French reaction to the menace from Cabanos and Bonis within the litigious territory between Brazil and French Guiana (1836-1841)

Abstract

This article will analyze an historical episode that occurred between 1836 and 1841 during the French occupation of the disputed territory located between Brazil and French Guiana. I intend to consider two regional factors that influenced the decision of both the Cayenne Government and the metropolitan government to build military forts in the region. Such factors are the Cabanagem and the attempts of black Bonis to settle in Lower Oiapoque. I will go on to show that the French withdrawal from Amapá Lake in 1840, but not from the post on the right bank of the Oiapoque River, was due not only to international and diplomatic factors but also had regional causes. Notwithstanding the French government's interests in expanding the territory of its South American colony, I want to draw attention to the threats -real or fictitious -of Cabanos, from Brazil, and black Bonis, from Dutch Guiana.