Guyane, usually known in English as French Guiana, is located on the north coast of South America bordering Brazil to the east and south and Suriname to the west. Since 1946 Guyane has been an overseas département fully integrated in the French Republic; this means it is part of the European Union and has the euro as its currency. Formerly the site of the infamous Devil's Island penal colony, Guyane has become much better known in recent years as the site of the European Space Agency's Spaceport launch facilities. Both the prison and the Spaceport are now popular tourist destinations. The French word for a lighthouse, phare, is often reserved for the larger coastal lighthouses; a smaller light or harbor light is called a feu (literally "fire," but here meaning "light"). In French île is an island, cap is a cape, pointe is a promontory or point of land, roche is a rock, récife is a reef, baie is a bay, estuaire is an estuary or inlet, détroit is a strait, rivière is a river, and havre is a harbor. Aids to navigation in France are maintained by the Bureau des Phares et Balises, an agency of the Direction des Affaires Maritimes (Directorate of Maritime Affairs). However, aids to navigation in Guyane are probably operated in practice by the port authority, the Grand Port Maritime de Guyane. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 110.
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: Southeast: Northern Brazil | West: Suriname
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Posted July 7, 2003. Checked and revised June 13, 2024. Lighthouses: 5. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.