Story by Riley Stevenson
Illustration by Heather Darrough
Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname: they might be the reasons you didn’t pass your eighth grade geography quiz, but don’t let their inconspicuousness fool you. Tucked away in the northeast corner of South America, these three lands are often forgotten by geography teachers and overlooked by tourists. Yet their complex histories, diverse populations, and vibrant rainforests make them a few of the continent’s best-kept secrets.
Guyana
Despite pristine beaches, abundant wildlife, and colorful culture, Guyana is primarily known in the United States for the Peoples Temple suicides at Jonestown. In 1978, 914 followers of cult leader Jim Jones drank Kool-Aid mixed with cyanide. This horrific event, the greatest single loss of American civilian life before September 11, 2001, shocked the world and tainted international perception of the South American country that’s slightly smaller than Idaho.
But behind the international headlines lies a country, complete with lush jungles, a waterfall five times higher than Niagara Falls, and wild animals like the giant otter and the bonneted bat. Guyana is also home to more than 740,000 inhabitants, with such a variety of backgrounds that the nation is nicknamed “The Land of Six People.” (The “six” refers to Guyana’s major ethnic groups, which include East Indian, African, and American Indian). The country is the only mainland South American nation with English as its official language; many inhabitants are also fluent in Creole and Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi).
Rainforests comprise almost 80 percent of Guyana and are home to hundreds of species including toucans, parrots, snail-eating snakes, and golden rocket frogs. Both scientists and Hollywood moviemakers flock to Guyana for inspiration; the Disney/Pixar film Up is set in a mountainous region in the west of the country known as the Guiana Highlands.
Tributaries of the Orinoco and the Amazon Rivers support the local environment and inspired Guyana’s other nickname, “The Land of Many Waters.” The vast jungle surrounding the Orinoco and Amazon remains mostly untouched due to its impenetrable jungles. To preserve this environment, Kaieteur National Park is currently being considered for a UNESCO World Heritage Site distinction. If chosen, the park would join the likes of the Galapagos Islands and Grand Canyon National Park as a place worth protecting.
But behind the international headlines lies a country, complete with lush jungles, a waterfall five times higher than Niagara Falls, and wild animals like the giant otter and the bonneted bat. Guyana is also home to more than 740,000 inhabitants, with such a variety of backgrounds that the nation is nicknamed “The Land of Six People.” (The “six” refers to Guyana’s major ethnic groups, which include East Indian, African, and American Indian). The country is the only mainland South American nation with English as its official language; many inhabitants are also fluent in Creole and Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi).
Rainforests comprise almost 80 percent of Guyana and are home to hundreds of species including toucans, parrots, snail-eating snakes, and golden rocket frogs. Both scientists and Hollywood moviemakers flock to Guyana for inspiration; the Disney/Pixar film Up is set in a mountainous region in the west of the country known as the Guiana Highlands.
Tributaries of the Orinoco and the Amazon Rivers support the local environment and inspired Guyana’s other nickname, “The Land of Many Waters.” The vast jungle surrounding the Orinoco and Amazon remains mostly untouched due to its impenetrable jungles. To preserve this environment, Kaieteur National Park is currently being considered for a UNESCO World Heritage Site distinction. If chosen, the park would join the likes of the Galapagos Islands and Grand Canyon National Park as a place worth protecting.
French Guiana
When seventeenth-century European explorers arrived in what is now known as French Guiana, they were searching for the lost city of gold, El Dorado. Rather than finding mountains of coins, rubies, and chalices, however, colonists uncovered a new treasure altogether: a land bursting with dense rainforest and swift rivers.
Desperate to return to Europe with money in their pockets, the French, a major colonizing power, attempted to tame the jungles and establish plantations. In pursuit of that goal, many died from tropical diseases and violent encounters with local Arawak Indian tribes. Eventually, the French founded a capital city, Cayenne, which, yes, is where the spice received its name. Roughly ten miles offshore on Devil’s Island, they also established a leper colony, which later became a prison.
Before closing in 1952, Devil’s Island spent 100 years as an active penal colony and was home to an estimated total of 56,000 inmates. Along with its sister prisons on neighboring islands, Royale and Saint-Joseph, Devil’s Island inspired scenes featured in several books-turned-movies including Phantom of the Opera and Papillon, which was actually filmed on the island.
After more than 400 years of European settlement, French Guiana has yet to attain autonomy. It remains one of five French overseas departments and is the last mainland territory in the Americas controlled by a non-American power. Several pro-independence parties, primarily the Decolonization and Social Emancipation Movement, have attempted to dissent from France through local elections, but have never achieved self-governance.
According to the CIA World Factbook, only 5 percent of the 229,000 people living in French Guiana want independence. Remaining a department is popular among residents because the status brings in large financial subsidies from the French government, as well as job opportunities at “Europe’s Spaceport,” the Guiana Space Centre located on Kourou Island. The spaceport is one of only 24 active such sites in the world and is primarily used to launch satellites.
