Balata is a town in the
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
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 Airport, th ...
in
French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
. It is located at the junction of
RN1 and
RN2, and started as a
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
an
shanty town.
History
Balata is named after the nearby Balata Creek. It is located at the junction of
RN1 and
RN2 in
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 Airport, th ...
.
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 im ...
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 m
2 commercial centre with
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
, 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 tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
, 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 15.
* ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children 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