Cayenne

The places of birth of the 121,490 residents in the Cayenne metropolitan area at the 2012 census were as follows:[16]

• 56.5% were born in French Guiana
• 12.0% in Metropolitan France
• 3.0% in Martinique
• 1.4% in Guadeloupe
• 0.3% in other parts of Overseas France
• 26.7% in other foreign countries (notably Haiti and Brazil, followed by Suriname and Guyana); among these, 25.0% were immigrants and 1.7% were children of French citizens born abroad

These were the countries of birth of the immigrants living in the Cayenne metropolitan area at the 2009 census:[17]

• born in Haiti: 12,184
• born in Brazil: 7,627
• born in Suriname: 2,691
• born in Guyana: 2,537
• born in China: 924
• born in other countries: 3,713

Health conditions in Cayenne and French Guiana are generally good. The principal illnesses that cause mortality are circulatory, infectious and parasitic diseases, as well as cancer. A branch of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, located in Cayenne, conducts research on tropical and endemic local diseases and is renowned throughout Latin America. Life expectancy averages about 76 years for men and 83 years for women.[18] The main hospital of the city is the Andrée-Rosemon Hospital which opened in 1992.[19]

Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur de Cayenne after its renovation in 2005.

In 1823 Father Nicolas Guiller and Baron Pierre Bernard Milius, administrator of French Guiana, decided to replace the old church of Saint Nicolas on the current Place Léopold-Héder. Work began in 1825 and ended in 1833. The church was inaugurated in 1861 and is registered as a French monument historique.[26]

The high altar, the pulpit, and the confessional of the penitentiary chapel on the Îlet la Mère were transferred to the cathedral in 1876.

In 1933, the church was declared a cathedral. It was consecrated in November 1934 by monseigneur Pierre Gourtay, the first bishop of Guyana. In 1952, construction workers discovered a lead case containing 21 coins, the oldest of which dated to the Napoleonic period, and 20 seals from the reign of Charles X.

Between 1952 and 1954, the ceiling, the windows, and the floors of the tribunal were replaced. The bell tower was renovated in 2000–01.[27]

Fort Cépérou, originally known as Fort Saint-Michel, is a 17th-century fortification on Mount Cépérou, named for the Amerindian chief who in 1643 sold the rock on which it stands to the Frenchman Charles Poncet de Brétigny, governor of Cayenne in 1644–1645.[28]

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  View of Cayenne from Fort Cépérou with belfry in foreground, May 2015.
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  View of the renovated pagoda
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  Fort Cépérou

Maison Thémire, historic and iconic building of the capital. Today it is a bar-restaurant-hotel.

In recent years the city has renovated a number of historic Creole houses in the city center.

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  Restored creole house on the place du Coq.
• 
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  Creole house restored as restaurant.
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  Restored créole home.
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  Creole building
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  Creole home, restored.
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  Restored creole home not far from Cépérou.
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  Creole house restored as a business
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  Creole house renovated into jewelry store.
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  Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles (HQ of Regional Administration for Cultursl Affairs)
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  Downtown seen from the roof-tops.
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  Club Saint-Hubert in Cayenne.

Palmists Plaza

Initially it was a plaza to aerate the city after the demolition of the city walls in 1810. It was named Place de la Savane ("Savanna Square") after the grasses that grew there. Later some royal palms from the area of Guisanbourg were planted there, and the plaza was renamed Place des Palmistes ("Royal Palms' Square"). In 1880, a bronze column was erected bearing the bust of the Marianne, commemorating the seizure of the Bastille. Governor Gaston Gerville-Reache transformed the plaza into an English garden, with artificial hills, masses of flowers and ornamental plants. Because it regularly flooded in the rain, Governor Marc Chanel in 1925 bordered it with a network of cemented canals, still there to this day. A statue of Félix Éboué, an illustrious Guianan, stands at the Merlet fountain.[29] Today it is a lively place where the residents meet. In the evening, food carts sell French fries, sandwiches, local juices and other street food, and bami and lassi (Javanese delicacies brought in by way of Suriname).

