LA CHARBONNIERE - SAINT LAURENT DU MARONI - FRENCH GUIANA An example of recent colonial urbanism. 1980 -1984
Lucile Ado
august 2014
1 - Satellite picture of La Charbonière.
Saint Laurent du Maroni today. Saint Laurent du Maroni is a border town located a few kilometres from the mouth of the Maroni’s river. It faces the city of Albina in Suriname, the former Dutch Guiana. Originally, the location of the city had to be near the Atlantic coast, but it has been displaced in the hinterland along the river because French colonist feared that the prisoners could escape from prison by the sea. Saint Laurent has a hot and humid equatorial climate. There is just one season during the all year. The only variations are daily variations with a minimum of 22 °C and maximum between 29 °C and 33 °C. It rains all year so abundant.
Nowadays, even if Saint-Laurent du Maroni is the sub-prefecture of Guiana, it is a small town. Around 40 000 inhabitants in 2013, nevertheless there is a possibility that the population grow during the next decades. It is now an attractive place because of its geographic position at a regional scale giving accessibility to the lower Maroni and also to other territories because of border position and the presence of a small port. By 2030, the municipality plan to improve the territory of Saint-Laurent du Maroni but has also taken into account its neighbouring municipalities related to the river, the coastal towns of Awala-Yalimapo, Mana, and Albina, gateway to Suriname. It is in this context that “the demographic, economic and environmental issues, land could
be significant,” said the mayor, in one of his speech last winter. For the housing policy of the municipality for 2030, the initial draft plans to build on 200 acres over 2000 apartments for 6 000 to 7 000 residents, with the related facilities and services and commercial areas. To understand the French policies of development in our last colony and guess which type of development the city of Saint Laurent will have to face, we can have a look of an example of new urbanisation from the 80’s, a neighbourhood called La Charbonière. But, before to go deeper inside this neighbourhood; we can have a look on the evolution of the whole city throughout the history.
8 - Satellite picture of Saint Laurent du Maroni.
are found in Boni and are the ethnic groups: the Ndjuka, the Paramaca and the Saramaca. Today all these ethnic groups live in neighbourhoods or villages that surround Saint Laurent du Maroni. So the native population have specific skills. Great navigators, they are paddlers, farmers, doctors or craftsmen.
Colonial History Archaeological research has shown that the site of Saint Laurent du Maroni was occupied before 7200 BC. Then, the site remains occupied prior to preColumbian times by Native American populations. Before the foundation of the colonial town, it bears the name of its leader Kamalaguli. Of all American Indians originally settled in today’s times will remain only two ethnic groups the Arawak and the Kali’na. During the XVII’s and XVIIIth centuries, The Maroni river becomes the pathway to colonialism. European settlers and their slaves will found Businenge, which will be mainly occupied by escaped slaves of Suriname. Their descendants
3 - litography saint Laurent du maroni around 1700.
4 - photograph of Kali’na people.
The first colonial penal quarter has been established in Saint Laurent by the Act of August 26, 1792 which provided the right to deportation in Guiana to “ecclesiastical non asermentés” The clergy denounced this act because of its incivility in April 23, 1793 without any success and in 1795 almost all the enemies of the French revolution are deported in Saint Laurent. Then, fortunately the naval blockus imposed by Britain and the many epidemics that were developing
5 - advertisment for the gold mines of the Maroni around 1900
led to the end of the application of these measures. The gold rush began shortly after the abolition of slavery in 1850, revolutionized the Creole society. Freed slaves forsook the plantations in search of gold, dug the first mines in the forest, where they were joined by the Creoles from the Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Santa Lucia). All settled in the area of Saint-Laurent, they develop the gold trade. It is the economic demise of the Whites Creole, ruined by the departure of slaves from their plantations. Since then, thousands of illegal gold researchers settled defying the authorities, living in violence and exposed to malaria. Called Garimpeiros, they are currently the cause of social troubles, epidemic and environmental devastation. The use of mercury
and cyanide to amalgamate gold poisons river and local Amerindian population. It also disfigures the forest.
