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Coordinates: 4°55′22″N 52°19′37″W / 4.9227°N 52.3269°W / 4.9227; -52.3269

Commune of Cayenne
Town hall of Cayenne
Location
Location of the commune (in red) within French Guiana
Administration
Country	France
Region	Guyane (préfecture)
Department	Guyane
Arrondissement	Cayenne
Canton	Chief town of 6 cantons
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes du Centre Littoral
Mayor	Rodolphe Alexandre (PSG)
Statistics
Land area1	23.60 km2 (9.11 sq mi)
Population2	50,594  (1999 census)
- Density	2,144 /km2 (5,550 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	97302/ 97300
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas région and département of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast.

At the 2006 census, there were 100,323 inhabitants in the urban area of Cayenne (as defined by INSEE), 50,594 of whom lived in the city (commune) of Cayenne proper, and the remainder in the neighbouring commune of Remire-Montjoly. The commune of Matoury (18,032 inhabitants in 1999), where Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport is located, is also a suburb of Cayenne, but it was not included in the official definition of the urban area by INSEE in 1999.

History

Ignored by Spanish explorers, who found the region too hot and poor to be claimed, the region was not colonized until 1604, when a French settlement was founded. However, it was soon destroyed by the Portuguese, who were determined to enforce the provisions of the Treaty of Tordesillas. French colonists returned in 1643 and founded Cayenne, but were forced to leave once more following Amerindian attacks. In 1664, France finally succeeded at establishing a permanent settlement at Cayenne. Over the next decade the colony changed hands between the French, Dutch and English, before being restored to France. It was captured by an Anglo-Portuguese force at the invasion of Cayenne in 1809 and administered from Brazil until 1814, when it was returned to French control. It was used as a French penal settlement from 1854 to 1938.

Cayenne's coat of arms on a municipal sign.

The city's population has recently grown dramatically, owing to high levels of immigration (chiefly from the West Indies and Brazil) as well as a high birthrate.

Economy

Cayenne is an important industrial centre for the shrimp industry. The city formerly also contained sugar refineries.

Culture

Cayenne is very ethnically diverse, with Creole, Haitian, Brazilian, European, and Hmong and other Asian communities. It is famous for its annual carnival which starts with the arrival of Vaval (the Carnival King) on the first Sunday after New Year's Day and continues with very popular all-night costume balls and Sunday afternoon parades every weekend until Mardi Gras.

Main sights

Cayenne centres on its main commercial street, the Avenue Général de Gaulle. At the east end of the avenue near the coast is the Place de Palmistes and the Place de Grenoble (also known as the Place Léopold Héder). Most of the official buildings are located in this area: the Hôtel de Ville (the town hall) built by Jesuits in the 1890s, the Post Office, the Préfecture, residence of French Guiana's Préfect, and the Musée Départmental Franconie. To the west of this area lies Fort Cépérou, built in the 17th century, though now mostly in ruins. To the south lie the Place du Coq and Place Victor Schoelcher (named in honour of the anti-slavery activist) and a market.

To the south of this compact region is the Village Chinois (known as Chicago), separated from the rest of Cayenne by the Canal Laussat. It has a reputation for being a dangerous area.

Other buildings in the city include the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur de Cayenne, municipal library, the municipal museum and a museum of French Guianese Culture (Musée des Cultures Guyanaise) and a scientific research institute (IRD or Institut de recherche pour le développement, formerly Orstom). The Jardin botanique de Cayenne is the city's botanical garden.

There are some beaches along the coast, like Montjoly and Montabo, and several promontories, though the waters contain sharks.

Travel

Cayenne is served by the Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport, which is located in the neighbouring commune of Matoury.

There are many hotels in the city: Central Hotel, La Bodéga, Hôtel Ajoupa, Hôtel Amazonia, Hôtel les Amandiers, Hôtel Neptima, Hôtel Novotel and Ket-Tai.

Climate

Under the Koppen climate classification, Cayenne has a tropical monsoon climate. Average high and low temperatures are nearly identical throughout the course of the year averaging about 26°C (79°F). Cayenne sees a copious amount of precipitation during the year. The city features a very lengthy wet season and a very short dry season. The dry season only covers two months of the year (September and October) while the wet season covers the remainder of the year. Precipitation is seen even during the dry season, a trait commonly seen in places featuring tropical monsoon climates.

