LATIN AMERICAN SOCIO-RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROGRAM - PROGRAMA LATINOAMERICANO DE ESTUDIOS SOCIORRELIGIOSOS (PROLADES) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: RELIGION IN FRENCH GUIANA SECOND EDITION By Clifton L. Holland, Director of PROLADES Last revised on 11 August 2020 PROLADES Apartado 86-5000, Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica Telephone (506) 8820-7023; E-Mail:
[email protected] Internet: http://www.prolades.com/ © Clifton L. Holland, 2016, 2020 All Rights Reserved 2 Religion in French Guiana Country Overview French Guiana is an overseas department of France located on the Atlantic coast of South America, bordered by Brazil to the east and south, and by Suriname to the west. It is a tropical land, whose capital, Cayenne, is only five degrees north of the Equator. Its 83,534 km² (32,253 sq mi) of land is home to an estimated 259,865 people (2015), most of whom are of African descent. The territory has a very low population density of less than three inhabitants per km², with almost half of its population living in the urban area of Cayenne: 61,268 inhabitants in the commune and 118,346 inhabitants in the metro area (2017 estimate), which includes the communes of Cayenne, Matoury, and Remire-Montjoly. The capital is located on the banks of the estuary of the Cayenne River. Though sharing cultural affinities with the French-speaking territories of the Caribbean, French Guiana is not considered to be part of that geographic region, because the Caribbean Sea is actually located several hundred kilometers to the west, beyond the arc of the Lesser Antilles.