French Guiana is anoverseas region ofFrance, located on the northern coast of South America betweenSuriname and Brazil. The country is part ofCaribbean South America and borders theNorth Atlantic Ocean. It has low-lying plains with small mountains to the south. Its climate is split between tropical rainforest and tropical monsoon.
French Guiana is situated on the northeast coast of South America between 2° and 5° latitude north and covers an area of 90,999 km2 (35,135 square miles). It is separated fromSurinam (Dutch Guiana) by theMaroni River and two of its tributaries, the Aoua and Itany, in the west, and from Brazil by theTumuc Humac Mountains in the south and theOyapock River in the east. Its 320-km (200-mile) Atlantic coastline is bordered by several rocky islands – theÎles du Salut (Devil's Island, Royale and Saint-Joseph), the Père and Mère Islands, Malingre Island and Rémire Island, and the two Connétables—which are all part of French Guiana.
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Land: 83,534 km2[1]
Total: 1,183 km
Border countries: Brazil 673 km, Suriname 510 km (disputed)
Coastline: 378 km
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi)territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi).
Primary Forest: 95%[1]
Bauxite, timber, gold (widely scattered),cinnabar,kaolin, fish, shrimp, rice, bananas.
French Guiana's climate is tropical and hot with aKöppen climate classification oftropical rainforest (Af) throughout most of the country. Heavy showers, severe thunderstorms, and floodings are frequent, as is intense heat and humidity.
Although French Guiana is very close to the equator, the trade winds which blow almost the year round refresh the coastal region and prevent the formation of great tropical storms. The annual mean temperature on the coast is 80 °F (27 °C). There are two principal seasons: "summer" from July to December and the "rainy season" the rest of the year, broken only by a Short "March Summer."
| Climate data forCayenne (Köppen Am/Af) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 32.5 (90.5) | 32.3 (90.1) | 32.2 (90.0) | 33.0 (91.4) | 33.2 (91.8) | 33.7 (92.7) | 34.5 (94.1) | 35.0 (95.0) | 35.2 (95.4) | 35.1 (95.2) | 34.6 (94.3) | 34.1 (93.4) | 35.2 (95.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.1 (84.4) | 29.2 (84.6) | 29.6 (85.3) | 29.9 (85.8) | 29.9 (85.8) | 30.2 (86.4) | 30.8 (87.4) | 31.6 (88.9) | 32.1 (89.8) | 32.2 (90.0) | 31.5 (88.7) | 30.1 (86.2) | 30.5 (86.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.2 (79.2) | 26.3 (79.3) | 26.5 (79.7) | 26.8 (80.2) | 26.7 (80.1) | 26.6 (79.9) | 26.6 (79.9) | 27.0 (80.6) | 27.2 (81.0) | 27.3 (81.1) | 27.0 (80.6) | 26.6 (79.9) | 26.7 (80.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 23.3 (73.9) | 23.4 (74.1) | 23.5 (74.3) | 23.7 (74.7) | 23.5 (74.3) | 22.9 (73.2) | 22.4 (72.3) | 22.4 (72.3) | 22.2 (72.0) | 22.3 (72.1) | 22.5 (72.5) | 23.1 (73.6) | 22.9 (73.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 17.4 (63.3) | 18.9 (66.0) | 18.5 (65.3) | 19.0 (66.2) | 18.8 (65.8) | 18.9 (66.0) | 19.0 (66.2) | 19.0 (66.2) | 18.7 (65.7) | 18.6 (65.5) | 17.2 (63.0) | 18.0 (64.4) | 17.2 (63.0) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 451.2 (17.76) | 309.4 (12.18) | 334.3 (13.16) | 448.4 (17.65) | 579.4 (22.81) | 411.4 (16.20) | 245.7 (9.67) | 143.6 (5.65) | 55.7 (2.19) | 63.3 (2.49) | 133.4 (5.25) | 340.5 (13.41) | 3,516.3 (138.44) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 23.6 | 20.0 | 20.7 | 22.2 | 26.4 | 25.2 | 20.6 | 14.2 | 7.1 | 7.6 | 11.9 | 21.6 | 221.1 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 82 | 80 | 82 | 84 | 85 | 82 | 78 | 74 | 71 | 71 | 76 | 81 | 79 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 95.1 | 92.4 | 120.0 | 123.5 | 122.4 | 150.4 | 200.5 | 234.4 | 253.4 | 256.4 | 211.5 | 143.3 | 2,003 |
| Source:Meteo France[2][3] | |||||||||||||
French Guiana extends almost 400 km (250 miles) into the continent and is divided into two natural zones: a small, low, swampy coastal area called the "Terres Basses," varying from 16 to 48 km in width, and a granitepeneplain called the "Terres Hautes," worn down by erosion into steps forming a series of low steep hills. Almost the entire country is covered by rain forest and its many large rivers and streams, although their courses are broken by rapids, constitute the only natural means of penetration into the interior. The main rivers, flowing in a general south–north direction, are theMaroni, theMana, theIracoubo, theSinnamary, theKourou, theMahury, theApprouague and theOyapock.
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook.CIA.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:France. (1961–1962).France overseas. New York: Ambassade de France, Service de presse et d'information.