fully integrated in the French Republic since 1946, French Guiana is a part of the European Union, and its official currency is the euro . A large part of French Guiana's economy depends on jobs and businesses associated with the presence of the Guiana Space Centre , now the European Space Agency 's primary launch site near

1395-505: Is one of the largest worldwide for the leatherback turtle . French Guiana has some of the poorest soils in the world. The soil is low in nutrients (e.g., nitrogen , potassium ) and organic matter . Soil acidity is another cause of the poor soils, and it requires farmers to add lime to their fields. The soil characteristics have led to the use of slash and burn agriculture. The resulting ashes elevate soil pH (i.e., lower soil acidity), and contribute minerals and other nutrients to

1488-636: Is rooted in colonial times, when five such colonies ( The Guianas ) had been named along the coast, subject to differing powers: namely (from west to east) Spanish Guiana (now Guayana Region in Venezuela), British Guiana (now Guyana ), Dutch Guiana (now Suriname ), French Guiana, and Portuguese Guiana (now Amapá in Brazil). French Guiana and the two larger countries to the north and west, Guyana and Suriname, are still often collectively referred to as "the Guianas" and constitute one large landmass known as

1581-485: Is similar to that of other regions with tropical rainforests, such as the Brazilian Amazon, Borneo and Sumatra . Environmental threats include habitat fragmentation from roads, which remains very limited compared to other forests of South America; immediate and deferred impacts of EDF 's Petit-Saut Dam ; gold mining ; poor control of hunting and poaching , facilitated by the creation of many tracks; and

1674-565: Is the euro . The country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for French Guiana is .gf , but .fr is generally used instead. In 2019, the GDP of French Guiana at market exchange rates was US$ 4.93 billion (€4.41 billion), ranking as the 2nd largest economy in the Guianas after Guyana (which discovered large oil fields in 2015 and 2018), and the 12th largest in South America. From

1767-480: Is the longest land border that France shares with another country, as well as one of only two borders which France shares with non-European states, the other being the border with Suriname in the west. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the name "Guyana" is an indigenous term meaning "land of many waters". The addition of the adjective "French" in most languages other than French

1860-571: Is the second-largest region in France, being approximately one-seventh the size of Metropolitan France, and the largest outermost region within the European Union . It has a very low population density, with only 3.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (9.3/sq mi). About half of its residents live in its capital, Cayenne. Approximately 98.9% of French Guiana is covered by forests, much of it primeval rainforest . The Guiana Amazonian Park ,

1953-779: The Achaemenid Empire ), and ultimately its cognate , the Sanskrit Sindhu , or "river", specifically the Indus River and its well-settled southern basin. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi ( Ἰνδοί ), which translates as "The people of the Indus". In 1492, Christopher Columbus and his Spanish fleet left Spain seeking a western sea passage to the Eastern world , hoping to profit from

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2046-1120: The Americas . The Indies from both regions were further distinguished depending on the European world power to which they belong. In the East Indies , there were the Spanish East Indies and the Dutch East Indies . In the West Indies, the Spanish West Indies , the Dutch West Indies , the French West Indies , the British West Indies , and the Danish West Indies . The term was used to name

2139-655: The Atlantic island nation of Bermuda , all of which are geographically distinct from the three main island groups, but culturally related. The English term Indie is derived from the Classical Latin India , a reference to the territories in South Asia adjacent and east to the Indus River . India itself derived successively from Hellenistic Greek India ( Ἰνδία ), ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός ), Old Persian Hindush (an eastern province of

2232-415: The COVID-19 recession in metropolitan France (-7.9% in 2020). French Guiana is heavily dependent on mainland France for subsidies, trade, and goods. The main traditional industries are fishing (accounting for 5% of exports in 2012), gold mining (accounting for 32% of exports in 2012) and timber (accounting for 1% of exports in 2012). In addition, the Guiana Space Centre has played a significant role in

2325-643: The Caribbean Sea , attacking Spanish and Portuguese shipping and coastal areas. They often took refuge and refitted their ships in the areas the Spanish could not conquer, including the islands of the Lesser Antilles, the northern coast of South America, including the mouth of the Orinoco , and the Atlantic Coast of Central America. In the Lesser Antilles, they managed to establish a foothold following

