The second-largest town of French Guiana, northwest of Cayenne, site of the Centre Spatial Guyanais (Guiana Space Centre) of the European Space Agency (ESA); population (1996 est.) 20 000 (20% of the total population of French Guiana). ESA launches have included SMART-1 on 27 September 2003, a flight to orbit the Moon, and Rosetta on 2 March 2004, a mission to land on a comet.

Situated near the equator, it is an ideal site for launches of satellites into geostationary orbit.