6 - old postcard of the marchĂŠ etienne in saint Laurent du Maroni where the gold trade occured.
7 - Photograph of a gold washer camp.
Europeans began to going up of the Maroni around 1820. It led to the discovery, in 1852, of a colony of forty families from Friedland. To develop the new territories conquered Louis-Napoleon restored the deportation of convicts. The first convoy arrived 31 March 1852. They were stationed in eastern Guiana. So Apart of building infrastructures, they built new prisons. Installed in unsanitary areas, they were quickly abandoned. Then they decided to settle on the right bank of the Maroni. This choice determined the location of the urban area which became place of deportation for those sentenced to forced labour until 1946.
8 - Photograph of the prison of Saint Laurent.
A penal colony Saint Laurent then became an agricultural penitentiary. The convicts were employed to cultivate bananas and sugar cane. More logging camps were opened in Saint Jean du Maroni and Sparouine. The French government brought in Portuguese nationals, African, Indian and Chinese. These constituted the largest group. From Shanghai and Canton, they opened feeds and bazaars, shops where they are still the majority. In 1867 Napoleon III decreed that the white convicts go to prison now serve their sentences in New Caledonia because the sanitary conditions of the prison being disastrous. Anyway Saint Laurent became the head quarter of the prison administration.
In September 15th 1880, the city took the status of a special prison town. The mayor was then the director of Prisons who named a city board. The city had to expand so huge work started at the beginning of the XXth century. The city is built base on a regular grid, it was divided into three districts: the official neighbourhood with administrations and staff quarters, then came the colonial city for the businessmen and the area of Camp transportation, which also include the police and the hospital. At the beginning of the XXth century, quite far from the France the penal colony of Guiana was accepted and not so criticized but in 1923, Albert Londres, journalist for “Le petit parisien� came to visit Saint Laurent du Maroni during his journey in
Guiana. Terrified by the living condition in the penal colony, he wrote an offensive article in september 1924. Then Albert Londres found a political support with Gaston Monneville, MP of Guiana and both the fight for the closing down of the penal colony.
9 - Photograph of the prison in Saint Laurent.
10 - Photograph of a house in La Chardonnière.
Gradually, the local authorities try to develop program of housing more adapted to each ethnic group. We will now see the case of one of these programs, realised in the 80’s.
The contemporean colony, integration of the decendant of slavery and the native population. Saint Laurent du Maroni get the status of civil colony in november, 9 of 1949. Important to highlight that after this penitentiary times, the native Amerindian population are just present in two small villages and are only two ethnic group the Lokono and the Kaliña, but since the 50’s other ethnic groups are little by little get back their rights and try to be integrated in the society. This integration is very hard because of the huge difference between white European, descendants from slavery and native population from Amazonia.
11 - The market of Saint Laurent du Maroni.
When the Noir marrons began to return to the big cities of Albina and Saint Laurent du Maroni, they have adopted a different life style but still strongly linked to the water, they have tried to stay on the bank of the Maroni. To avoid problems of inadequacy with the white population, the public authority decided to built new accommodations. Thus was born the neighborhood of Charbonnière in Saint Laurent du Maroni.
12 - Map and aerial photograph of a traditional village along the Maroni.
La Charbonnière
Urban pattern:
The Charbonnière is the only neighbourhood realised with the method of self-building for an ethnic group named the “noir marrons” (black brown). The site has been chosen because of the proximity of the river. Even if it was not possible to accommodate the entire group of Noir marron waiting for new accommodation it has been quite successful and other districts have been created, much further from the river. Another part of this population has been transferred to other more comfortable quarters, but cut off from all contact with the Maroni. After these operations, the unhealthy habitats they had before were destroyed.
In the traditional villages along the river, the houses are located so as to be able to walk around and move freely in the village. Usually the families go outside to exchange and make together the daily activities like cooking. The implementation of the houses does not follow any other logic. The project could consider ways of traditional living and design spaces that they can use in the same way as in a village. In La charbonnière, the houses follow the organisation of a plot system pattern but at the image of the traditional villages with:
13 - Collective kitchen in a village along the Maroni
14 - Traditional house in a village along the Maroni.
