Commune of Kourou Aerial view of Kourou
Location
Coordinates	05° 09' 35" N 52° 39' 1" W
Administration
Country	France
Région	Guyane
Département	Guyane
Arrondissement	Cayenne
Intercommunality	none as of 2005
Mayor	Jean-Etienne Antoinette (2001-2008)
Statistics
Land area¹	2,160 km²
Population² (1999 census)	19,107
-Density (1999)	8.8/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	97304/ 97310
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: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Kourou is a town and commune in French Guiana. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (3055x997, 489 KB)An aerial view of Kourou. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... This is an alphabetical list of countries of the world, including both internationally recognized and generally unrecognized independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... France is divided into 26 régions: 21 of these are in the continental part of metropolitan France, one is Corse on the island of Corsica (although strictly speaking Corse is in fact a territorial collectivity, not a région, but is referred to as a région in common... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France and many former French colonies, roughly analogous to British counties. ... The 100 French départements are divided into 342 arrondissements. ... The arrondissement of Cayenne is an arrondissement of France, located in the Guyane département, of the Guyane région. ... The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger,greater) is in modern times the title of the highest ranking municipal officer, who discharges certain judicial and administrative functions, in many systems an elected politician, who serves as chief executive and/or ceremonial official of many types of municipalities. ... INSEE is the French abbreviation for the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (French: Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques). ... Postal codes were introduced in France in 1972, when La Poste introduced automated sorting. ... Estuaries and coastal waters are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing numerous ecological, economic, cultural, and aesthetic benefits. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ...

Geography

Kourou's long, sandy beach.

Some 60 km northwest of the capital Cayenne at the mouth of the Kourou river on the Atlantic coast, it is ringed by four hills: Carapa, Pariacabo, Café and Lombard, with the Singes and Condamine mountains not far behind. Long white sand beaches and some rocky outcrops line its ocean coast, the riverbank and all points inland consisting mostly of mangrove and dense tropical rainforest. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1294 KB)[edit] Summary Kourous long, sandy beach as seen from a rocky outcrop. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1294 KB)[edit] Summary Kourous long, sandy beach as seen from a rocky outcrop. ... Cayenne is the capital of the French overseas région of French Guiana. ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ...

It had a fast-growing population of 19,107 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It can be divided into three roughly equal parts:

• Indigenous peoples (mostly Kalina - also called Galibi), Creoles, Maroons (Boni and Saramaka),
• Whites (mostly French, from Metropolitan France), and
• Foreigners (Brazilians, Surinamese, Hmong, Haitians, Guyanese, etc.)

The Saramaka mostly settled in the quartier Saramaka, along the river. Much of it burned down in a fire in 2006, and hasn't yet fully recovered. The Galibi were a Cariban-speaking people who lived in the Lesser Antilles and northern South America at the time of European settlement. ... The word Creole (and its cognates in other languages, such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. ... It has been suggested that Cimaroons be merged into this article. ... Saramaka, sometimes spelled Saramacca is the name of a group of Maroons (escaped African slaves) who established small communities along the Surinam river in Suriname during the XVIII century and are now present in Suriname and in French Guiana. ... Metropolitan France (French: France métropolitaine, or just la Métropole) is the part of France in Europe, including Corsica, as opposed to the overseas departments and overseas territories, which, while integral parts of the French Republic, are regarded as Overseas France (la France doutre-mer, or more colloquially... The terms Hmong (Hmoob) and Mong (Moob) IPA:) also known as Miao (considered derogatory by some: see below) (Chinese: ; pinyin: Miáo; Vietnamese: Mèo or HMông; Thai: แม้ว (Maew) or ม้ง (Mong); Burmese: mun lu-myo; refer to an Asian ethnic group, whose homeland is in the mountainous regions...

Kourou is the port of departure for those going to the îles du Salut, of which the most famous is Devil's Island. It is also common for many to go up the river in canoes on weekends to camp in the forest. The ÃŽles du Salut (in English: Salvation Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about 11 km off the coast of French Guiana (14 km north of Kourou) in the Atlantic Ocean. ... Devils Island (French ÃŽle du Diable) is the smallest island of the three ÃŽles du Salut located off the coast of French Guiana at . ...

