Show French Guiana Noted for Notorious Penal Island Before BeCore the thc war gold sugar rum hides fish glue and various woods were exported from French Guiana South America The banana market market market mar mar- ket was expanding Growers of maize sweet potatoes and cassava for the most part consumed their products themselves I In a move to open up the interior I Ithe the French government in 1930 1 made the hinterland a separate territory territory ter ter- ter named it Inini mini and left its supervision to the colonial governor I II I Development was made difficult by bythe bythe the lack of go good d roads and navigable waterways and by the dearth of i. i 1 workers able to stand the heat I French Guiana is best known as a i I penal settlement For almost a century century century cen cen- tury convicts have been sent from France to the Guiana mainland or orto orto to one of the penal isles off the J coast Devils Devil's island is a a a green bit bitof bitof r of tree-capped tree land about 27 miles from the mainland It was reserved I for political prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment At times it has o held less than a dozen convicts Its ill-fame ill has been epitomized in its i other name the lithe dry guillotine |