2418-660: The Colonial Office that the scheme had failed due to "local prejudice and self-interest". His only achievement was to give the Leewards a single Governor. All laws and ordinances had to be approved by each island council. In 1871, the British government passed the Leeward Islands Act, by which all the islands were under one Governor and one set of laws. The Federal Colony was composed of all islands organised under Governor Pine's previous attempt. Each island

2511-741: The Cretaceous (145-66 million years ago). The Greater Antilles originated near the Isthmian region of present-day Central America in the Late Cretaceous (commonly referred to as the Proto-Antilles), then drifted eastward arriving in their current location when colliding with the Bahama Platform of the North American Plate ca. 56 million years ago in the late Paleocene . This collision caused subduction and volcanism in

2604-632: The European Union (EU) have recommended special efforts to protect these areas. Following the Grenelle Environment Round Table of 2007, the Grenelle Law II was proposed in 2009, under law number 2010–788. Article 49 of the law proposed the creation of a single organization responsible for environmental conservation in French Guiana. Article 64 proposes a "departmental plan of mining orientation" for French Guiana, which would promote mining (specifically of gold) that

2697-453: The Florida peninsula of North America south-southeast to the northern coast of Venezuela . These islands include active volcanoes , low-lying atolls , raised limestone islands, and large fragments of continental crust containing tall mountains and insular rivers. Each of the three archipelagos of the West Indies has a unique origin and geologic composition. The Greater Antilles

2790-760: The French Revolution , when the National Convention voted to abolish the French slave trade and slavery in France's overseas colonies in February 1794, months after enslaved Haitians had started a slave rebellion in the colony of Saint-Domingue . However, the 1794 decree was only implemented in Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, while the colonies of Senegal , Mauritius , Réunion , Martinique and French India resisted

2883-521: The GDP per capita of French Guiana at market exchange rates, not at PPP , was US$ 17,375 (€15,521), only 42.3% of metropolitan France 's average GDP per capita that year, and 50.3% of the metropolitan French regions outside the Paris Region . French Guiana was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, leading to a recession of -2.7% that year according to provisional estimates, moderate compared to

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2976-525: The Guiana Shield . French Guiana was originally inhabited by indigenous people : Kalina , Lokono (part of the Arawak grouping), Galibi , Palikur , Teko , Wayampi and Wayana . The French attempted to create a colony there in the 16th century in conjunction with its settlement of some Caribbean islands, such as Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue . Prior to European colonization , the territory

3069-500: The Hmong communities settled in French Guiana in the 1970s, both destined to the local market. A thriving rice production, developed on polders near Mana from the early 1980s to the late 2000s, has almost completely disappeared since 2011 due to marine erosion and new EU plant health rules which forbid the use of many pesticides and fertilizers. Tourism, especially eco-tourism , is growing. Unemployment has been persistently high in

3162-534: The Leeward Islands were brought together, and Dominica was added, remaining as part of the group until 1940. In 1869, Governor Benjamin Pine was assigned to organise a federation of Antigua-Barbuda, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands . St. Kitts and Nevis opposed sharing their government funds with Antigua and Montserrat, which were bankrupt. Governor Pine told

3255-401: The Portuguese Empire in 1809. It was returned to France with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1814. Though Portugal returned the region to France, it kept a military presence until 1817. After French Guiana was established as a penal colony, officials sometimes used convicts to catch butterflies. The sentences of the convicts were often long, and the prospect of employment very weak, so

3348-422: The Spanish Council of the Indies , the British East India Company , the Dutch East India and West India companies, the French East India Company , and the Danish East India Company . Many cultures were indigenous to these islands, with evidence dating some of them back to the mid-6th millennium BCE. In the late 16th century, French, English and Dutch merchants and privateers began operations in

3441-543: The Surinamese Civil War . More recently, French Guiana has received large numbers of Brazilian and Haitian economic migrants . Illegal and ecologically destructive gold mining by Brazilian garimpeiros is a chronic issue in the remote interior rain forest of French Guiana. The region still faces such problems as illegal immigration, poorer infrastructure than mainland France, higher costs of living, higher levels of crime and more common social unrest. In 1964, French president Charles de Gaulle decided to construct

