FRENCH GUIANA, or Cayenne, lies at the north-eastern ex tremity of the continent, between 2° and N. and 51 ° and 53 ° W. It is bounded on the west by Dutch Guiana, the river Maroni marking the boundary, on the north by the Atlantic ocean, east and south by Brazil; the east and south-east boundary is along the Oyapock river, and the south along the crest of the Tumu cumaque (Tumuc Humac) mountains. The area is sq.m., about one-third the size of France.
Both boundaries of French Guiana were long in dispute and have been settled only recently. The Brazilian boundary was determined by the Swiss Government in 1900, setting the boundary at the Oyapock river and the Tumucumaque (Tumuc Humac) mountains. The dispute with Dutch Guiana was settled by the emperor of Russia in 1891.
The physical geography of French Guiana is in general like that of British and Dutch Guiana, but a large proportion of the low land coast is covered with dense jungle and mangrove swamps. Fifteen rivers, rising in the mountains, flow through the colony to the sea. Practically all the inhabited portion of the colony is in the lowland section, where the heat is less oppressive. The climate is not healthy and in the earlier years of the colony's history the French convicts and exiles in the penal settlements fell easy victims to tropical diseases and Cayenne was known as a pest-hole from which few returned.
The population of French Guiana by the 1931 census was 28,123, 10,744 of whom live in Cayenne and 5,954 making up the penal population. This figure does not include the army, the native tribes or the miners and others without fixed abode. The largest proportion of French Guiana is an untracked wilderness, and the residents outside the towns, plantations and the penal settlement are very few. Indians are estimated roughly at 1,500.
The budget for 1926 provided for expenditures of io,5oo,00o francs, the French franc, at its current exchange, being the unit of currency. The expenses are chiefly for the penal settlement, French Guiana itself being close to self-supporting. In the ad ministration and budget of French Guiana and the penal settle ment are included the three Safety islands, Royale, Joseph and Du Diable (the last notable as the island where Captain Dreyfus [q.v.] was imprisoned), the Enfant Perdu island and the five Remire islands.
The penal settlement was established by decree in 1852, and from that date until 1867, some 18,000 exiles were sent to Guiana; then for about twenty years, the bulk of these unfortunates were sent to New Caledonia (q.v.). In 1885-87 Cayenne was desig nated specifically as the place of banishment for confirmed crimi nals and convicts sentenced for more than 8 years of hard labour. The penal settlement is entirely separate from the life of the colony, the mainland settlement containing the majority of the criminals and the islands being used for the more desperate.
Primary education has been free and non-religious since 1889, there being schools in various communes and villages. There is secondary and higher education in Cayenne, and a normal school for teachers. The school population in 1927 was 3,600. The penal settlement has three schools with 215 pupils. There are several parochial schools. The religious community is chiefly Roman Catholic, and at the head of the clergy is an apostolic prefect.
The forests cover immense areas of the colony and are rich in commercial gums and all the tropical hardwoods of commerce. Balata is extracted as in the other Guianas, 1924 exports being 468,190 kilos, worth 11,236,560 francs. Rosewood essence is extracted, an industry which began in 190o and has expanded until in 1924 the exports were 86,425 kilos valued at 12,963,75o francs.
Gold mining furnishes 9o% of the exports and while found in various sections of the country, its recovery has been profitable in only a few sections. Exports of gold in 1924 totalled 1,201,664 grs., valued at 12,016,64o francs.
The trade of French Guiana in 1926 was : 6,973,00o francs of imports and 46,105,881 francs of exports. France has 71% of the trade, 62.3% of the imports and 81.5% of the exports; the United States has 17% of the imports and takes 4.7% of the exports. Great Britain furnishes 1.3 % of the imports and takes 7.3% of the exports.
Few efforts were made in the succeeding years, but despite the unpleasant experiences of the past, in 1763 another major tragedy took place. Choiseul, the prime minister, and his cousin Praslin obtained a concession for the territory between the Kourou and Maroni rivers, and sent out an immense number, said to be 12,000, of volunteer colonists, chiefly from Alsace and Lorraine. They went without adequate preparation, found neither food nor water for their sustenance, and died miserably; only 918 remained alive in 1765.
During the French Revolution, Cayenne was used as a place of exile of royalists, and suffering and tragedy followed all of these unfortunate bands. One group of 600 exiled in 1797 were landed on the Sinnamary without shelter or food, and two-thirds perished. In 1809 the colony was taken by the English and Portuguese.
French Guiana was awarded to the French in 1814, and turned over by the Portuguese in 1817. Efforts were made again to induce the French to colonize it, a steam sugar mill was set up in 1822, and a fairly successful colony was established at Nouvelle Angouleme in 1824. The emancipation of the slaves in 1849 caused a severe setback, which was followed by attempts to col onize free blacks from Africa, one such colony being brought over in 1853. In 1852 French Guiana was made the site of the penal settlement, which has had a deterrent effect on voluntary develop ment from France.