Matoury

Matoury is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America.

Matoury
Commune
A view of the port of Larivot in Matoury
Flag
Location of the commune (in red) within French Guiana
Location of Matoury
Coordinates: 4°50′50″N 52°19′52″W
CountryFrance
Overseas region and departmentFrench Guiana
ArrondissementCayenne
IntercommunalityCentre Littoral
Government
 • Mayor (2014-2020) Gabriel Serville
Area
1
137.19 km2 (52.97 sq mi)
Population
 (2012)
29,712
 • Density220/km2 (560/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC−03:00
INSEE/Postal code
97307 /97351
Elevation0–234 m (0–768 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Matoury is a southern suburb of Cayenne, the préfecture and largest city of French Guiana. Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, the main international airport of French Guiana, is located in the commune of Matoury.

Air Guyane Express has its head office on the grounds of the airport.[1]

Geography

Location

Matoury is located in French Guiana situated in South America. It is bordered by 5 communes:

The city used to be called "Tour de l'Isle" because it is bordered by water :

  • Fouillé inlet ( in French "Crique Fouillée") is the limit both with Cayenne and Rémire-Montjoly
  • The river Mahury and the southern part of the river Tour de l'Île are the border with Roura
  • The Northern part of the river Tour de l'Île and the southern part of the Cayenne river are the boundary with Montsinéry-Tonnegrande
  • The Northern part of the Cayenne river is the limit with Macouria

Population

Matoury is a cosmopolitan. Indeed, it is home to Amerindians ( located in Sainte-Rose-de-Lima, Cécilia and Petit-la-Chaumière), to Creols,Metropolitans,Haïtians, Brazilians, Surinamese, Javanese, Chinese, Businenge and people from England Antilles such as St-Lucia.

Town planning

The town planning of Matoury is very uneven. Outside the town-centre there are some urbanized areas along the axes leading to Cayenne, Macouria and Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport. Besides, the PROGT, the Balata professional lyceum are surrounded by the forest. However, the city is urbanizing fast as a dormitory town near Cayenne which the main city of French Guiana.

The main neighbourhoods of Matoury are:

  • Copaya and Barbadine in the town-centre
  • Concorde near the Félix Eboué airport
  • Larivot next to the Larivot harbour
  • Chemin de la Levée
  • Stoupan and Degrad on the river Mahury
  • Sainte-Rose-de-Lima
  • Balata
  • Cogneau-Larivot
  • La Chaumière

Accommodation

Matoury is home to 1178 accommodations among which 78.4% are main home, 7.2% are second home and 13.7% are unoccupied.

Climate

Matoury has a Tropical rainforest climate.

History

In 1838, during the colonial era, the District of Matoury was the third of the French Guiana colony thanks to its large and diversely cultivated areas. The main productions were sugarcane, cotton, clove, achiote and pepper.

Matoury is also home to remains of the past:

  • The Trio fort situated in the Levée location was designed by Vauban and was used to protect the Cayenne Isle, conjointly with the Cépérou and Diamant forts (in Cayenne and Rémire-Montjoly).
  • The Macaye-Duchassis habitation which used to be a cacao and sugar plantation|
  • The Lamirande manufacture in Lamirande, next to the PROGT, which used produced sugar and rum between 1927 and 1950.

Administration

New headquarters of communauté de communes du Centre Littoral.

Gabriel Serville has been Mayor of the city since 2014 and deputy to the French National Assembly since 2012.

See also

References
  1. "Directory: World airlines." Flight International. 16–22 March 2004. 65.
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