The history of French Guiana dates back to the period prior to European colonization. Prior to the arrival of the first Europeans, there was no written history in the territory. It was originally inhabited by a number of Native American peoples, among them the Kalina (Caribs), Arawak, Galibi, Palikur, Teko, Wayampi (also known as Oyampi), and Wayana. The first Europeans arrived in the expeditions of Christopher Columbus, shortly before 1500.
Rumours online proclaim that in 1498, French Guiana was visited by Europeans when Christopher Columbus sailed to the Guiaiean coast, which he named the "Land of Pariahs". Columbus had actually sailed to the coast of Venezuela from Trinidad, and he named the coastline “Ysla Sancta”, as from his view the far away coast appeared to be an island. The term “Land of Pariahs” comes from the Gulf of Paria, the water that the lands Columbus had discovered were facing.[1][2]
In 1667, the English seized the area. Following the Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667, the area was given back to France. The Dutch briefly occupied it for a period in 1676.
Consolidation of French rule
After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which deprived France of almost all her possessions in the Americas other than Guiana and a few islands, Louis XV sent thousands of settlers to Guiana who were lured there with stories of plentiful gold and easy fortunes to be made. Instead they found a land filled with hostile natives and tropical diseases. One and a half years later only a few hundred survived. These fled to three small islands which could be seen off shore and named them the Iles de Salut (or "Islands of Salvation"). The largest was called Royal Island, another St. Joseph (after the patron saint of the expedition), and the smallest of the islands, surrounded by strong currents, Île du Diable (the infamous "Devil's Island"). When the survivors of this ill-fated expedition returned home, the terrible stories they told of the colony left a lasting impression in France.
In 1776, Pierre-Victor Malouet was appointed to the Colony,[1] who brought in Jean Samuel Guisan to establish agriculture in the colony.[3] The relatively good period ended in 1792 during the French Revolution, when the first prison for priests and political enemies opened in Sinnamary[4] which set a precedent.
In 1794, after the execution of Maximilien Robespierre, 193 of his followers were sent to French Guiana. In 1797, the republican general Pichegru and many deputies and journalists were also sent to the colony. When they arrived, they found that only 54 of the 193 deportées sent out three years earlier were left; 11 had escaped and the rest had died of tropical fevers and other diseases. Pichegru managed to escape to the United States and then returned to France where he was eventually executed for plotting against Napoleon.
Later on, slaves were brought out from Africa, and plantations were established along the more disease-free rivers. Exports of sugar, hardwood, Cayenne pepper, and other spices brought a certain prosperity to the colony for the first time. Cayenne, the capital, was surrounded by plantations, some of which had several thousand slaves.
1800s and the Penal Era
In 1809, an Anglo-Portuguese naval squadron took French Guiana (ousting governor Victor Hugues) and gave it to the Portuguese in Brazil. However, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the region was handed back to the French, though a Portuguese presence remained until 1817.
In 1848, France abolished slavery and the ex-slaves fled[dubious–discuss] into the rainforest, setting up communities similar to the ones they had come from in Africa. Subsequently, called Maroons, they formed a sort of buffer zone between the Europeans (who settled along the coast and main rivers) and the unconquered (and often hostile) Native American tribes of the inland regions. Deprived of slave labor the plantations were soon taken over by the jungle, and the planters ruined.
In 1850, several shiploads of Indians, Malays, and Chinese were brought out to work the plantations but, instead, they set up shops in Cayenne and other settlements.
In 1852, the first shiploads of chained convicts arrived from France. In 1885, to get rid of habitual criminals and to increase the number of colonists, the French Parliament passed a law that anyone, male or female, who had more than three sentences for theft of more than three months each, would be sent to French Guiana as a relégué. This relégués was to be kept in prison there for six months but then freed to become settlers in the colony. However, this experiment failed dismally. The ex-prisoners, unable to make a living off the land, found themselves forced to revert to crime or to eke out a hand-to-mouth existence until they died. In fact, transportation to French Guiana as a relégué amounted to a life sentence, and usually, a short life sentence, as most of the relégués died very quickly from disease and malnutrition.
