The penal colony of Guiana (South America) opened in 1852. It was closed to metropolitans temporarily due to a high mortality rate in 1869, and reopened in 1887; in the meantime however colonial convicts continued to be sent there. The penal colony archives are prodigious in terms of both their importance and scope and the meticulous information provided. They also have the great advantage of being more or less complete.
Practically all convicts’ files, registration numbers, employee forms, correspondence and administrative papers, directives received from central government and financial controls, in short, the whole history of the colonial penal colonies and their population, since the arrival of the first vessels up to the final evacuation, is now preserved at the National Overseas Archives in Aix-en-Provence.
By Numbers
Festival Image Singulières
8 – 26 May, 2013
Chais des Moulins
Sète