3534-420: The Swedish West India Company . West Indian is the official term used by the U.S. government to refer to people of the West Indies. The term survives today mainly through the West Indies cricket team , representing all of the nations in the West Indian islands. The West Indies are a geologically complex island system consisting of 7,000 islands and islets stretching over 3,000 km (2000 miles) from

3627-481: The Treaty of the Danish West Indies . The Danish West Indies became an insular area of the U.S., called the United States Virgin Islands . Between 1958 and 1962, the United Kingdom re-organised all their West Indies island territories (except the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas ) into the West Indies Federation . They hoped that the Federation would coalesce into a single, independent nation. The Federation had limited powers, numerous practical problems, and

3720-432: The Véronique rockets. It is now part of the European space industry and has had commercial success with such launches as the Ariane 4 , Ariane 5 and Ariane flight VA256 which launched the James Webb Space Telescope into space. The Guianese General Council officially adopted a departmental flag in 2010. In a referendum that same year, French Guiana voted against becoming an autonomous overseas collectivity . In

3813-404: The Western Caribbean Zone in place in the early-18th century. In the Miskito Kingdom, the rise to power of the Miskito-Zambos , who originated in the survivors of a rebellion aboard a slave ship in the 1640s and the introduction of enslaved Africans by British settlers within the Miskito area and in Belize, also transformed this area into one with a high percentage of persons of African descent as

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3906-482: The arbitration of the Swiss government. The territory of Inini consisted of most of the interior of French Guiana when it was created in 1930. In 1936, Félix Éboué from Cayenne became the first black man to serve as governor in a French colony. During World War II and the fall of France to German forces, French Guiana became part of Vichy France . Guiana officially rallied to Free France on 16 March 1943. It abandoned its colony status and once again became

3999-504: The decolonization of the Americas in the later 1950s and 1960s, the term "British West Indies" was regularly used to include all British colonies in the region as part of the British Empire. Following the independence of most of the territories from the United Kingdom , the term Commonwealth Caribbean is now used. In 1912, the British government divided their territories into different colonies: The Bahamas , Barbados , British Guiana , British Honduras , Jamaica (with its dependencies

4092-534: The 1900s and 1910s, it suffered from a bad reputation due to its association with penal colonies and bad sanitary conditions ( yellow fever and malaria in particular). Population started to grow tremendously from the 1950s onwards with the improvement of sanitary conditions (yellow fever and malaria eradication campaigns started in 1949) and the establishment of the Guiana Space Centre in 1964. Population growth has been fueled both by high birth rates and large arrivals of immigrants (from metropolitan France , to man

4185-432: The 1960s to the 2000s, French Guiana experienced strong economic growth, fueled by the development of France's Guiana Space Centre (established in French Guiana in 1964 as the independence of Algeria in 1962 led to the closure of France's space center in the Algerian Sahara) and by high population growth which stimulated domestic consumption. French Guiana's economy did not suffer from the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 :

4278-467: The 1990s). Most of the countries and territories listed above field a combined cricket team called the West Indies , which is one of the twelve elite international teams that play at Test match level. The West Indies hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup of ODI Cricket and the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 . 24°00′00″N 71°00′00″W  /  24.0000°N 71.0000°W  / 24.0000; -71.0000 West Indies The subregion includes all

4371-527: The 2010s. French Guiana's population reached 295,385 in 2024 (Jan. estimate), more than 10 times the population it had in 1954. There are three metropolitan areas (as defined by INSEE ) in French Guiana. These are Cayenne , which covers 6 communes (Cayenne, Remire-Montjoly , Matoury , Macouria , Montsinéry-Tonnegrande , and Roura ), Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni , made up of the namesake commune, and Kourou , which covers 2 communes (Kourou and Sinnamary ). The population of these three metropolitan areas at

