La Charbonnière
Overview
In 1950, Maroons of the Aluku tribe settled on the banks of the Maroni River near Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. The first village was called Pikin Agoodé (Little Agoodé) after their village of origin.
The Surinamese Interior War, which was fought between 1986 and 1992, resulted in refugees crossing the border between Suriname and French Guiana. In 1989, a refugee camp was built in La Charbonnière to house the refugees. Originally the camp was home to 1,144 people.
In 1989, construction started on a new neighbourhood to house both the refugees, and the inhabitants of the shanty towns. During the 1990s, the settlements on the river bank were demolished. The neighbourhood consists of triangular houses modelled after the huts inhabited by the Maroons. The relocation to public housing had limited success, because later new shanty towns emerged on the outskirts of the city. In 2020, INSEE counted six shanty towns with a maximum population estimate of 9,000 people.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Pirogues_sur_les_rives_du_fleuve_Maroni.jpg/220px-Pirogues_sur_les_rives_du_fleuve_Maroni.jpg)
La Charbonnière has become a tourist attraction, and is one of the busiest parts of the city. Because French Guiana is part of France, and the European Union, the prices for consumer goods are significantly higher than in Suriname. One of the attractions of La Charbonnière is the sale of smuggled goods at lower prices. On 20 April 2020, the illegally constructed stalls and shops were removed, because they violated COVID-19 regulations.
References
- ^ Charbonnière 2007, p. 1.
- ^ "Meurtre à la Charbonnière : un homme s'est rendu aux gendarmes de Saint-Laurent". Profession Gendarme (in French). Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ Charbonnière 2007, p. 5.
- ^ Charbonnière 2007, p. 3.
- ^ Wim Hoogbergen & Thomas Polimé (2002). "Oostelijk Suriname 1986-2002". OSO. Tijdschrift voor Surinaamse taalkunde, letterkunde en geschiedenis (in Dutch). p. 227.
{{cite magazine}}
: Cite magazine requires|magazine=
(help) - ^ Clémence Léobal. "Social Housing in Postcolonial Contexts". Metro Politics. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "Concentration des difficultés dans les quartiers urbains périphériques et à Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni" (PDF). Blada (in French). December 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "A Saint-Laurent du Maroni, une opération de destruction de carbets sauvages a été menée à la Charbonnière". France TV Info (in French). 20 April 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ Hoefte, Rosemarijn; Oostindie, Gert (2015). In and Out of Suriname (PDF). Caribbean Series 34. p. 71. ISBN 978-90-04-28011-3.
{{cite book}}
:|website=
ignored (help) - ^ "6,2 tonnes de marchandises alimentaires illicites saisies". Blada. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
Bibliography
- Charbonnière (2007). "Laisez-vous conter La Charbonnière" (in French and Sranan Tongo). Ville de Saint-Laurent du Maroni.