Cayenne

a fortified seaport, capital of French Guiana, on an island at the mouth of a river of the same name.. Cayenne is chiefly known as a great French penal settlement. The climate is extremely unwholesome for Europe ans, large numbers of the convicts having been carried off by various malignant fevers. The name of the capital is sometimes used for the whole of French Guiana, Pop. 12,700.