French Guiana



"French Guiana? Well, I can't believe France could've claimed it up to today of course, even if it was for Suriname and Guyana."

--Su Ji-Hoon, Operation Blackout

French Guiana (pronounced /ɡiːˈɑːnə/ or /ɡiːˈænə/, French: Guyane Française; French pronunciation: ​[ɡɥijan fʁɑ̃sɛz]), officially called Guiana (French: Guyane), is an overseas department and region of France, on the north Atlantic coast of South America in the Guyanas. It borders Brazil to the east and south and Suriname to the west. Its 83,534 km2 (32,253 sq mi) area has a very low population density of only 3.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.8/sq mi), with half of its 281,612 inhabitants in 2018 living in the metropolitan area of Cayenne, its capital. By land area, it is the second-largest region of France and the largest outermost region within the European Union. Since 1981, when Belize became independent, French Guiana has been the only territory of the mainland Americas that is still part of a European country.

Both the region and the department have been ruled since December 2015 by a single assembly within the framework of a new territorial collectivity, the French Guiana Territorial Collectivity (French: Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane). This assembly, the French Guiana Assembly (French: Assemblée de Guyane), has replaced the former regional council and departmental council, which were both disbanded. The French Guiana Assembly is in charge of regional and departmental government. Its president is Rodolphe Alexandre.