The prisoners would arrive at St Laurent du Maroni before being transported to various camps throughout the country. The Iles du Salut was used to house political prisoners and for solitary confinement. The islands became notorious for the brutality of life there, centering on the notorious Devil's Island. Famous figures sent to the islands included Alfred Dreyfus (in 1895) and Henri Charrière (in the 1930s). Charrière managed to escape and later wrote a best-selling book called Papillon.
"Quartier Spécial" – Condemned men's block, St. Laurent, 1954 (the guillotine stood at the spot where the photographer took the photo).
In 1853, gold was discovered in the interior, precipitating border disputes with Brazil and Surinam (these were later settled in 1891, 1899, and 1915, although a small region of the border with Suriname remains in dispute). The Republic of Independent Guyana, in French La République de la Guyane indépendante and commonly referred to by the name of the capital "Counani", was created in the area which was disputed by France (as part of French Guiana) and Brazil in the late 19th century.[5]
20th century
The territory of Inini, consisting of most of the interior of French Guiana, was created in 1930. It was abolished in 1946.
During World War II the local government declared its allegiance to the Vichy government, despite widespread support for Charles de Gaulle. This government was removed on 22 March 1943.[6]
The infamous penal colonies, including Devil's Island, were gradually phased out and then formally closed in 1951. At first, only those freed prisoners who could raise the fare for their return passage to France were able to go home, so French Guiana was haunted after the official closing of the prisons by numerous freed convicts leading an aimless existence in the colony.
Visitors to the site in December 1954 reported being deeply shocked by the conditions and the constant screams from the cell block still in use for convicts who had gone insane and which had only tiny ventilation slots at the tops of the walls under the roof. Food was pushed in and bodies removed once a day.
In 1961, Brazilian president Jânio Quadros planned the annexation of French Guiana, but resigned, likely in a failed move to gain more political power,[7] before he could execute the operation.[8]
In 1964, Kourou was chosen to be the launch site for rockets, largely due to its favourable location near the equator. The Guiana Space Centre was built and became operational in 1968. This has provided some local employment and the mainly foreign technicians, and hundreds of troops stationed in the region to prevent sabotage, bring a little income to the local economy.
The 1970s saw the settlement of Hmong refugees from Laos in the county, primarily to the towns of Javouhey and Cacao. The Green Plan (Le Plan Vert) of 1976 aimed to improve production, though it had only limited success. A movement for increased autonomy from France gained momentum in the 70s and 80s, along with the increasing success of the Parti Socialiste Guyanais.
Protests by those calling for more autonomy from France have become increasingly vocal. Protests in 1996, 1997, and 2000 all ended in violence. While many Guianese wish to see more autonomy, support for complete independence is low.[9]
On 20 March 2017, French Guianans began going on strike and demonstrating for more resources and infrastructure.[11] 28 March 2017 saw the largest demonstration ever held in French Guiana.[12]
French Guiana is not a separate territory but is both an overseas région and overseas department of France, with the same government institutions as areas on the French mainland. The administrative center is Cayenne.
The penal colony of Cayenne, commonly known as Devil's Island, was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953, in the Salvation Islands of French Guiana.
Cayenne is the prefecture of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "fert aurum industria", which means "work brings wealth". Cayenne is the largest Francophone city of the South American continent.
Papillon is a novel written by Henri Charrière, first published in France on 30 April 1969. Papillon is Charrière's nickname. The novel details Papillon's purported incarceration and subsequent escape from the French penal colony of French Guiana, and covers a 14-year period between 1931 and 1945.
Jules René Lucien Belbenoît was a French prisoner on Devil's Island who successfully escaped to the United States. He later published the memoirs, Dry Guillotine (1938) and Hell on Trial (1940), about his exploits.