Independent or not, French Guiana is isolated. Because of the thick jungle that covers the region, most citizens live along the shoreline. Those who do live inland are typically descendants of indigenous tribes and share their homeland with a wide variety of species including the giant armadillo and the bush dog. The vast mountain ranges that line the country’s western border have long inhibited easy travel to neighboring lands.
Recently, however, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy visited French Guiana to oversee the construction of a bridge to Brazil across the Oyapock River. Once opened, the bridge will provide French Guiana easy access to the rest of South America. For now, only a handful of airlines offer flights to Cayenne, but the brave few who make the trip will be rewarded with endlessly rich jungle and ocean, if not a city of gold.
Suriname
Despite being the smallest country in South America, Suriname is home to half a million people. It was the late sixteenth century when the Spanish first arrived. The British and the Dutch soon followed; after a series of treaties the Dutch were the ones to establish Suriname as a colony. The Netherlands ruled Suriname from 1667 to 1975; the centuries of colonization still influence much of the country (Dutch remains the official language).
The majority of Suriname’s population is composed of Hindustanis, many of whom are descended from workers who were brought to the country when slavery was abolished at the end of the nineteenth century. Traditional holidays such as the spring festival of Holi are celebrated nationwide and Hindu temples dot the country.
Beyond Dutch and Caribbean Hindustani, English is widely spoken throughout Suriname. This is partially because of the country’s long-standing economic relationship with the US. During World War II, Suriname supplied more than 75 percent of the United States’ supply of bauxite, a mineral used to make aluminum. Mining remains a major Surinamese industry while agriculture is one of the smallest. Less than 1 percent of the nation’s land is available for farming with more than 80 percent covered by rainforest. Suriname is, after all, called “the beating heart of the Amazon.”
Desperate to return to Europe with money in their pockets, the French, a major colonizing power, attempted to tame the jungles and establish plantations. In pursuit of that goal, many died from tropical diseases and violent encounters with local Arawak Indian tribes. Eventually, the French founded a capital city, Cayenne, which, yes, is where the spice received its name. Roughly ten miles offshore on Devil’s Island, they also established a leper colony, which later became a prison.
Before closing in 1952, Devil’s Island spent 100 years as an active penal colony and was home to an estimated total of 56,000 inmates. Along with its sister prisons on neighboring islands, Royale and Saint-Joseph, Devil’s Island inspired scenes featured in several books-turned-movies including Phantom of the Opera and Papillon, which was actually filmed on the island.
After more than 400 years of European settlement, French Guiana has yet to attain autonomy. It remains one of five French overseas departments and is the last mainland territory in the Americas controlled by a non-American power. Several pro-independence parties, primarily the Decolonization and Social Emancipation Movement, have attempted to dissent from France through local elections, but have never achieved self-governance.
According to the CIA World Factbook, only 5 percent of the 229,000 people living in French Guiana want independence. Remaining a department is popular among residents because the status brings in large financial subsidies from the French government, as well as job opportunities at “Europe’s Spaceport,” the Guiana Space Centre located on Kourou Island. The spaceport is one of only 24 active such sites in the world and is primarily used to launch satellites.
Independent or not, French Guiana is isolated. Because of the thick jungle that covers the region, most citizens live along the shoreline. Those who do live inland are typically descendants of indigenous tribes and share their homeland with a wide variety of species including the giant armadillo and the bush dog. The vast mountain ranges that line the country’s western border have long inhibited easy travel to neighboring lands.
Recently, however, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy visited French Guiana to oversee the construction of a bridge to Brazil across the Oyapock River. Once opened, the bridge will provide French Guiana easy access to the rest of South America. For now, only a handful of airlines offer flights to Cayenne, but the brave few who make the trip will be rewarded with endlessly rich jungle and ocean, if not a city of gold.
Suriname
Despite being the smallest country in South America, Suriname is home to half a million people. It was the late sixteenth century when the Spanish first arrived. The British and the Dutch soon followed; after a series of treaties the Dutch were the ones to establish Suriname as a colony. The Netherlands ruled Suriname from 1667 to 1975; the centuries of colonization still influence much of the country (Dutch remains the official language).
The majority of Suriname’s population is composed of Hindustanis, many of whom are descended from workers who were brought to the country when slavery was abolished at the end of the nineteenth century. Traditional holidays such as the spring festival of Holi are celebrated nationwide and Hindu temples dot the country.
Beyond Dutch and Caribbean Hindustani, English is widely spoken throughout Suriname. This is partially because of the country’s long-standing economic relationship with the US. During World War II, Suriname supplied more than 75 percent of the United States’ supply of bauxite, a mineral used to make aluminum. Mining remains a major Surinamese industry while agriculture is one of the smallest. Less than 1 percent of the nation’s land is available for farming with more than 80 percent covered by rainforest. Suriname is, after all, called “the beating heart of the Amazon.”
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