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Devil's Island
(redirected from Île du Diable)

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Devil's Island

Smallest of the Iles du Salut (Salvation isles), off the northeast coast of French Guiana, 43 km/27 mi northwest of Cayenne. The group of islands was collectively and popularly known by the name Devil's Island and formed a penal colony notorious for its terrible conditions.

Alfred Dreyfus was imprisoned here 1895–99. The convict settlement was built in 1852, originally for prisoners suffering from contagious diseases. Later only political prisoners were held on Devil's Island, and dangerous criminals on St Joseph, where they were subdued by solitary confinement in tiny cells or subterranean cages. The last prisoner was released in 1953, and the island is now a tourist attraction. The largest island, Royale, now has a tracking station for the French rocket site at Kourou. Ile Royale served as an administrative centre of the former penal colony. It is linked to Devil's Island by a 225 m/738 ft-long supply cable.



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