Rémire-Montjoly

Rémire-Montjoly

Located on the northeastern coast of South America, Rémire-Montjoly is a commune in French Guiana. The town is a suburb of Cayenne, which is the capital and largest city of French Guiana. The residential neighborhoods are located along some of the most beautiful beaches in the Cayenne area. Situated in the Rémire-Montjoly commune, at the mouth of the Mahury River, Cayenne and French Guiana's main seaport is the Port of Dégrad des Cannes. The port handles almost all of the country's imports and exports. In October 1652, missionaries founded the town. In the year 1656, a group of Dutch Jews who had to flee from Pernambuco, Brazil, established themselves in Remire and founded a sugar factory. When the French recaptured the area, most of them left for Suriname. By 1666, the Jesuits settled here, establishing a sugar plantation. The Jesuit property was dissolved in 1765 and Remire once again became a small village in the shade of Cayenne. Years later, many Martiniquans settled in the town after the eruption of the Mount Pelée in 1902. One of the town's landmarks is Fort Diamond, built in 1848 to protect Cayenne and the colony. The fort consists of three parts in a V-shape and was built of basalt rubble and bricks. The thickness of the walls is two meters. In 1980, the fort was declared a historic monument and was renovated. The other landmark is the Salines de Montjoly. It is an old saltworks and a protected area in the commune. It contains a variety of biomes, such as a beach used by sea turtles for nesting, and wetlands that provide shelter for birds. It also includes the only mangrove forest open to the public in French Guiana.