French Guiana
French Guiana, and French Guiana, French Guyane française [ ˌ gɥi janfʀɑsɛ ː z] or Guyane is an overseas department ( with the order number 973 ) and a region of France. French Guiana is located in the north of South America on the Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and Suriname at 4 ° north latitude and 53 ° west longitude.
French Guiana is a fully integrated part of the French state and therefore part of the European Union and NATO. The euro is legal tender.
- 3.1 ethnicities
- 4.1 Military
Geography
The department covers an area of about 83,534 km ², making it almost as large as Austria. It has a 378 km long coastline on the Atlantic and 730 km border with Brazil and 510 km to Suriname.
The area share of the Guyanese highlands, extending over 1.5 million km ² in the north- east of the South American continent. These highlands Due to its climatic isolation from the rainforest on an endemic animal and plant world.
The highest peak is Bellevue de l' Inini with 851 m above sea level. In the south of the country, a smaller mountain range extends with maximum elevations of 800 m, the Massif Tabulaire. The main rivers are from west to east of the Maroni, which forms the border with Suriname, the Sinnamary, the Approuague and Oyapock, at the same time the border with Brazil. On the map the position shown here in the south controversial area with Suriname French Guiana is slammed shut.
French Guiana has the largest contiguous forest area in France and the European Union. 90 % of the country is covered with tropical rain forests. The vast majority of the population lives on the coast, where there are the largest cities. These are:
- Cayenne, 57 643 inhabitants (2008 ), capital
- Saint- Laurent- du- Maroni, 35 631 inhabitants (2008 )
- Kourou, 25 934 inhabitants (2008 )
- Matoury, 25 629 inhabitants (2008 ), is part of the agglomeration Cayenne
- Remire -Montjoly, 18 817 inhabitants (2008 ), is part of the agglomeration Cayenne
Climate
The climate is tropical. Over the entire year there is constant temperatures will be around 28 ° C on average. From August to December the dry season, during the other months is the rainy season. The average relative humidity is between 80 and 90%. The coastal region benefits from the trade winds of the Atlantic and the coolness of the rain forest in the south and west. Unlike in the Caribbean, there are no cyclones.
History
→ Main article: History of French Guiana
Already in 1498 Christopher Columbus discovered the coast of Guiana. But only about a hundred years later settled there European emigrants - first Dutch, and from 1604 the French and English. As reparation of the defeated in the orange war this area of Portugal Portuguese- Brazil in 1801 in the Treaty of Badajoz ( 1801) ceded to France.
1946 French Guiana was as overseas department an integral part of France, and so received a limited self-government. In the French National Assembly and the Senate, the Department has since represented with two members.
French Guiana is best known for the " Archipelago of the Damned " on the Îles du Salut, which include Devil's Island heard a French penal colony, which existed from 1852 to 1951. Up to 70,000 people from different social classes were imprisoned there.
1968 built the Europeans in Kourou a - geographically favorable because äquatornah Exposed - rocket launching site Guiana Space Centre, which was in course of time constantly expanding. The success of the Ariane program and a clever business strategy of the operating company Arianespace contributed significantly to this.
Population
French Guiana was January 1, 2011 237 549 inhabitants. The population is growing very fast, 1999, the overseas department of 157,000 inhabitants, in 2006, 206,000 inhabitants. The sharp increase comes about mainly due to the high birth rate. Thus, French Guiana is a French department of the highest birth rate. In addition, the population is very young with an average of 28.6 years. The population growth is 3.3 %, which is almost as high as that of New Caledonia.
The population also grows through immigration. Most immigrants come from nearby countries such as Guyana, Suriname, Brazil and Haiti. Significant immigration is also listed from South Asia.
Ethnicities
The population is ethnically mixed. The majority of the population make the Creoles and blacks who arrived during the colonial period of East Africa to French Guiana. The descendants of European immigrants constitute 12 % of the population. Other significant minorities are the indigenous natives ( Indians) with about 5-10%, and the Southeast Asians, it is above all Laotians and Vietnamese from the former French colony of Indochina.
