Brandon Bell
Early History and Culture of French Guiana. A Travel guide for Tourism. French Guiana’s population is principally Creole (mixed descent), with minorities of metropolitan French, Haitians, Surinamese, Antilleans, Chinese, Brazilians, South Asians, and others. The principal languages spoken are French (official); Guianese Creole French; several indigenous languages, including Wayampi, Carib, and Emerillon and the various languages of the immigrant communities. The principal religious affiliation is Christianity (primarily Roman Catholicism), adhered to by more than four-fifths of the population. The populace is concentrated principally in and around Cayenne, the largest city, and the coastal regions; the interior is largely uninhabited. Demographic rates are those generally typical of a developing country. There was immigration from Southeast Asia, Haiti, and the French Caribbean territories beginning in the late 20th century. Even if a French crew originally in search of Eldorado, landed on Guiana in1500, just after Christopher Columbus had already been there, it wasn’t until that a genuine European commercial establishment really began. The Amazonian tribes, the Wayanas, Arawaks, Emerillons and the Galibis were then very endangered. With slavery, the ’creolitude’ of Guiana began to increase