Balata is a town in the commune of

Matoury Matoury (; ) is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. Matoury is a southern suburb of Cayenne, the '' préfecture'' and largest city of French Guiana. Cayenne – Félix Eboué Air ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. It is located at the junction of RN1 and RN2, and started as a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

shanty town A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron s ...

History

Balata is named after the nearby Balata Creek. It is located at the junction of RN1 and RN2 in

Haitian emigration Haitian emigration was a movement to describe the emigration of free blacks from the United States to settle in Haiti in the early 19th century. In an attempt to break out from the United States' racist filled society, antebellum free blacks imm ...

to French Guiana started in the late 1960s, and accelerated from the late 1980s onwards. At first, they settled among the Haitians already living in Cayenne. Starting in 1995, shanty towns like Balata appeared on the outskirts of the urban area. Many of the settlers either bought or rented the land. By 2005, only a third of the residents were squatting. The favourable position at the junction of two main roads, triggered suburbanisation in the area. Family Plaza, a 30,000 m² commercial centre with

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

, a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

, and the

Lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

Balata, a high school, were constructed in Balata. Balata, a neighbourhood of Matoury, is listed as a QPV, a problematic urban area needing attention, because of its crime rate

References

Bibliography

* {{authority control Haitian diaspora Matoury Squatting in France Villages in French Guiana