French Guiana

Overseas department and region of France in South America

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2025 An Engins de Débarquement Amphibie – Standards (EDA-S) landing craft is scheduled to be delivered to naval forces in French Guiana to support coastal and riverine operations.
2025 PLD Space is likely to be the first company to use the reactivated launch pad.
January 2025 INSEE estimated the population of French Guiana at 292,354, over 10 times the population in 1954, though lower than previous population forecasts.
September 2024 MaiaSpace was selected to use the launch pad for their Maia rocket, with plans to invest tens of millions of euros and aim for an inaugural launch in late 2025.
July 9 2024 First flight of the Ariane 6 was conducted from the ELA-4 launch facility.
April 2024 CNES issued a call to take over the launch pad.
July 5 2023 ELA-3 facility ceases active operations after 27 years of launching Ariane 5 rockets.
2022 The Maritime Gendarmerie deployed the patrol boat Charente to replace the previous boat Mahury, which was no longer considered serviceable.
October 2022 Saint-Georges became one of the three sub-prefectures of French Guiana and was designated as the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Georges.
February 26 2022 Roscosmos suspended operations at ELS launch site in response to international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
2021 Construction began on a combined power plant featuring 55 MW solar capacity, 3 MW hydrogen fuel cell, 20 MW/38 MWh battery, and 16 MW hydrogen electrolyser with 88 MWh storage, representing a significant infrastructure development in French Guiana's energy sector.
2021 Tour of Guiana was again canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 A census was conducted in French Guiana, documenting population statistics for major metropolitan areas including Cayenne (151,103 residents), Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (50,250 residents), and Kourou (27,442 residents).
September 28 2021 The new ELA-4 launch facility was officially inaugurated.
2020 Tour of Guiana could not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 Marie-Laure Phinéra-Horth became the first woman to be elected to the French Guiana Senate.
2020 French Guiana experiences a moderate recession of -2.7% due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 2020 By the end of June, more than 1% of French Guianese tested positive for COVID-19.
2019 Census data shows an increase in immigrant population to 30.5%, with ongoing migration from Syria, Cuba, Yemen, and Palestine seeking refuge in French Guiana as a gateway to Europe.
2019 A census was conducted in French Guiana revealing the demographic composition, including that 56.5% of inhabitants were born in French Guiana, 8.9% in Metropolitan France, 2.8% in French Caribbean departments, and 31.5% in foreign countries.
2019 Unemployment declines to 19.3%, and the GDP per capita at market exchange rates is US$17,375, which is 42.3% of metropolitan France's average.
2019 Civil engineering works on the flame trench and other buildings at ELA-4 launch site were completed.
2019 Launch pad reactivation began, with plans to rename it ELM (Ensemble de Lancement Multilanceurs) to support multiple microlauncher companies.
2018 The total fertility rate settled at 3.82, maintaining a significantly higher reproductive rate compared to metropolitan France's 1.84.
2017 French Guiana experienced a fertility rate peak at 3.93, highlighting the continued high population growth trend.
2017 Significant social unrest occurred, leading to an economic recession in 2018 and triggering increased emigration of young people to Metropolitan France.
2017 Social unrest occurs, leading to almost no economic growth for the year.
May 2017 Delayed satellites from the March protests were finally launched after negotiations between French government and Guianese protesters.
April 24 2017 The Guiana Space Centre resumed operations after the French government authorized an emergency relief plan of up to 2.1 billion euros.
April 4 2017 The Guiana Space Centre was occupied by 30 labour unions and indigenous peoples leaders during social unrest in French Guiana.
March 2017 Strikes and protests began in March, highlighting infrastructural issues and social inequities in French Guiana, involving 30 labour unions and spreading across the country.
March 21 2017 An Ariane 5 rocket launch carrying a Brazilian and South Korean satellite was prevented due to strikes and protests by local workers and the Collective of 500 Brothers blocking the Guiana Space Centre.
2016 Unemployment reaches a peak of 23.0%, highlighting economic difficulties in the region.
June 2016 Civil engineering works on the flame trench and other buildings at ELA-4 launch site began in the summer.
January 2016 Earthworks for the ELA-4 launch site were completed at the start of the year.
2015 French Guiana experiences economic challenges, with GDP per capita declining relative to metropolitan France.
June 2015 Earthworks began on the 150-hectare ELA-4 launch site at the end of June.
2014 Space sector reduced to 15% of French Guiana's GDP, employing 4,620 people and accounting for nearly 10% of salaried jobs in the overseas department.
2013 Census data reveals 29.2% of French Guiana's population are immigrants, with a significant portion arriving from South American, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern countries.
April 2013 LFG became a full member of CONCACAF.
September 26 2012 French Guiana Football Team achieved its biggest victory, defeating St. Pierre and Miquelon 11-1.
February 13 2012 First launch of the Vega rocket from the refurbished ELV launch complex took place.
2011 Rice production near Mana almost completely disappears due to marine erosion and new EU plant health regulations.
December 17 2011 Second Soyuz launch at the Guiana Space Centre, carrying the French space agency's Pleiades 1 Earth imaging satellite, four ELISA electronic intelligence satellites, and the SSOT remote sensing satellite for the Chilean military.
October 21 2011 First Soyuz rocket launched from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying two Galileo IOV-1 and IOV-2 satellites.
September 2011 The service tower at the ELA-2 launch pad was demolished using explosives, marking the end of the Ariane 4 launch infrastructure.
May 21 2011 An Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle launched the ST-2 Satellite, which was twice as powerful as Singtel's first satellite ST-1, providing 20% more transponder capacity and wider coverage across the Middle East, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia.
2010 Operation Harpie Reinforce was launched by the French government to combat illegal gold mining in French Guiana.

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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Saint-Georges, French Guiana, Guiana Space Centre, University of the French Antilles, French Guiana & Economy of French Guiana, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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