4464-595: The Colony until 1958. After 1885 the Windward Islands Colony was under one Governor-General in Grenada, and each island had its own Lieutenant-Governor and its own assembly (as before). Attempts to create a Federal Colony, as in the Leewards, were always resisted. The Windward Islands Colony broke up in 1958 when each island chose to join the new Federation of the West Indies as a separate unit. The Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands were grouped under Jamaica out of convenience and sometimes for historical and/or geographical reasons. British Honduras (later Belize )

4557-468: The GDP grew by an average of +3.4% per year in real terms from 2002 to 2012, slightly faster than the rapidly growing population, which allowed French Guiana to catch up marginally with the rest of France in terms of standards of living. The GDP per capita rose from 48.0% of metropolitan France 's level in 2000 to 48.5% of metropolitan France in 2012. Since 2013, however, French Guiana's economic growth has been uneven, and more subdued. From 2013 to 2019,

4650-485: The General Assembly met regularly until 1711. By the 18th century, each island had kept its own Assembly and made its own laws. The islands continued to share one Governor and one Attorney-General. Although unpopular, Stapleton's federation was never really dissolved but simply replaced by other arrangements. Between 1816 and 1833, the Leewards were divided into two groups: St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla and Antigua-Barbuda-Montserrat, each with its own Governor. In 1833, all

4743-412: The Lesser Antilles runs north from the coast of Venezuela to the Anegada Passage , a strait separating them from the Greater Antilles, and includes 19 active volcanoes. The Lucayan Archipelago includes The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands , a chain of barrier reefs and low islands atop the Bahama Platform. The Bahama Platform is a carbonate block formed of marine sediments and fixed to

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4836-454: The North American Plate. The emergent islands of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos likely formed from accumulated deposits of wind-blown sediments during Pleistocene glacial periods of lower sea level. N.B.: Territories in italics are parts of transregional sovereign states or non-sovereign dependencies. These three Dutch Caribbean territories form the BES islands . Physiographically , these are continental islands not part of

4929-556: The Proto-Antillean area and likely resulted in continental uplift of the Bahama Platform and changes in sea level. The Greater Antilles have continuously been exposed since the start of the Paleocene or at least since the Middle Eocene (66-40 million years ago), but which areas were above sea level throughout the history of the islands remains unresolved. The oldest rocks in the Greater Antilles are located in Cuba. They consist of metamorphosed graywacke , argillite , tuff , mafic igneous extrusive flows, and carbonate rock . It

5022-444: The Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands), Trinidad and Tobago , the Windward Islands , and the Leeward Islands . Between 1958 and 1962, all of the island territories except the British Virgin Islands , the Bahamas and Bermuda were organised into the West Indies Federation . It was hoped that the Federation would become independent as a single nation, but it had limited powers and faced many practical problems. Consequently,

5115-450: The United States in 1804, it developed Guiana as a penal colony , establishing a network of camps and penitentiaries along the coast where prisoners from metropolitan France were sentenced to forced labour . During operations as a penal colony beginning in the mid-19th century, the French government transported approximately 56,000 prisoners to Devil's Island . Fewer than 10% survived their sentence. Île du Diable (Devil's Island)

5208-420: The West Indies Federation was dissolved in 1962. The territories are now fully independent sovereign states , except for five – Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands – which remain British Overseas Territories , as does Bermuda. All remain within the Commonwealth of Nations . They also established the Caribbean Community , and many of

5301-410: The Windward Islands Colony, but were not given their own assemblies (having previously been Crown Colonies ). In 1840 Trinidad left the Colony. Barbados wished to retain its separate identity and ancient institutions, and the other colonies did not want to associate with it. The individual islands resisted British attempts at closer union. Barbados in particular fought to retain its own Assembly and left

5394-447: The bloc of West Indies countries with the United Kingdom maintaining responsibility for defence and external affairs only. Although most of the British West Indies seceded from British rule and were granted independence, several opted to remain British territories. Those territories include: Cricket has traditionally been the main sport in the British West Indies (though others sports such as football have challenged its dominance since