The Centre Spatial Guyanais (Guiana Space Centre), where the European Space Agency starts missions, is located a little behind and outside the town. Part of the town and the islands are closed during rocket launches. The Guiana Space Centre (French: Centre Spatial Guyanais) is a French/European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. ... The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. ...

History

Before the Europeans

Kourou's Bois Chaudat lake during the rainy season.

Not much is known of the pre-colonial era. The area was mostly populated by Kalina, or Galibi before the arrival of the French in the late 17th century. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (820x615, 36 KB)[edit] Summary Photo taken by Marialadouce. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (820x615, 36 KB)[edit] Summary Photo taken by Marialadouce. ... The Galibi were a Cariban-speaking people who lived in the Lesser Antilles and northern South America at the time of European settlement. ...

There is a place not far from the town called les Roches Gravées ("The Carved Rocks"), where indigenous art can be seen on the rock walls.

Early Colonisation

Vicente Yanez Pinzon sailed along most of the north coast of South America and passed by the current location of Kourou in 1500. Vicente Yáñez Pinzón (1460? - after 1523) was Spanish navigator, explorer, and conquistador. ...

The Jesuits Lombard and Creuilly baptised a few Galibis at the church of Saint Nicholas in Cayenne in December 1710 and returned with them soon after to farm the land at Guatémala, across the river from Kourou. The Society of Jesus was disbanded (in Guiana) in 1762, however, and Kourou was nothing more than a small village until the arrival of the Expedition. Seal of the Society of Jesus. ...

In 1744, La Condamine, in charge of the expedition sent to Peru in 1735 to determine the length of a degree of the meridian in the neighbourhood of the equator, passed by and gave his name to one of the mountains behind Kourou. Charles-Marie de La Condamine Charles Marie de La Condamine (January 28, 1701 - February 4, 1774) was a French geographer and mathematician. ...

The Expedition

The Bourg.

The mission at Kourou being abandoned by the Jesuits, the engineers Mentelle and Tugny designed the layout of the future town. This resulted in the neighborhood called the Bourg, around the Church of Saint Catherine and next to the port on the river. Image File history File linksMetadata Kourou_street. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Kourou_street. ...

That same year, 1763, as agreed in the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain took control of New France. Having lost their largest and richest colony, the French decided to send a large expedition to Guiana, commandeered by Choiseul. Around 10,000 to 12,000 people, mostly Frenchmen, tempted by stories of an El Dorado on the other side of the ocean, settled in Kourou. The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10, 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. ... New France (French: la Nouvelle-France) describes the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763. ... Étienne-François, duc de Choiseul, French diplomat and statesman Étienne-François, duc de Choiseul (June 28, 1719 — May 8, 1785) was a French statesman. ... El Dorado ceremony, Gold Museum El Dorado (Spanish for the gilded one) is a legend that began with the story of a South American tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and would dive into a lake of pure mountain water. ...

The small town, surrounded by marshes and rainforest, was unprepared for such a massive influx of people, and around 6,000 of the pioneers died within the year due to fevers and other illnesses. Those remaining fled to the îles du Salut, free of mosquitoes due to constant winds, to recover before being repatriated to Metropolitan France. Hence the name, "Salvation Islands." Previously they had been known as the îles du Diable ("Devil's Islands"), and one of the islands retains the name to this day. The ÃŽles du Salut (in English: Salvation Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about 11 km off the coast of French Guiana (14 km north of Kourou) in the Atlantic Ocean. ... Metropolitan France (French: France métropolitaine, or just la Métropole) is the part of France in Europe, including Corsica, as opposed to the overseas departments and overseas territories, which, while integral parts of the French Republic, are regarded as Overseas France (la France doutre-mer, or more colloquially...

The failure of the Expedition only served to discourage settling in Guiana. The colony earned the nickname Enfer Vert ("Green Hell"), which it is still trying to shake. No other project of mass colonisation was undertaken, and the population of Whites was always drastically lower than that of the slaves. The population of the colony, of all races, did not rise above 20,000 until the gold rush (starting in 1855), the second abolition of slavery in 1848 and the founding of the prisons. This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...

