Cayenne Travel Guide
Explore Cayenne interactively
Live venue search, neighborhood guides, AI travel assistant, weather and more.
About Cayenne
Cayenne (; French pronunciation: [kajɛn] ; Guianese Creole French: Kayenn; Sranan Tongo: Kayana, [kajana]; Eastern Maroon Creole: Kayen or Kayeni) is the capital, prefecture, and largest city of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "fert aurum industria", which means "work brings wealth". Cayenne is the largest Francophone city of the South American continent. In the 2023 census, there were 153,884 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Cayenne (as defined by INSEE), 62,675 of whom lived in the city (commune) of Cayenne proper. == History == The Spanish explorers who first visited the area found the region too hot and therefore chose not to settle it. The region was not colonized until 1604, when the French founded their first settlement. However, it was soon destroyed by the Portuguese, determined to enforce the Treaty of Tordesillas. French colonists returned in 1643 and founded Cayenne, but were forced to leave once more following the attacks by the local Indigenous Amerindian population. In 1664, France finally established a permanent settlement at Cayenne.