Kourou
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Kourou | |
---|---|
From top to bottom, left to right: Guiana Space Centre, Sainte-Catherine Church, Dreyfus Tower, the beach of Kourou and the Salvation Islands. | |
Location of the commune (in red) within French Guiana | |
Coordinates: 5°09′35″N 52°39′01″W / 5.1597°N 52.6503°W | |
Country | France |
Overseas region and department | French Guiana |
Arrondissement | Cayenne |
Intercommunality | CC des Savanes |
Government | |
• Mayor (2020–2026) | François Ringuet[1] |
Area 1 | 2,160 km2 (830 sq mi) |
Population (2021)[2] | 24,612 |
• Density | 11/km2 (30/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC−03:00 |
INSEE/Postal code | 97304 /97310 |
Elevation | 2 m (6.6 ft) |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. |
Kourou (
Geography
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Kourou_beach.jpg/200px-Kourou_beach.jpg)
Some 60 km (37 mi) northwest of the French Guianese capital
The town had a population of 24,805 inhabitants at the 2020 census.[3] Its inhabitants can be classified into three ethnic groups of roughly equal size:
- Indigenous peoples (mostly Kalina - also called Maroons (Boni and Saramaka),
- Whites (mostly French, from Metropolitan France), and
- Foreigners (Brazilians, Surinamese, Hmong, Haitians, Guyanese, etc.)
The Saramaka mostly settled in the quartier Saramaka, along the river. In 2006, a fire rendered 55 people homeless.[4]
Guiana in general has a high level of crime compared to the rest of France's départements; Kourou has an average of two armed robberies a day. A march protesting the high level of insecurity felt by most of the population was held in Kourou on 27 October 2006.[5] Shopkeepers of Chinese descent in particular are often targeted by armed robbers, their cash registers emptied and some products stolen.
Kourou is the port of departure for those going to the
The Guiana Space Centre, where the European Space Agency starts missions, is located a little behind and outside the town. Part of the town and the islands are closed during rocket launches.
In 2010, the Kourou
History
Era of Kalini people
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Kourou_rain_pluie.jpg/200px-Kourou_rain_pluie.jpg)
Not much is known of the pre-colonial era. The area was mostly populated by
Not far from the town at Les Roches Gravées (The Carved Rocks), indigenous art can be seen on the rock walls.
Early colonization
Vicente Yáñez Pinzón sailed along most of the north coast of South America and passed by the current location of Kourou in 1500.
The Jesuits Lombard and Creuilly baptised a few Galibis at the church of Saint Nicholas in Cayenne in December 1710 and returned with them soon after to farm the land at Guatémala, across the river from Kourou. The
In 1744, La Condamine, in charge of the expedition sent to Peru in 1735 to determine the length of a degree of the meridian arc in the neighbourhood of the equator, passed by and gave his name to one of the mountains behind Kourou.
Expedition
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Kourou1.jpg/200px-Kourou1.jpg)
The mission at Kourou being abandoned by the Jesuits, the engineers Mentelle and Tugny designed the layout of the future town. This resulted in the neighbourhood called the Bourg, around the Church of Saint Catherine and next to the port on the river.
That same year, 1763, as agreed in the
The small town, surrounded by marshes and rainforest, was unprepared for such a massive influx of people, and around 6,000 of the pioneers died within the year due to fevers and other illnesses. Those remaining fled to the
The failure of the Expedition only served to discourage settling in Guiana. The colony earned the nickname Enfer Vert ("Green Hell"), which it is still trying to shake. No other project of mass colonisation was undertaken, and the population of Whites was always drastically lower than that of the slaves. The population of the colony, of all races, did not rise above 20,000 until the gold rush (starting in 1855),
Prisons
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Tour_dreyfus_kourou.jpg/200px-Tour_dreyfus_kourou.jpg)
Kourou was formerly the home of the "Kourou Prison" which was one of the main prisons in French Guiana, and which was also a part of the notorious Devil's Island Prison System. The Kourou Prison was dedicated mostly to agriculture.
In 1852 the three main islands off of Kourou's coast, the
In 1938, a law was passed prohibiting the transport of any new prisoners from France to French Guiana. In 1946 eight years later, the Kourou Prison was finally shut down, while some prisoners were kept in other Guyanese prisons until as late as 1953.
After the closing of the prison, most of the prison buildings were demolished to make room for the Hôtel des Roches, but some vestiges of that period remain. One notable remnant of the prison is the Dreyfus Tower, which stands where the river meets the ocean. This tower was used in pre-radio days to communicate with the islands via
CSG and the French Foreign Legion
In 1965, the Guiana Space Centre was founded a little behind the town by the CNES. With the launch facility being used by the European Space Agency since 1975, the urbanisation of Kourou began in earnest.
