French Guiana capita that year, and 56.5% of the metropolitan French regions outside the Paris Region. French Guiana's population of 281,612 (2018 estimate), most of whom live along the coast, is very ethnically diverse. At the 2014 census, 57.3% of the inhabitants of French Guiana were born in the region, 9.3% were born in Metropolitan France, 3.0% were born in the French Caribbean departments and collectivities (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy), and 30.2% were born in foreign countries (primarily Suriname, Brazil and Haiti). Estimates of the percentages of French Guiana ethnic composition vary, a situation compounded by the large proportion of
History of Guyana of the legacies of the indigenous peoples was the word Guiana, often used to describe the region encompassing modern Guyana as well as Suriname (former Dutch Guiana) and French Guiana. The word, which means "land of waters", is appropriate considering the area's multitude of rivers and streams. Historians speculate that the Arawak and Carib originated in the South American hinterland and migrated northward, first to the present-day Guianas and then to the Caribbean islands. The Arawak, mainly cultivators, hunters, and fishermen, migrated to the Caribbean islands before the Carib and settled throughout the region. The tranquility of Arawak society was