Figure 1.--Rivers dominated the Guianas intil the 20th cntury and are still of vital ikmprtance. The largest component of French Guiana's population is the decendents of the captive African brought to work on the French sugar plantations. Many used the rivers to escape the plantations. Ethnic Africans are today about 40 percent of the popultion. The term used in French Guiana is Creoles or Guianese mulattoes and they speak Creole French. The boys here are showing off their catch. Notice the powerful outboard motor on their father's pirogue. Also notice the brown water carrying material from the interior highlands and creating the alluvial coastal plain.

French Guiana (Guyane française) is one of the three Guianas located at the northeastern corner of South America. Geologically French Guiana is part of the crystalline massif or group of mountains forming the Guiana Highlands which dominate all three of the Guianas. Rivers dominate the colony/province and are the main form of transport into the interior, but only part way. Some of the rivers flow into the Atlantic. The rivers flowing northeastward from the interior Guiana Highlands into the sea. Others south into the Amazon, essentially creating inaccessable areas until the 20th century. Over geological time, the rivers have significntly eroded the massif. As a result, most of French Guiana is now low-lying. The Maroni River is the border with Suriname border in the west. The Oyapock River is the border with Brazil in the east. The Tumuc-Humac Mountains in the south rises to an elevation of 2,300 feet (700 metres). To the north rivers flow toward the Atlantic coast. To the south rivers form tributaries of the Amazon. The northerly flowing rivers from the Highlands have carried alluvial deposits creating a swampy coastal plain southeast of the capital at Cayenne. The river here is a good example (figure 1). Much older alluvial deposits form a savanna west of Cayenne. Dense tropical forests dominted by hardwoods dominate beyond the coastal plain and thus some 90 percent of French Guiana's land area. All three Guianas are located just north of the equator which passed thrpugh norther Brazil to the south. The result is a warm, tropical climate. Temperatures averge 77-80 °F (25 and 27 °C) at Cayenne with only minor seasonal differebces. French Guiana is subject to heavy rainfall between December and July; annual precipitation reaches 150 inches (3,800 mm) around Cayenne and tapers off toward the northeast.

Created: 1:05 PM 11/20/2021
Last updated: 1:06 PM 11/20/2021