5487-406: The coast and along the Maroni River . Sugar and bananas were traditionally two of the main cash crops grown for export but have almost completely disappeared. Today they have been replaced by livestock raising (essentially beef cattle and pigs) in the coastal savannas between Cayenne and the second-largest town, Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni , and market gardening (fruits and vegetables) developed by

5580-421: The coast: the three Salvation's Islands which include Devil's Island , and the isolated Îles du Connétable bird sanctuary further along the coast towards Brazil. The Petit-Saut Dam , a hydroelectric dam in the north of French Guiana forms an artificial lake and provides hydroelectricity . There are many rivers in French Guiana, including the Waki River . As of 2007 , the Amazonian forest , located in

5673-423: The colonisation of Saint Kitts in 1624 and Barbados in 1626, and when the Sugar Revolution took off in the mid-17th century, they brought in thousands of enslaved Africans to work the fields and mills as labourers. These enslaved Africans wrought a demographic revolution, replacing or joining with either the indigenous Caribs or the European settlers who were there as indentured servants . The struggle between

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5766-415: The convicts caught butterflies to sell in the international market, both for scientific purposes as well as general collecting. A border dispute with Brazil arose in the late 19th century over a vast area of jungle, resulting in the short-lived, pro-French, independent state of Counani in the disputed territory. There was some fighting among settlers. The dispute was resolved largely in favour of Brazil by

5859-426: The country of the Netherlands . Physiographically , these continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically. Disputed territories administered by Guyana . Disputed territories administered by Colombia . 19°N 71°W  /  19°N 71°W  / 19; -71 French Guiana French Guiana

5952-666: The eastern half experiences a warm dry season with rainfall below 100 millimetres or 3.94 inches and average high temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) occurring in September and October, causing eastern French Guiana to be classified as a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen Am ); Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni in the west has a tropical rainforest climate ( Af ). French Guiana is home to many different ecosystems : tropical rainforests , coastal mangroves , savannahs , inselbergs and many types of wetlands . It lies within three ecoregions: Guayanan Highlands moist forests , Guianan moist forests , and Guianan mangroves . French Guiana has

6045-431: The economy grew by an average of only +1.2% per year in real terms. French Guiana experienced a recession of -0.8% in 2014, and social unrest in 2017 led to almost no economic growth that year. Economic growth recovered at +3.0% in 2018, but was again almost null (+0.2%) in 2019. As a result, the GDP per capita has remained stagnant in nominal terms since 2013, and has declined relative to metropolitan France's. In 2019,

6138-703: The end of June 2020. French Guiana lies between latitudes 2° and 6° N, and longitudes 51° and 55° W. It 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 Tumuc-Humac mountains along the Brazilian frontier. French Guiana's highest peak is Bellevue de l'Inini in Maripasoula (851 m, 2,792 ft). Other mountains include Mont Itoupé (826 m, 2,710 ft), Cottica Mountain (744 m, 2,441 ft), Pic Coudreau (711 m, 2,333 ft), and Kaw Mountain (337 m, 1,106 ft). Several small islands are found off

6231-410: The equator. As elsewhere in France, the official language is standard French, but each ethnic community has its own language, of which French Guianese Creole , a French-based creole language , is the most widely spoken. French Guiana is the only territory on the continental mainland of the Americas that is still under the sovereignty of a European state. The border between French Guiana and Brazil

6324-414: The imposition of these laws. Bill Marshall, Professor of Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Stirling , wrote of French Guiana's origins: The first French effort to colonize Guiana, in 1763, utterly failed, as settlers were subject to high mortality given the numerous tropical diseases and harsh climate: all but 2,000 of the initial 12,000 settlers died. After France ceded Louisiana to

6417-457: The introduction of all-terrain vehicles . Logging remains moderate due to the lack of roads, difficult climate, and difficult terrain. The Forest Code of French Guiana was modified by ordinance on 28 July 2005. Logging concessions or free transfers are sometimes granted by local authorities to persons traditionally deriving their livelihood from the forest. The beaches of the Amana Nature Reserve are an exceptional marine turtle nesting site. This