Botanical garden of Cayenne, with a statue of Gaston Monnerville statue at its center.

In 1786, Louis XVI had a garden that served as a storehouse and nursery for various plants and trees from various locations. Louis Claude Richard, director of the garden, brought from India nutmeg trees, rattan, cardamom and black pepper vines. At this period, it was called King's Garden. In 1821 a house was built for the botanist.[30] In 1879, the park changed its name and became the Botanical Garden, a floral park in the city center. It covers an area of three hectares. A statue of Gaston Monnerville stands in the garden's center.[31]

Right aisle of the Cayenne market.

La place du Coq.

These two adjoining buildings are located near the old port of Cayenne. As early as 1703, a Place du Port appears on a map of the city of Cayenne. It then became Place du Marché in 1842. In 1888, a covered market and a public garden were built there. In 1907 the municipal council led by mayor Eugène Gobert decided to remove the garden and build a new covered market, the one we know today. In 1920 the war memorial of the First World War was inaugurated on the site of the old market, surmounted by a rooster, which gave the place its current name.

Cayenne Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cayenne.

The village chionois (Chinese Village) in Cayenne is located on the edge of the city's center along the Cayenne River.[32] Colloquially known as la Crique or Chikago, the neighborhood is reportedly a top destination for internal migration from elsewhere in French Guiana.[33]

The carnival is one of the major events of the capital. It takes place between Epiphany in early January and Ash Wednesday in February or March.

Carnival parade in the streets of Cayenne in 2006.

Carnival parade in Cayenne in 2007

This festival is part of the Guianan Creole culture. It was originally a carnival as practiced in Europe. In early colonial times, the settlers held the carnival, but it was forbidden to slaves. Braving the ban, slaves Held clandestine festivals to regain some freedom, celebrate Africans, fertility and harvest, and make fun of the settlers.

The fat days close the carnival:[34]

• Fat Sunday: day of the grand parade, the biggest carnival parade, where groups compete for prizes for their performance.
• Fat Monday: burlesque marriages; men dress up as brides and women as grooms.
• Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday): carnival goers parade as Diab rouj (red devils), everyone dressed in red and black.
• Ash Wednesday: she-devils dressed all in black and white bury Vaval, the king of the carnival.

Groups disguised according to the theme of the year march to the rhythm of drums and brass in a parade around decorated floats. These groups prepare for months for to parade in front of thousands of spectators massed on the sidewalks and the stands erected for the occasion.

The best-known groups are:

• Kassialata
• Reno Band
• OsBand
• les Belles de la Madeleine

Brazilian bands just like to those at the Rio Carnival are also appreciated for their alluring rhythms and costumes, and Asian community of Cayenne brings dragons to the parade as well.

Touloulous in the Cayenne streets in 2007.

Nightclubs, called "universities" in this context, organize masked balls in which men come to dance with Touloulous at soirées held on Friday and Saturday nights. This tradition is peculiar to French Guiana, and does not exist anywhere else.

The carnival dances are the polka, mazurka, biguine and piké djouk. The Touloulou invite the men to dance, and the men cannot refuse. Only Touloulous have the right to dance, and if a undisguised woman tries to dance, the orchestra stops playing.[34]

Since the 1990s, tololo parties have been held where men disguise themselves and play the role of the Touloulous, inviting undisguised women to dance. These evenings are more and more popular and take place several times during the carnival.

The family carnival

Families gather every week to eat king cake, a European tradition observed throughout the carnival. The cake can be frangipane, cream, coconut or guava.

After the abolition of slavery in 1848, the economy of French Guiana was devastated, and much of the population lived by working the land in “habitations”. People farmed and knew the value of working together. The tradition of the king cake was born in the Guiana of this period, or more precisely, “rend le bouquet”. One couple organized the meal and celebration, and at its end designated the couple who would organize the following gathering by handing them the bouquet.