Seaport (pop., 1999: 50,594), capital of French Guiana .
The city was founded by the French in 1643 on northwestern Cayenne Island, which is formed by the estuaries of the Cayenne and Mahury rivers. In the mid-19th century it became a centre of French penal settlements in Guiana and was known as the "city of the condemned" (see Devils Island ). The prisons were closed in 1945.