Why is French Guiana, France’s largest overseas territory, unwilling to become independent?

French Guiana's geographical location

French Guiana is located in South America, bordering Suriname to the west and Brazil to the south. It is now one of France's five overseas territories and has a considerable area. , which is almost 1/7 of the area of ??mainland France, but has a population of only about 250,000.

After the end of World War II, with the establishment of a new order, the original colonial system quickly collapsed, and many colonies became independent one after another. An independence movement also took place in French Guiana, but only 5% of French Guiana supported independence. So in 1946, French Guiana became an overseas department of France, and in 1977 it became a region of France, with 1-2 seats at a time. It is equivalent to the formal territory of France, and the local people have the same rights as French residents, so it is actually inappropriate to call it a "colony". Street scene in Cayenne, the largest city in French Guiana

In 2010, French Guiana launched a referendum on whether to be independent from France, but the result was that most people were opposed to independence and autonomy. .

The reason for this is that the local economy is very backward, and the local area still needs annual subsidies and subsidies from the French central government.

Although it is a part of France, the mainstay of the local economy is backward industries such as tropical agriculture and fishery. There is almost no industry. All the necessary living materials and energy need to be imported, and there is no local railway. , there are only less than 2,000 kilometers of roads, and the developed area is also quite small, limited to some coastal areas. The inland is almost undeveloped, and it is all tropical rainforest. Therefore, once French Guiana becomes independent, it will naturally lose the subsidies from the French central government, and this situation will be quite difficult. The ESA launch site in French Guiana

In addition, because French Guiana is located at a low latitude, close to the equator, launching space rockets here can save a lot of raw materials, so France and ESA The bureau also built a space launch site here, and most of Europe's rockets were launched from here. The space launch site has created employment for some local residents, and also created tourism, which has promoted local development. If it became independent, the launch site would have to be moved, and these local people would also be unemployed, which would have a negative impact on the ongoing development of the local area. The tourism industry is also a big blow.

So the locals are actually very reluctant to be independent and opposed to increased autonomy. Simply put, they are afraid of breaking away from France. If you can stay in France, in addition to enjoying subsidies from the French central government, you can also find employment for some people. The development of the tourism industry is also gradually improving, so why not do it.

Without French asylum, the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of local people will become a problem. Why should we be independent?