Maroons in French Guiana – 2019

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This document describes the history and present-day socioeconomic, demographic and geographic situation of bushinenge who live along the Maroni/Lawa Rivers in French Guiana. Maroons or -in French Guiana- bushinenge, are people who escaped slavery and established independent communities in the forested interior, and their descendants. Bushinenge represent an estimated 22 percent of the French Guiana population. They mainly belong to four groups: Aluku, Ndyuka, Saamaka and Paamaka. The Aluku are the only bushinenge group that established traditional villages in French Guiana, and that predominantly resides in French Guiana. All bushinenge in French Guiana are descendants of maroon groups who initially formed in Suriname.