Cacao is a village in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...

, lying on the to the south of Cayenne. Most of the population are

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related to ...

farmers, refugees from Laos who were resettled in French Guiana in 1977. The reasoning was that living, and working conditions were similar to their native land. As of 2007, the village had a population of 750 people.

Overview

The village is four blocks in size, with narrow streets. Local commercial outlets include restaurants, grocery and bread stores. There are two primary schools, but no secondary education facilities. Public buildings include an insect museum, a library, a church, and gendarmerie. There is also a Sunday morning market at which Hmong weaving, embroidery and food can be purchased. The main hotel in Cacao is L'Auberge des Orpailleurs. Tourist activities include jungle tours, canoeing and kayaking. During December the village hosts a Hmong New Year's festival that lasts about 3–4 days.

Economy

The economy is based on agriculture. The villagers have 1,375

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s of land. A

freshwater prawn farm A freshwater prawn farm is an aquaculture business designed to raise and produce freshwater prawns or shrimp for human consumption. Freshwater prawn farming shares many characteristics with, and many of the same problems as, marine shrimp farm ...

has been setup and is exporting 1 to 1.2 tons to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

every month. A

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

employs 70 people.

Geography

Climate

Cacao has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Af''). The average annual temperature in Cacao is . The average annual rainfall is with May as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in October, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Cacao was on 31 October 1999; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 25 February 1980.

References

External links