Thousands of kilometers away, but still part of Europe - the French Guiana (not to be confused with Guyana) is located between Brazil and Suriname and it is approximately as big as Austria. By virtue of being part of France, it is also part of the EU and NATO. The currency used is the euro.
Christopher Columbus discovered the region in 1498. The first European immigrants were the Dutch, followed by the French and the British. Initially belonging to Portuguese Brazil, French Guiana was given to France in the Treaty of Badajoz in 1801, and today it has two seats in the Senate and the National Assembly of the motherland. The “Îles du Salut”, a former French prison colony also known as Devil’s Island, became well-known through the bestseller “An Officer and a Spy”. Robert Harris told here the historical scandal of a Jewish officer, Alfred Dreyfus, accused of treason, who was imprisoned on the island.
The central economic factor of the region is the ESA-operated spaceport in Kourou, which represents one of the greatest tourist attractions. Another reason for a trip is the breathtaking nature of French Guiana: 90 percent of the surface consists of tropical rainforests, which constitutes the largest continuous forest area of the EU.
1. On 2 August 2018 at 22:21, by Ian Beckett
Replying to: The most remote places of the EU: French Guiana
If you want a remote place that at the moment is part of the EU, try Pitcairn Island in the southern Pacific, a UK overseas territory. It has even been the recipient of EU funding, although it would be more accurate to say it received funding from the UK channelled through the EU.
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