The Prisons

The Dreyfus Tower on the Pointe des Roches.

Kourou contained one of the many prisons in Guiana. It was dedicated mostly to agriculture. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 1675 KB)[edit] Summary Picture taken sometime in 2004 by Wikipedia contributor. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 1675 KB)[edit] Summary Picture taken sometime in 2004 by Wikipedia contributor. ...

Off the coast, the îles du Salut also became prisons starting in 1852, holding mostly political prisoners and some of the toughest criminals. The first prisoners arrived in 1862. The ÃŽles du Salut (in English: Salvation Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about 11 km off the coast of French Guiana (14 km north of Kourou) in the Atlantic Ocean. ...

The prisons were shut down by law in 1938, stopping the transport of prisoners, but it wasn't truly closed until 1946, and the last repatriations were only done in 1953.

Most of the prison buildings were demolished to make room for the Hôtel des Roches, but some vestiges of that period remain. The Dreyfus Tower, where the river meets the ocean, was used to communicate with the islands via Morse code. The ruins of the prison bakery are now on private property - but can be seen from a cul-de-sac -, and a fountain remains near the moucaya palm trees. 1922 Chart of the Morse Code Letters and Numerals Morse code is a method for transmitting information, using standardized sequences of short and long marks or pulses — commonly known as dots and dashes — for the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a message. ...

The CSG and the French Foreign Legion Arrive

In 1965 the Centre Spatial Guyanais (Guiana Space Centre) is founded a little behind the town, and the urbanisation of Kourou begins in earnest. The population of the town grew rapidly, and has not showed any signs of slowing since. The Guiana Space Centre (French: Centre Spatial Guyanais) is a French/European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. ...

The 3rd Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion, whose mission is to protect the CSG, has had a base in the Forget neighborhood since 1973. They clashed with the Creoles in 1985 and 2006^[1]. The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion Étrangère) is a unique unit within the French Army established in 1831. ...

Economy

Kourou's economy is largely dominated by the CSG, from which the European Ariane rockets are launched, as will the Russian Soyuz and the Italian Vega in a few years. The Ariane Family The name Ariane refers to a series of a civilian European expendable launch vehicles for space launch use. ... The Soyuz human spaceflight programme was initiated in the early 1960s as part of the manned lunar programme that was intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. ... Vega (ESA) Vega is a planned expendable launch system developed jointly by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency since 1998, with the first launch planned for 2006. ...

Tourism

• The Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) gets many visitors all year round.
• The Musée de l'Espace is a museum devoted to space and space exploration.
• The îles du Salut: Of the three islands, only two, Île Royale and Île Saint-Joseph, can be visited. The third is Devil's Island.
• Les Roches gravées: Indigenous rock art, not far from the small industrial zone called Pariacabo.
• There are several marked public footpaths in the jungle, of which the most well-known and used is the one on the Montagne des Singes.
• Kourou River: Many people go up the river on canoes or small boats to camp along the shore in open dwellings, or simply in hammocks.
• The ocean may not be clear (it is brown due to the Amazonian silt), but both it and the beaches are clean.

The Guiana Space Centre (French: Centre Spatial Guyanais) is a French/European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. ... The ÃŽles du Salut (in English: Salvation Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about 11 km off the coast of French Guiana (14 km north of Kourou) in the Atlantic Ocean. ... ÃŽle Royale (Royal Island) is the largest and westernmost island of the three ÃŽles du Salut, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of French Guiana. ... ÃŽle Saint-Joseph (Saint Joseph Island) is the southernmost island of the three Iles du Salut in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of French Guiana. ... Devils Island (French ÃŽle du Diable) is the smallest island of the three ÃŽles du Salut located off the coast of French Guiana at . ...

External Links

• Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG)
• Musée de l'Espace
• Blada, all-purpose message board and newspaper for Guiana in general and Kourou in particular (in French).

Footnotes

1. ^ Le Monde, 10.08.06 (in French)