The 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion, whose mission is to protect the CSG, has had a base in the Forget neighbourhood since 1973. They clashed with the Creoles in 1985 and 2006.[7]
Demographics
Historical population
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Source: SPLAF,[8] INSEE.[3] |
Migrations
The places of birth of the 26,221 residents in the commune of Kourou at the 2015 census were the following:[9]
- 48.7% were born in French Guiana
- 16.0% in Metropolitan France
- 2.0% in Martinique
- 0.9% in Guadeloupe
- 0.4% in other parts of Overseas France
- 32.2% in foreign countries (notably Suriname, followed by Haiti and Brazil); among these, 30.7% were immigrants and 1.4% were children of French citizens born abroad
These were the countries of birth of the immigrants living in the commune of Kourou at the 2009 census:[10]
- born in Suriname: 3,035
- born in Haiti: 1,857
- born in Brazil: 1,806
- born in other countries: 1,327
Climate
Like most of French Guiana, Kourou has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) with a short dry season centered between the months of August and October when the Intertropical Convergence Zone is furthest north. During the remainder of the year rainfall is always heavy. Between November and July a total of 2,396.4 millimetres or 94.35 inches can be expected in nine months, with rain on most days and very cloudy skies.
Climate data for Kourou (CSG, altitude 17m, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1965–present) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 31.3 (88.3) |
31.7 (89.1) |
31.6 (88.9) |
31.8 (89.2) |
32.4 (90.3) |
33.0 (91.4) |
33.9 (93.0) |
33.7 (92.7) |
34.2 (93.6) |
34.5 (94.1) |
33.5 (92.3) |
32.7 (90.9) |
34.5 (94.1) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.2 (84.6) |
29.3 (84.7) |
29.6 (85.3) |
29.7 (85.5) |
29.7 (85.5) |
29.9 (85.8) |
30.6 (87.1) |
31.2 (88.2) |
31.9 (89.4) |
32.2 (90.0) |
31.4 (88.5) |
30.0 (86.0) |
30.4 (86.7) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.6 (79.9) |
26.7 (80.1) |
27.0 (80.6) |
27.1 (80.8) |
26.9 (80.4) |
26.6 (79.9) |
26.7 (80.1) |
27.1 (80.8) |
27.4 (81.3) |
27.6 (81.7) |
27.4 (81.3) |
26.9 (80.4) |
27.0 (80.6) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 24.0 (75.2) |
24.1 (75.4) |
24.5 (76.1) |
24.5 (76.1) |
24.2 (75.6) |
23.4 (74.1) |
22.9 (73.2) |
22.9 (73.2) |
22.9 (73.2) |
22.9 (73.2) |
23.3 (73.9) |
23.8 (74.8) |
23.6 (74.5) |
Record low °C (°F) | 19.2 (66.6) |
20.0 (68.0) |
19.5 (67.1) |
19.0 (66.2) |
20.0 (68.0) |
20.0 (68.0) |
20.0 (68.0) |
19.1 (66.4) |
19.1 (66.4) |
19.0 (66.2) |
18.1 (64.6) |
18.8 (65.8) |
18.1 (64.6) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 319.5 (12.58) |
251.6 (9.91) |
246.4 (9.70) |
405.6 (15.97) |
489.0 (19.25) |
382.2 (15.05) |
165.1 (6.50) |
82.3 (3.24) |
28.0 (1.10) |
41.5 (1.63) |
124.7 (4.91) |
273.6 (10.77) |
2,809.5 (110.61) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 19.6 | 17.4 | 16.9 | 20.1 | 24.7 | 23.8 | 16.5 | 8.3 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 11.6 | 19.9 | 188.5 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 118.6 | 120.8 | 150.9 | 145.2 | 145.5 | 174.9 | 223.4 | 253.8 | 264.3 | 258.1 | 203.8 | 150.9 | 2,210.2 |
Source 1: Meteo France[11][12][13] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Meteociel (sunshine 1981-2010)[14] |
Climate data for Kourou (Plage, altitude 3m, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1995–present) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 32.0 (89.6) |
32.2 (90.0) |
32.7 (90.9) |
32.2 (90.0) |
33.3 (91.9) |
33.5 (92.3) |
34.7 (94.5) |
35.5 (95.9) |
35.7 (96.3) |
35.8 (96.4) |
33.2 (91.8) |
32.5 (90.5) |
35.8 (96.4) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.3 (84.7) |
29.3 (84.7) |
29.7 (85.5) |
29.9 (85.8) |
29.9 (85.8) |
30.0 (86.0) |
30.7 (87.3) |
31.5 (88.7) |
31.8 (89.2) |
31.9 (89.4) |
31.3 (88.3) |
30.1 (86.2) |
30.4 (86.7) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 27.2 (81.0) |
27.2 (81.0) |
27.7 (81.9) |
27.7 (81.9) |
27.4 (81.3) |
27.2 (81.0) |
27.4 (81.3) |
28.0 (82.4) |
28.4 (83.1) |
28.7 (83.7) |
28.4 (83.1) |
27.7 (81.9) |
