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French settlement dates
from 1604. In the Dutch wars of Louis XIV, Cayenne was captured
(1676) by the Dutch but was later retaken. The Portuguese and
British occupied it during the Napoleonic Wars, but the Congress
of Vienna (1815) restored French authority. French Guiana was
used as a penal colony and place of exile during the French
Revolution, and under Napoleon III permanent penal camps were
established.
Devils Island,
one of the les du Salut, off the coast, became notorious.
The penal colonies were evacuated after World War II
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