6510-424: The islands in the Antilles , in addition to The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands , which are in the North Atlantic Ocean . The term is often interchangeable with "Caribbean", although the latter may also include coastal regions of Central and South American mainland nations, including Mexico , Belize , Honduras , Panama , Colombia , Venezuela , French Guiana , Guyana , and Suriname , as well as

6603-432: The largest national park in the EU covers 41% of French Guiana's territory. Since December 2015, both the region and department have been ruled by a single assembly within the framework of a single territorial collectivity , the French Guiana Territorial Collectivity. This assembly, the French Guiana Assembly , replaced the former regional and departmental council , which were dissolved. The French Guiana Assembly

6696-456: The last few decades, standing between 17% and 24%. In recent years, the unemployment rate has declined from a peak of 23.0% in 2016 to 19.3% in 2019. French Guiana experienced a long period of demographic stagnation during the days of the Cayenne and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni penal colonies (19th century and first half of the 20th century), when, with the exception of a brief gold rush in

6789-520: The local economy since it was established in Kourou in 1964: it accounted directly and indirectly for 16% of French Guiana's GDP in 2002 (down from 26% in 1994, as the French Guianese economy is becoming increasingly diversified). The Guiana Space Centre employed 1,659 people in 2012. There is very little manufacturing. Agriculture is largely undeveloped and is mainly confined to the area near

6882-640: The lucrative spice trade emanating from Hindustan , Indochina , and Insulindia , the regions currently found within the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia , which were first simply referred to by Spanish and Portuguese explorers as the Indias (Indies) . Thinking he had landed on the easternmost part of the Indies in the Eastern world when he came upon the New World , Columbus used

6975-501: The most remote part of the department, is protected as the Guiana Amazonian Park , one of the ten national parks of France . The territory of the park covers some 33,900 km (13,090 sq mi) upon the communes of Camopi , Maripasoula , Papaïchton , Saint-Élie and Saül . French Guiana has an equatorial climate predominant. Located within six degrees of the Equator and rising only to modest elevations, French Guiana

7068-1027: The nations have joined various international bodies, such as the Organization of American States , the Association of Caribbean States , the World Trade Organization , the United Nations, and the Caribbean Development Bank among others. The territories that were part of the British West Indies are (date of independence, where applicable, in parentheses): The origins of the British West Indies lie in outposts established to support English pirates and privateers who were involved in raiding Spanish treasure fleets , and merchants interested in trade. Charles Leigh , an English merchant, established

7161-518: The northern Europeans and the Spanish spread southward in the mid to late seventeenth century, as English, Dutch, French and Spanish colonists, and in many cases, enslaved Africans first entered and then occupied the coast of The Guianas (which fell to the French, English and Dutch) and the Orinoco valley, which fell to the Spanish. The Dutch, allied with the Caribs of the Orinoco, would eventually carry

7254-625: The public administrations and the space center, as well as from neighboring countries, in particular Suriname and Brazil ). Arrivals of Surinamese refugees reached record levels in the 1980s during the Surinamese Interior War , resulting in the highest population growth rate in French Guiana's history, recorded between the 1982 and 1990 censuses (+5.8% per year). In the 21st century, the birth rate has remained high, and new arrivals of migrants seeking asylum (in particular from Haiti ) have kept population growth above 2% per year in

7347-560: The region during the 17th century. Financed by valuable extractive commodities such as sugar production, the colonies were also at the centre of the Atlantic slave trade , with around 2.3 million slaves being brought to the British West Indies. The colonies also served as bases to project the power of the British Empire through the Royal Navy and Britain's Merchant Marine, and to expand and protect British overseas trade. Before

7440-455: The soil. Sites of Terra preta ( anthropogenic soils) have been discovered in French Guiana, particularly near the border with Brazil. Research is being actively pursued in multiple fields to determine how these enriched soils were historically created, and how this can be done in modern times. As a part of France, French Guiana is part of the European Union and the Eurozone ; its currency

7533-603: The struggles deep into South America, first along the Orinoco and then along the northern reaches of the Amazon . Since no European country had occupied much of Central America, gradually, the English of Jamaica established alliances with the Miskito Kingdom of modern-day Nicaragua and Honduras and then began logging on the coast of modern-day Belize . These interconnected commercial and diplomatic relations comprised

