Editing Cayenne (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of French Guiana}}
{{Quote box |width=20em |align=left   |bgcolor=#B0C4DE
|title=Historical Affiliations
|fontsize=90% |quote={{flagicon|Kingdom of France}} [[French colonial empire]] 1643–1658<br />[[File:Flag of the Dutch West India Company.svg|border|22px]] [[Dutch Empire]] 1658–1664<br />{{flagicon|Kingdom of France}} [[French colonial empire]] 1664–1676<br />{{flagicon|Kingdom of England}} [[English Empire]] 1667<br />[[File:Flag of the Dutch West India Company.svg|border|22px]] [[Dutch Empire]] 1676<br />{{flagicon|Kingdom of France}}  [[French colonial empire]] 1676–1809<br />{{flagicon|Portugal|1750}} [[Portuguese Empire]] 1809–1815<br />{{flagicon|Portugal|1816}} [[United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves]] 1815–1817<br />{{flag|France}} 1817–present
}}
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Ignored by Spanish explorers who found the region too hot and poor to be claimed, the region was not colonized until 1604, when the French founded a settlement. However, it was soon destroyed by the [[Portugal|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 [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindian]] attacks.  In 1664, France finally established a permanent settlement at Cayenne. Over the next decade the colony changed hands between the French, [[Netherlands|Dutch]], and [[Kingdom of England|English]], before being restored to France.  It was [[Invasion of Cayenne (1809)|captured by an Anglo-Portuguese force]] in 1809 and administered from Brazil until 1814, when it was returned to French control. It was used as a French [[penal colony]] from 1854 to 1938.
[[File:Rue piétonne.jpg |thumb|Pedestrian street not far from Fort Cépérou.]]
The city's population has grown dramatically over time, owing to high levels of immigration (chiefly from the [[West Indies]] and Brazil) as well as a high birth rate.

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