Virtual Museum of COLONIALISM

Departmentalization of French Guiana (10 July 1946)

French Guiana had long been administered as a French colony. After the Second World War, the governance system of the French Empire was restructured, and the status of its colonies was reassessed. By a law adopted on 10 July 1946, French Guiana was transformed into a full-fledged department of France.

The granting of departmental status to French Guiana in 1946 was officially presented as the end of colonial rule. In reality, however, this decision marked a new phase in France’s long-standing brutal and exploitative colonial policy. For decades, the French Empire had subjected the local population—particularly enslaved people and forced laborers—to harsh working conditions, while prioritizing the extraction of natural resources. Through slavery, forced labor, and severe punitive systems, human rights in the colony were systematically violated.

The changes introduced under the banner of departmentalization in fact served as a mechanism for France to increase the colony’s economic profitability while continuing to restrict the local population politically and socially. Although the French government promised “equality” and “citizens’ rights,” the local population continued for a long time to face social discrimination, poverty, and exploitation.