French Guiana is a territory of Suriname
French Guiana is a territory of France, and like Suriname next door, it is pretty unique in South America because it is not Spanish or Portuguese speaking. Instead, it is the only place in the continent that speaks French. The French first attempted to colonize the area and its hostile equatorial jungles in the 1600s with no success. Every wave of settlers was met with disaster. Plantations were eventually created using enslaved Africans, but the French colony remained an unsuccessful distant outpost. It wasn’t until the 1850s, during Napoleon’s time, that France realized the usefulness of the territory. Slavery had been outlawed in France, and French Guiana became an excellent alternative to send all of France’s prisoners, including political prisoners, along with unwanted formerly enslaved people. Prisoners would be used for forced labor in prison camps in the territory, and most would never survive their experience. The most notorious prisons were on Devil’s Island, an island in the Atlantic Ocean to the north of Saint Laurent along the Maroni River. Both prisons were built by prisoners for prisoners. Due to their isolation, surrounded by jungle or ocean were believed to be inescapable.