A special feature are the Bon or Bushingués. They are descendants of escaped African slaves who live deposited in the riparian forests of chestnuts for centuries. There are four ethnic groups represent the majority of the population along the Maroni: Alukus, Djukus, Paramakas and Saramakas. The once escaped bonuses found in the jungles almost the same living conditions as in the original home, the rain forests of Central and West Africa, from where they were previously deported. They could, therefore, more or less unchanged to continue their traditional way of life on the new continent, although the new home was thousands of miles away from the old country.
Policy
Like all other departments is also French Guiana in the French legislature by the people and community representatives present, as in the National Assembly and the Senate, it has two mandates.
All French laws apply in French Guiana. However, the French Constitution can be taken to local particularities into consideration under Article 73.
French Guiana forms since the decentralization laws of 1982 at the same time a department and region of France. Guyana is divided into two arrondissements, one to Cayenne, the other with the sub-prefecture of Saint- Laurent- du- Maroni. Next the area into 19 cantons and 22 municipalities is divided.
The citizens choose every six years, the Conseil général (for the department) with 19 members, and the Regional Council ( for the region ) with 31 members. Prefect since May 16, 2011 Denis Labbe.
In one initiated by the French state referendum on greater autonomy of the department from January 10, 2010 agreed with a voter turnout of 55 percent 69.8 percent of those voting against it. In another vote 24 January 2010, a majority with 57.58 % for a merger of the department and region. However, the turnout was only 27.44 %.
French Guiana is part of the European Union. Therefore, the limits to Suriname and Brazil are also EU's external borders.
See also: List of Presidents of the Regional Council of French Guiana since 1983
The French army under Rochambeau holds in, inter alia, an Air Force military base. One unit of the Foreign Legion, the 3rd Infantry Regiment strangers (Fr. 3 ° REI) is stationed in Kourou, whose primary responsibilities include securing the border and of the space station in Kourou. Foreign legionnaires came from there in March 2004 for deployment to Haiti. In Régina, about 70 km south of Cayenne, the " jungle warfare school" (Centre d' entraînement à la forêt équatoriale, CEFE ) is the Foreign Legion, in the specialized units in other states (eg, KSK, Navy Seals ) in a short training are formed.
Administrative divisions
Economy
ESA operates together with the French space agency CNES in the Kourou spaceport Guiana Space Centre. There Arianespace launches the carrier Ariane launchers with communication satellites and other payloads. The space station has been revamped to, since December 2011, and Soyuz from Kourou Vegaraketen can start. Being close to the equator, the rocket will need at a start from here less fuel than from Europe to carry a payload to a particular orbital altitude.
The Space Station is the most important pillar of the economy of French Guiana. Meanwhile, the space center in Kourou has become a tourist motor of the domestic economy.
Forestry is due to the tropical rainforest of the country a major industry. Agriculture is only near the coast. In other sectors, only the crab fishery and mining of gold are worth mentioning.
The major trading partners are the French mother country, Trinidad and Tobago and Italy. Exports are mainly fish, rice and gold, most important import products of French Guiana, inter alia, machinery and vehicles. The mercury used in the (mostly illegal) gold mining is taken in the waters of the fish, which, similar to Minamata disease in Japan resulting in parts of the indigenous population, which mainly feed on fish disease symptoms. Since in the region of Gold is found, dig a lot of illegal gold prospectors in the undeveloped rain forest areas in the south of the country, who work with mercury, and this with the wastewater into rivers and, therefore, into the entire ecosystem. This particular provides for the traditionally living in the forest indigenous natural population a problem represents the French officials are increasingly moving against these people before. The gold seekers remain in the case of grasping and Ausweisens short time in Brazil, but soon penetrate back into French territory guyanesisches one because the rain forest is very difficult to control. In addition, the French military against the working in mafia- like structures smugglers and polluters has little legal recourse. The miners, who actually do the work and take major health as legal risk to themselves, are usually in a suppressed, slave-like working relationship with their Donos ( ptg. ) in the background, which is often not shy away from violence. The rising price of gold in recent years, compounding the problem further.
Expressed in comparison with the gross domestic product of the EU in purchasing power standards reached French Guiana an index of 57.6 (EU -25: 100 ) (2003 ). Thus, French Guiana is the poorest region of France. However, here also the high rate of self-sufficient must be considered, which are not considered in the calculation of GDP.