Administration

Cayenne is the chief town of six cantons:

• The first canton (North West) has 3,935 inhabitants;
• The second canton (North East) has 5,730 inhabitants;
• The third canton (South West) has 8,017 inhabitants;
• The fourth canton (Centre) has 5,955 inhabitants;
• The fifth canton (South) has 9,750 inhabitants;
• The sixth canton (South East) has 17,207 inhabitants

Cayenne in popular culture

The French folk song Cayenne (named after the main city of French Guiana) tells the story of a pimp who shoots a well-to-do client who grossly disrespected a prostitute, and is then convicted and transferred to the infamous penitentiary. The song has been covered in recent years by rock/punk groups such as Parabellum.

In The Hardy Boys #12: Footprints under the Window, The Hardys' investigations take them to Cayenne.

Porsche called its first SUV the Porsche Cayenne.

Cayenne pepper is a popular cooking spice and pepper cultivar in the Western world.

References

External links

• Préfecture de Guyane Official website
• Images of Cayenne and French Guiana
• Cayenne photo gallery
• Clickable map

Communes of the Guyane department   Apatou · Awala-Yalimapo · Camopi · Cayenne · Grand-Santi · Iracoubo · Kourou · Macouria · Mana · Maripasoula · Matoury · Montsinéry-Tonnegrande · Ouanary · Papaïchton · Régina · Remire-Montjoly · Roura · Saint-Élie · Saint-Georges · Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni · Saül · Sinnamary

From Wikitravel

Cayenne is the largest city in and capital of French Guiana.

Cayenne city hall

Get in

Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport (CAY)

• Surinam Airways to Surinam
• Air Caraibes[1] to Belem (Brazil), Fort-de-France (Martinique), Panama City, Paris, Point a Pitre (Guadeloupe), San Jose (Costa Rica), Santo Domingo (Dominican republic) and Port au Prince (Haiti).
• Penta, to Brazilian Amazon.
• TAF[2] to Brazil
• Air France[3] to France, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
• From France, with Air France and Air Caraibes[4]

Sleep

Good hotels exist, but they can be relatively expensive.

• Novotel Cayenne
• Central Hotel
• Hotel la Bodega
• Best Western Amazonia

There is also Ket Tai. Single room for 43EUR, Triple for 60.

From LoveToKnow 1911

CAYENNE, a seaport and the capital of French Guiana, on the N.W. extremity of the island of Cayenne, and near the mouth of the river of that name, in 4° 56' 28" N., and 52° 20' 36" W. Pop. about 12,600. The town forms an almost perfect square, and has clean and well-macadamized streets. The houses, mostly of two storeys, are of wood, strengthened on the first and ground floors by brickwork. In the old town, which contains the government-house and Jesuits' College, the streets are not so regularly and well built as in the new. The Place d'Armes, a fine quadrangular space, lies between them. To the right of the governor's house is Mount Ceperon, on which stand Fort St Michel, the marine barracks, the signal station and the lighthouse. Here, too, are the capacious reservoirs for the water-supply of the town, the source of which is a lake to the south of the island. The harbour is shallow at its entrance, and craft drawing more than 14 ft. are obliged to anchor 6 m. from the town. There is no dock for the repair of vessels; but there are two quays at the town. The principal exports of Cayenne are gold, cocoa, phosphates, hides, woods and spices. The imports are French wines, spirits and liqueurs; silk and cotton stuffs, tobacco, hardware, glass, earthenware, clothing, preserved meat, fish, and vegetables, maize, flour, hay, bran, oils and cattle. There is a regular mail service between Cayenne and Martinique once a month. Cayenne is the seat of the government of French Guiana, and was formerly a penal settlement for political offenders. Food as well as clothing is exorbitantly dear, the only cheap articles of consumption being bread and French wines. The temperature of Cayenne is between 76° and 88° Fahr. throughout the year; but the heat is tempered by easterly winds. Between December and March a north wind blows, unfavourable to weak constitutions. Yellow and other fevers often attack the ,- . . ?- x??16??h?.??. inhabitants of the town, but the climate, though moist, is as a whole healthy. (See GUIANA.)

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Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

English

Proper noun

Cayenne

1. The capital city of French Guiana.

Translations

French

Proper noun

Cayenne f.

1. Cayenne