French Guiana is an overseas department and region of France on the north Atlantic coast of South America. It borders Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west. Its 83,534 km² area has a very low population density of less than 3 inhabitants per km², with half of its 239,450 people in 2012 living in the metropolitan area of Cayenne, its capital.

By land area, it is by far the largest overseas region of France. A large part of the department’s economy derives from the presence of the Guiana Space Centre (Centre Spatial Guyanais), now the European Space Agency’s primary launch site near the equator.

Map: French Guiana
Map: French Guiana