-The Structural typologies double slope that were inspired by traditional houses. -Massive utilization of wood. -Organisation of the houses
15 - Traditional facade of the house.
without a particular alignment and various orientations. -The traditional distribution inside the houses. -The open spaces are design to let rooms between the houses but they are not enough to allow collective activities. The architecture: All the construction in La charbonière has been realised by the new inhabitats themselves. The houses are made by planks of wood framing planks. It is structure without deep foundations. The noir marron have probably learned to build sheds during slavery. Also visible on some of the ligatures parts. Technical probably learned from the box Galibi among American
Indians. Structure entirely made of wooden boards assembled from different ways. Living with the western life style and society: Today the Maroons are forced to live in western and great part of the knowledge has become obsolete. The materials can be prepared in a traditional way (palm leaf braided gaulette braiding, etc.) are automatically replaced with materials more modern (sheet metal, polycarbonate, etc.) and, for reasons of sustainability. To continue their integration into modern society of large cities, it was then necessary to provide jobs. Unfortunately the skills of the Noir marrons do not match so easily with what we seek in the
city. Eventually they get trapped between the new comfort and unemployment. It’s now been 25 years since the Charbonnière has been realised. All houses are in a critical state of degradation and the population does not have the means to maintain them. Conversion to modernity required a lot of changes and not only structural. Adaptation time seems to be longer than expected. Now there is still 70% of unemployment with only one person graduated over 9 in the neighbourhood.
16 - Illustation of a slave getting his freedom.
The “noir marron” culture (black brown) The name “marron” comes from the Spanish “Cimarron.” It is a word derived from the language of the Taino Indians of the Greater Antilles. Originally, the word meant Cimarron cattle escaped into the hills of Hispaniola. Then, it was used to describe the Native American slaves fleeing the Spanish. In the late 1530, it began to be applied exclusively to African-American fugitives and was tinged with a strong connotation of courage and stong spirit. They are also called Bushi, Nengé, Bushinenge or Bush Negroes. Noir marron designate in Guiana as well as Suriname, the descendants of black slaves
17 - Old photograph of a noir marron in front of his house.
revolted and fled the plantations before the abolition of slavery. They are among the first generations of slaves brought to South America to serve as a workforce in the plantations of sugar cane and coffee. They are mostly from West Africa: Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast. First refugees in deep forest to avoid being caught, they settled along the major rivers, especially the Maroni. This is the only route linking the villages and towns to the west. Their story is little known because it took place during slavery. The diary of John Gabriel Stedmann contributed a lot and precisely, to reconstruct history from tentimonies and archive. As military in the 1770, he was hired as captain by Guillaume d’Orange to fight against the rebels Noir marrons in Suriname.
18 - The pirogue noir marron important in thier culture.
The noir Marron have kept their traditional African culture visible though painting, dance, music ... etc. But it has evolved with various colonial and Native American influences. Noir marrons do not recognize the river as a border. The villages are made up of larger families or groups of large families. These villages are located on both sides of the river as well as the side Guiana Surinamese. All under the guidance of a spiritual and religious leader called the Gran Man. Each ethnic group has a spiritual leader and subordinates. In the villages, these subordinates are generally older. The population in all villages is estimated at more than 10,000 inhabitants in Guiana. The religious system is linked to the ancestors and the spirits that reside in nature. Trees are a very
important place in the culture of the Maroons. According to their belief, some trees that are home in their hearts minds are untouchable. These trees centenarians are considered the guardians of the forest spirits. The proximity of the river is vital to everyday life. Both to water supply, moving, fishing, swimming, washing dishes and for ceremonies of death, mourning and more… 19 - Picture from a movie of pirogue fabrication.
About the organisation of a new neighbourhood and its position, La Charbonnière has been a good experience of participation between a colonist administration and local population. But the integration of the inhabitant into a big city is still very dificult maybe some effort could be done to let them more space to do their traditional activities and to valorise their culture.