{"id":112,"date":"2018-05-08T04:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T04:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=112"},"modified":"2018-09-28T01:27:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-28T01:27:15","slug":"todays-flag-french-guiana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/todays-flag-french-guiana\/","title":{"rendered":"Today’s Flag – French Guiana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we feature the flag of French Guiana, an Overseas Department of France.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Flags of France and French Guiana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An\u00a0overseas department is a\u00a0department of France\u00a0that is outside\u00a0metropolitan or European, France. They have nearly the same political status as metropolitan departments, although they have special constitutional provisions that allow them greater autonomy and are excluded from certain domestic statistics, such as the unemployment rate.<\/p>\n

\"\"
French Guiana in Relation to Metropolitan France<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

French Guiana is one of three outlier nations on the continent of South America<\/a> in that they are not former colonies of Latin countries, specifically not Spanish or Portugeuse, but instead represent, from west to east, Guyana<\/a>, the former British Guiana<\/a>, Suriname<\/a>, the former Dutch Guiana<\/a>, and the remaining non-independent area in South America, French Guiana.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Northern South America<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The area that is now called French Guiana was originally settled by a number of different native peoples, some of whom still live to this day deep in the largely undeveloped and probably not even completely explored southern interior.\u00a0 There are also remaining populations of Maroons<\/a>, or the descendants of escaped slaves living in the interior forests.<\/p>\n

The French presence in what is today French Guiana, or\u00a0Guyane fran\u00e7aise in French, although it is officially called Guiana, or Guyane in French, has a long history.\u00a0 The first officially recorded presence occurred in 1503 but it wasn’t until the founding of Cayenne <\/a>in 1643 to this day the departmental capital, that the French presence was durable.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Cayenne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An earlier attempt at colonization and settlement in 1763 failed spectacularly with the death from tropical diseases of 10,000 of the original 12,000 settlers.<\/p>\n

There was little economic activity in Guyane aside from the use of convicts to collect butterflies for collectors as well as for scientific study.\u00a0 Guyana was a slave colony as well as a convict settlement.\u00a0 \u00cele du Diable<\/a>, Devil’s Island,<\/p>\n

\"\"
Prison Building on Royal Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

one of the grossly misnamed\u00a0\u00celes du Salut<\/a>, or Isles of Salvation,<\/p>\n

\"\"
Salvation Islands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

became infamous as one of the most feared and brutal of all prisons in the world.\u00a0 But the prison system wasn’t isolated to the three islands of the Isles of Salvation.\u00a0 The main prison camp was along the western border with Dutch Guiana, now known as Suriname.\u00a0 The islands were used to isolate the “worst of the worst” as well as for political prisoners who were housed on Devil’s Island itself.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00cele Royale<\/a> allowed for the general population of the worst criminals of the penal colony to roam about in moderate freedom due to the difficulty of escape from the island.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Prison Ruins on Ile Royal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00cele Saint-Joseph<\/a> was for the worst of those criminals to be punished in solitary confinement in silence and for extra punishment in darkness.\u00a0 Conditions were so harsh, especially the presence of tropical diseases that would likely go untreated, that of the estimated 56,000 prisoners sent to the islands, only about 10% survived the experience.\u00a0 Those who survived their sentence enjoyed freedom but were never to be allowed to return to metropolitan France, instead being condemned to live the rest of their days on the mainland.<\/p>\n

In 1938, the French government stopped sending prisoners to Devil’s Island.\u00a0 In 1953, the prison system was finally closed entirely<\/p>\n

Today,\u00a0\u00cele Royale is a tourist site<\/a>, but the other two islands remain off limits to visitors.<\/p>\n

Statistically speaking, French Guiana is the most prosperous region in all of South America.\u00a0 Much of this economic wealth is due to subsidies from France itself, but French Guiana has found some new life as the location of the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG)<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\"\"
Centre Spatial Guyanais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

or the Guiana Space Centre in English, which is located a short distance along the coast from Kourou<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kourou<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Space Centre has grown considerably since the initial launches of the V\u00e9ronique rockets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Veronique Rocket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is now part of the European space industry and has had commercial success with such launches as the Ariane 4<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Ariane 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and Ariane 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ariane 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Centre employs large numbers of highly skilled technical workers which has transformed to a large degree the demographic makeup of the region.<\/p>\n

There are also mining interests in French Guiana, especially gold mining<\/a>, although these activities are sometimes complicated by competing territorial claims made by neighboring Suriname<\/a>.\u00a0 Illegal mining by Brazilian migrants is also a complication.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Suriname Border Disputes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other economic activity is limited<\/a>, although development increases, with gains made in fishing and agriculture exports.<\/p>\n

Transport options in<\/a> and to French Guiana<\/a> remain limited and the most direct route continues to be daily trans-Atlantic flights from Paris.\u00a0 Other air routes connect with Paramaribo<\/a> in Suriname, as well as connections to the French islands of Martinique <\/a>and Guadeloupe<\/a>, both of which are connected by Air France<\/a> flights from Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Air France Jet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Occasionally, smaller cruise ships will dock at \u00cele Royale, which is the means by which we visited French Guiana, as a stopover on the way to the Amazon River<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Road connections are now available from Brazil<\/a> following the completion of a bridge<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Bridge Between French Guiana and Brazil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

between Saint Georges-de-l’Oyapock<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Saint-Georges-de-l’Oyapock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

in French Guiana and Oiapoque<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Opiaogue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

in Brazil with road connections continuing as far south as Macapa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Equator at Macapa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is also a coastal route that connects Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana<\/a>, although several ferries are involved on that route and the road quality can vary considerably from country to country<\/p>\n

The flag of French Guiana is a relatively recent addition to the world of flags.\u00a0 The Guianese General Council<\/a> officially adopted the departmental flag in 2010.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Flag of French Guiana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interestingly, in a referendum that same year, French Guianans voted against autonomy from France, perhaps recognizing that the economic benefits of a continued association far outweigh any potential benefits associated with greater political autonomy.\u00a0 This has been a decision made by many,<\/p>\n

\"\"
Overseas France Present Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

but not all, of France’s former colonial possessions.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Former Extent of French Empire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

French Guiana remains an outlier on the South American continent in many respects but it continues to be a relatively successful region that continues to make advances into the modern world with the heavy assistance of metropolitan France.\u00a0 I consider it to be a place well worth visiting, especially as part of a larger visit to the region as I am not certain that the limited attractions of French Guiana alone would justify the journey, especially if one is not a fluent speaker of French.\u00a0 But it is a feather in the cap of a world traveler to be sure.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we visit another tropical location but one that is far removed from most anything to do with French Guiana except France, the French language, and the ever present baguette.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But the prison system wasn’t isolated to the three islands of the Isles of Salvation.\u00a0 The main prison camp was along the western border with Dutch Guiana, now known as Suriname.\u00a0 The islands were used to isolate the “worst of the worst” as well as for political prisoners who were housed on Devil’s Island itself.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00cele Royale was for the general population of the worst criminals of the penal colony to roam about in moderate freedom due to the difficulty of escape from the island.\u00a0 \u00cele Saint-Joseph was for the worst of those criminals to be punished in solitary confinement in silence and for extra punishment in darkness of the worst of the worst criminals of the penal colony.\u00a0 Conditions were so harsh, especially the presence of tropical diseases that would likely go untreated, that of the estimated 56,000 prisoners sent to the islands, only about 10% survived the experience.\u00a0 Those who survived their sentence enjoyed freedom but were never to be allowed to return to metropolitan France, instead being condemned to live the rest of their days on the mainland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,5,27,11,6,7,28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}