Located on the northern Atlantic Ocean of South America, French Guiana is an overseas department and a single territorial collective of France, part of the European Union, and theoretically the westernmost point of Europe, not Portugal.
French Guiana is also the only non-independent region in South America. Of course, Guyana is not devoid of separatists, and there are also separatist parties, with only about 5 per cent of the population supporting independence. The reason why French Guiana is not enthusiastic about independence is because the region is small and economically underdeveloped, and staying in France can be heavily subsidized, and the European Space Center established by France can even be said to feed French Guiana. Independence meant more poverty, crime and unemployment, and a large proportion of Guyana's youth went to mainland France to study and find work after graduation.
history
Originally, the area was inhabited by Indians such as Caribs and Arawak since ancient times. In 1604, French explorers commissioned by King Henry IV of France surveyed the Amazon basin after the establishment of a port in Guyana, resulting in an influx of French immigrants from Guyana.
The capital Cayenne was founded in 1638 and officially settled in 1664. Under the Treaty of Breda, signed in Breda in 1667, France divided Guyana with the Netherlands and England.
Portugal briefly occupied Guyana in 1809, but the Treaty of Paris returned to France in 1814. In 1968, the Guyana Space Centre was established.
British Guiana and Dutch Guiana gained independence in 1966 and 1975 respectively, but French remains independent.
geography
French Guiana is bordered by Brazil to the south and east, Suriname to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the northeast. The country has a land area of 83,534 square kilometers, which is about the size of Austria, but as of 2022 the population is only about 290,000, most of the population lives in coastal areas. The interior is a tropical rainforest area that is sparsely populated.
The fauna of French Guiana is more diverse than that of mainland France, with 99% of the country covered by tropical forests and only one percent of the area inhabited, making it one of the world's largest proportion of tropical forests and one of the best-preserved tropical rainforests in South America.
Economic level
The per capita GDP is about 17,000 US dollars, which is at a high level with countries such as Uruguay and Chile in South America. However, due to the underdevelopment of the manufacturing industry, the main materials are imported from France, and the prices are high. Infrastructure is also underdeveloped and, above all, unemployment is high, fluctuating between 20 and 30 per cent. Therefore, the real standard of living is not very high, and its medical facilities are not developed.
40% of 15-24-year-olds are unemployed, only 12% have a university degree, average annual income is less than 44% of that of the EU, and consumer prices are 12% higher than in France.
population
French Guiana is predominantly inhabited by Creoles, accounting for about 43% of the population, another 3% Chinese (mainly from Zhejiang and Guangdong), 1% Hmong from Laos, and residents of Lebanon and Vietnam.
industry
The main industry is fishing, which accounts for three-quarters of total exports, gold and timber are also the main resources, tourism is also growing, and some people sneak across the border to illegally mine gold but are arrested or shot dead by French soldiers.
But the biggest source of income is support from mainland France and the French Space Centre, which accounts for more than 15 per cent of French Guiana's total income, where most young and highly educated people work, and many locals make a living from it.
The launch site for launching space rockets was built in such a tropical remote area because it is close to the equator and can most economically obtain as much of the orbital speed needed to maintain the orbit of artificial satellites using the Earth's rotation speed.
In addition, in order to guarantee the orbital speed, the rocket must be launched to the east, so the launch direction must be the sea, or undeveloped wasteland such as desert or Siberian permafrost. With a latitude of 5.17° north latitude and a North Atlantic Ocean on the eastern slope, the Guyana Space Centre is an excellent rocket launch base.
In addition to space launches, for France, it is also a huge treasure trove, rich in gold resources, and 13,000 square kilometers of marine exclusive economic zone, fishery resources are particularly rich, especially shrimp, 80% of which are transported to mainland France, Guyana also has rich timber resources, based on these treasures, France will not promise Guyana independence.