Iracoubo is a commune on the coast of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France, located in South America.
The Guianese Socialist Party is a socialist political party in the French overseas région of French Guiana, in South America.
The arrondissement of Cayenne is an arrondissement of France in French Guiana department in French Guiana region. It has 10 communes. Its population is 181,520 (2020), and its area is 17,029 km2 (6,575 sq mi). It is the smallest of the three arrondissements in French Guiana, but also its most populated.
The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an Indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in villages on the rivers and coasts of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil. They speak a Cariban language known as Carib. They may be related to the Island Caribs of the Caribbean, though their languages are unrelated.
Dry Guillotine is the English translation of the French phrase la guillotine sèche, which was prisoner slang for the Devil's Island penal colony at French Guiana. It is also the title of several articles by various authors and most notably, a very influential and successful book by former prisoner #46,635, René Belbenoît.
The French Guiana Régional 1 is the highest tier of men's football in French Guiana. It was created in 1961 and is organized by the Ligue de Football de la Guyane. There are twelve participants in the league, with teams finishing in the two bottom spots being relegated to the Régional 2. The division is equivalent to the sixth tier of football in France, the Régional 1.
Articles related to the French overseas department of Guiana(Région Guyane) include:
French Guiana 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 km2 (32,000 sq mi) and a land area of 83,534 km2 (32,253 sq mi), and is inhabited by 295,385 people.
Anarchism in French Guiana has a short, and little recorded, history. The only continental territory in Latin America to remain under European control into the 21st century, Guiana has not seen the same political developments as most countries in the region. Still, anarchism has existed to some degree, mainly through the presence of political prisoners deported to the colony. In the modern era, anarchism has had a minor presence in the Guianan political milieu.
Antoine de Noël de la Trompe d'Or was a French soldier who was acting governor of Cayenne in 1665. Little is otherwise known of his life.
Daniel Guerin Spranger, or Quijrijn Spranger, Gerrit Spranger was a Dutch Jewish entrepreneur who was the commander of the colony of Cayenne, now in French Guiana, between 1656 and 1664. The island of Cayenne had earlier been abandoned by the French. Spranger established good relations with the indigenous people and founded plantations of sugarcane and other tropical plants. In 1664 the French returned in force, and Spranger ceded the colony on the best terms he could get. In 1676 the Dutch again captured Cayenne, and later that year the French again regained control. Spranger seems to have been among the Dutch prisoners shipped back to France in 1676.
The Compagnie de la France équinoxiale, or Compagnie de l'establissement des colonies françoises dans les terres fermes de l'Amerique, was a French enterprise formed in 1651 to colonize equatorial South America. The enterprise soon failed. In 1663 it was relaunched, but the next year was merged into a general company for all French possessions in the Americas. The colony of Cayenne, the nucleus of French Guiana, was eventually secured in 1674.
Gilbert Guillouet, seigneur d'Orvilliers was a French soldier who was commander of French Guiana from 1730 to 1763, and governor of French Guiana from 1749 to 1763. At the time the colony was struggling for survival, dependent on slave labour to extract sugar and other products.
Route nationale 1 (RN1) is a highway in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. The highway connects Cayenne with Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and measures 258 kilometres (160 mi). The highway is the busiest road of French Guiana.
Marie-Laure Phinéra-Horth is a French politician, who was the first woman from French Guiana to be appointed to the French Senate in 2020. Prior to her role as a senator, she was mayor of Cayenne from 2010.
References
Belbenoit, René. 1940. Hell on Trial. Translated from the Original French Manuscript by Preston Rambo. E. P Dutton & Co. Reprint by Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 1941.
Belbenoit, René. 1938. Dry Guillotine: Fifteen years among the living dead. Reprint: Berkley (1975). ISBN0-425-02950-6. Reprint: Bantam Books, 1971.
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