7626-778: The term Indias to refer to the Americas , calling its native people Indios (Indians) . To avoid confusion between the known Indies of the Eastern Hemisphere and the newly discovered Indies of the Western Hemisphere , the Spanish named the territories in the East Indias Orientales (East Indies) and the territories in the West Indias Occidentales (West Indies) . Originally, the term West Indies applied to all of

7719-833: The termination of the West Indies Federation, a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association form of government along with the United Kingdom called the West Indies Associated States. The arrangement was created through the British House of Commons passing the West Indies Act (1967) (also known as the Associated States Act ). As part of the arrangement more sovereignty was granted to

7812-483: The union in 1884. Power for the union was then transferred to Grenada as overseer of the bloc. From 1885 to 1958, the Windward Islands Colony included Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia during the entire period. Tobago left in 1889, forming a union with Trinidad. Dominica joined the Windward Islands Colony in 1940, after having been transferred from the Leewards, and remained in

7905-796: The volcanic Windward Islands arc. Based on proximity, these islands are sometimes grouped with the Windward Islands culturally and politically. Disputed territories administered by Colombia . The United Nations geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America . These three form the SSS islands that with the ABC islands comprise the Dutch Caribbean , of which the BES islands are not direct Kingdom constituents but subsumed with

7998-605: Was a dependency directly under the Governor of Jamaica. In 1749 the Governors of Jamaica appointed Administrators for British Honduras. In 1862, British Honduras became a Crown Colony; it was placed under the Governor of Jamaica with its own Lieutenant-Governor. In 1884 it finally broke all administrative ties with Jamaica and wanted self governance, as did Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The West Indies Federation

8091-532: Was a short-lived federation that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. It consisted of several Caribbean colonies of the United Kingdom. The Federation's purpose was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state, similar to the Federation of Australia or Canadian Confederation . The Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts over how it would be governed before that could develop. In 1967, following

8184-748: Was called a "Presidency" under its own Administrator or Commissioner. Like earlier groupings, this federation was unpopular but it continued until 1956, when it was redefined as the Territory of the Leeward Islands. In 1958, the Federation of the West Indies was organised, of which the Leeward Islands became a part. In 1833, the Windward Islands became a formal union called the Windward Islands Colony. In 1838, Trinidad (acquired in 1802) and St. Lucia (acquired in 1814) were brought into

8277-459: Was colonised by English Puritans in 1630, but the colony was destroyed by the Spanish in 1641. The capture of Jamaica in 1655 expanded British control beyond these small islands in the Lesser Antilles. Sir William Stapleton established the first federation in the British West Indies in 1674. He set up a General Assembly of the Leeward Islands in St. Kitts. Stapleton's federation was active between 1674 and 1685, during his term as governor, and

8370-599: Was found in most of the rest of the Caribbean. From the 17th through the 19th century, the European colonial territories of the West Indies were the French West Indies , British West Indies , the Danish West Indies , the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch West Indies), and the Spanish West Indies . In 1916, Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to the United States for US$ 25 million in gold, per

8463-542: Was originally inhabited by Native Americans , most speaking the Arawak language , of the Arawakan language family. The people identified as Lokono . The first French establishment is recorded in 1503, but France did not establish a durable presence until colonists founded Cayenne in 1643. Guiana was developed as a slave society , where planters imported Africans as enslaved labourers on large sugar and other plantations. The system of slavery in French Guiana continued until

8556-471: Was surrounded by hostile Spanish colonies and needed the protection afforded by the Jamaican Army and Navy. In addition, British Honduras had been founded by loggers. It increased in population partly by the settlement of Englishmen migrating from Jamaica in the late 17th and early 18th centuries (settlers also immigrated directly from England; others were born in the colony.) From 1742, British Honduras

8649-408: Was the site of a small prison facility, part of a larger penal system by the same name, which consisted of prisons on three islands and three larger prisons on the mainland. This was operated from 1852 to 1953. In addition, in the late nineteenth century, France began requiring forced residencies by prisoners who survived their hard labour. A Portuguese-British naval squadron took French Guiana for

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