27.8 (82.0) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 25.1 (77.2) |
25.2 (77.4) |
25.6 (78.1) |
25.5 (77.9) |
25.0 (77.0) |
24.3 (75.7) |
24.1 (75.4) |
24.5 (76.1) |
25.0 (77.0) |
25.5 (77.9) |
25.5 (77.9) |
25.2 (77.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
Record low °C (°F) | 21.8 (71.2) |
21.3 (70.3) |
21.7 (71.1) |
21.6 (70.9) |
22.5 (72.5) |
21.2 (70.2) |
22.1 (71.8) |
22.3 (72.1) |
22.5 (72.5) |
23.0 (73.4) |
22.7 (72.9) |
21.6 (70.9) |
21.2 (70.2) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 282.4 (11.12) |
236.7 (9.32) |
207.9 (8.19) |
356.8 (14.05) |
471.6 (18.57) |
340.4 (13.40) |
159.3 (6.27) |
67.9 (2.67) |
23.7 (0.93) |
36.7 (1.44) |
94.8 (3.73) |
245.1 (9.65) |
2,523.3 (99.34) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 17.6 | 15.5 | 14.9 | 18.5 | 24.3 | 22.1 | 15.4 | 6.7 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 9.8 | 18.8 | 171.2 |
Source: Météo-France[15] |
Economy
Kourou's economy is largely dominated by the CSG, from which the European
Transportation
Kourou is served by Kourou Airport, located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) at the west of the city.
Politics
Kourou is the main town on an "administrative district" of French Guiana. Such a district is equivalent to a county in the United States. Kourou is represented in Paris as part of French Guiana's 2nd constituency, which has been held by former Kourou city councilor Davy Rimane since 2022.
Tourism
- The Centre Spatial Guyanais(CSG) gets many visitors all year round.
- The Musée de l'Espace is a museum devoted to space and space exploration.
- The Île Saint-Joseph, can be visited. The third is Devil's Island.
- Les Roches gravées: Indigenous rock art, not far from the small industrial zone called Pariacabo.
- There are several marked public footpaths in the jungle, of which the most well-known and used is the one on the Montagne des Singes.
- Kourou River: Many people go up the river on canoes or small boats to camp along the shore in open dwellings, or simply in hammocks.
- The ocean may not be clear (it is brown due to the Amazonian silt), but both it and the beaches are clean.
Popular culture
This Commune is also featured in the 2021 video game Battlefield 2042 as the setting of multiplayer map Orbital.[16]
See also
References
- ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
- ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
- ^ a b INSEE (27 June 2023). "Population en historique depuis 1968" (in French).
- ^ "Un incendie cette nuit au village Saramaca". Blada (in French). Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ (in French) http://www.blada.com/jodlas/1561-Kourou_:_une_ville_sans_oreilles.htm Article on Blada.com about the march (with photos).
- ^ "Kourou solar power plant". Albioma. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ Le Monde, 10.08.06 (in French)
- ^ SPLAF. "Agglomérations et villes de la Guyane". Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- INSEE. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- INSEE. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- ^ "Fiche Climatologique Statistiques 1991-2020 et records" (PDF) (in French). Météo-France. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
- ^ "Données climatiques de la station de Kourou" (in French). Meteo France. Archived from the original on January 12, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
- ^ "Climat Guyane". Météo-France. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
- ^ "Normales et records pour Kourou Csg (973)". Meteociel. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- ^ "Fiche Climatologique Statistiques 1991-2020 et records" (PDF) (in French). Météo-France. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
- ^ Arts, Electronic (2021-06-07). "Battlefield 2042 Maps – Electronic Arts". Electronic Arts Inc. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg/40px-Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg.png)
- Official site (in French)
- Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG)
- Musée de l'Espace
- Blada, all-purpose message board and newspaper for Guiana in general and Kourou in particular (in French).