The small ferry took us across the Maroni River to Saint Laurent in French Guiana. Entering into French Guiana, is in many ways like entering a new continent, with its French language, the cars all having French number plates with the letter F in the blue European flag and many other connections to Metropolitan France. French Guiana has a small population of 280,000, the size of a small town and is said to be the richest territory in the South American continent. For the most part it is no different to anywhere else in France in that it elects the French President and sends delegates to the French National Assembly, however it is not part of the Schengen Area. Its population, provided they have the right papers are able to freely move to France and work there. However there are a number of undocumented people in the territory, especially Brazilians exploiting small scale mining and subsistence agriculture and refugees from neighbouring countries.
The per capita income of the territory is massively distorted by the well paid scientists working in the European Space Agency and also the French Military. With such a small population and the presence of the French Military together with the revenues brought in by the European Space Agency means that there is little movement for independence from France, indeed the French passport that individuals have is a major disincentive for any independence movement.
French Guiana started off as a penal colony and for much of its early existence this was the mainstay of its economy, together with the useful military bases it provided the French in South America and the Caribbean to support France’s ability to exert global power. In addition it provided a useful base for French pirates in challenging the Spanish colonies in earlier centuries.
The principal penal colony was at Saint Laurent, and today the collection of barracks, which are eerily quiet, bely a much more sinister past. The prisons were made famous around the world with the publication of Henri Charrière’s book Papillon. The book is essentially a collection of stories about a number of different prisoners collated together as a single story, but within the realms of artistic licence much of what is contained in the book has a large element of truth.
Further into French Guiana offshore from the the town of Kourou is the even more tough penal colony of I’île Royale and Devil’s Island where a number of the most hardened criminals were sent. Indeed the conditions on the islands were very harsh and most prisoners did not survive their time there. Furthermore when they died, their bodies were fed to the sharks, which also acted as an extra line of defence in preventing the prisoners from attempting to escape. The principal prisoner on the remote Devil’s Island was Dreyfus, Papillon was never there.
however today these islands are very attractive just offshore and are now a centre for expensive day trips from the mainland, in complete contrast to their past where they were very much hell on earth.
Kourou is also the location for the European Space Centre, a pretty active centre funded by the European Community and other European countries which launches satellites into space. There is no human cargo, as today it is only the Russians that send men into space. Kourou’s location near the equator and the fact that its climate is very predictable, together with the small local population makes it an economic and efficient location to launch satellites.
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana and has a number of quite attractive French colonial buildings, though many are in a poor state of repair caused by a combination of a lack of funds and some strict planning laws. The town could be made quite attractive, but it does have an edge. Its population is pretty poor and also there is a bit of a drug problem together with its associated petty crime. Outside the old town there are a number of modern out of town shopping warehouses and factories, complete with a good collection of modern cars. Thus there is clearly some wealth in Cayenne, but the income inequalities are very large. Indeed the inequality of wealth in French Guiana is painfully apparent all over the territory.
Date: 12/10/2018 to 17/10/2018