Talk:French Guiana

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

@User:Judeinator9001‎: "Other articles are misinforming readers, so we should be consistent and give them the same misinformation here" isn't how Wikipedia works. The flag of France is not the flag of French Guiana. It flies over French Guiana, sure, just as the US flag flies over Michigan, but just as the US flag isn't the flag of Michigan, the French flag isn't the flag of French Guiana. Largoplazo (talk) 23:11, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

The Flag of France IS the Flag of French Guiana. Flag of French Guiana Okmate (talk) 03:19, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

What, to you, distinguishes a scenario where the Flag of France is also the Flag of French Guiana and a scenario where French Guiana simply doesn't have a flag? For context, see the previous discussions, above, about the flag. Largoplazo (talk) 09:58, 30 November 2025 (UTC)

Are you not acknowledging the Wikipedia page on the flag of French Guiana? Okmate (talk) 14:38, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

That page is very poorly written, but the flag of France is the flag of France. Other territories may have their own flags, or they may not. CMD (talk) 15:52, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

https://www.worldatlas.com/flags/french-guiana https://www.expouk.cloud/countryprofiles/GF/

https://www.britannica.com/place/French-Guiana/Government-and-society All of these sources detail how the official flag of French Guiana is the national flag of France. Okmate (talk) 15:55, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

They don't seem to say that, even putting aside questions of reliability. CMD (talk) 16:06, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

Agree to disagree, I guess we are at terms as long as there's no flag put up. Okmate (talk) 16:13, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

In view of your choice not to answer my question, I'll assume for the time being that you don't have an answer, and I'll proceed to answer yours:

The word "flag" doesn't appear in the Britannica article, so, no, it doesn't detail how the official flag of French Guiana is the national flag of France.

The World Atlas page says "French Guiana is an overseas department of France, and therefore flies the flag of France" and also that the flag of France is official in France Guiana. This is no different from the way the flag of the United States flies over and is official—as the nation's flag—in every state of the United States, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, etc., all of which also have their own official flags. It's official in those states as their national flag, not as their own. In the case of France, many departments don't have one of those. So, for them, the space where one would fill in their own flag if they had one remains empty, despite the flag of France being official as their national flag exactly as it is in every department that does have its own official flag. Largoplazo (talk) 19:58, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, I realized that half way through and decided to stop replying because I knew where I messed up. Thank you though. Okmate (talk) 20:08, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

I don't know what you mean "are you acknowledging" it. I'm aware that it exists. It is not a reliable source and if it says that the flag of France is the flag of French Guiana, it's nonsense there too. Largoplazo (talk) 19:52, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

This map will not do. The border dispute is objectively there, and Wikipedia will not take either party's position.

Look at the maps of Borders of Suriname or Guyana. This is how we present this article as well.

Not ALL maps need to focus on border disputes, but there need to be a prominent map where it is made clear Wikipedia is not claiming that, say, the land between the Litani and the Marouini is undisputably French territory.

CapnZapp (talk) 15:42, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

I should add that I have edited the French (and German) Wikipedias as well. Since I don't know the language I will have to ask someone else to persuade those communities of the inappropriateness of the now removed map. CapnZapp (talk) 15:48, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

Most maps on Wikipedia show the effective situation, as is common on many maps elsewhere. The dispute should be covered, but the existence of a dispute does not mean we show Belize with a a map of half of it, or have our map of South Korea have to point out the entire territory remains disputed. CMD (talk) 16:00, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

I agree with you, i am advocating neutrality here for a while now, and in my opinion it is being applied selectively. Do you know how hard it was to get a few maps of Suriname corrected here which at least acknowledges the disputed areas.

As a neutral platform, Wikipedia should reflect this neutrality across all its content, including the articles featuring maps of Guyana and French Guiana. These disputed territories should be clearly marked not only on Suriname’s maps but also on those of Guyana and French Guiana, given that these disputed involve multiple states and are not one-sided. Absence of these disputed areas on Suriname’s maps and their lack of demarcation on the maps of Guyana and French Guiana can mislead Wikipedia’s readers.

i have here a list with Neutral maps, i am busy with consensus on the Dutch Wiki at the moment, a few minor changes are expected shortly. If consensus is reached, i would like someone else to change the maps, because some editors are guaranteed to revert it if i will edit it.

This is a list of Neutral maps of French Guiana that include the disputed area. its a work in progress updated here

More information Description, Neutral map ...

Description	Neutral map	Not neutral Map
French Guiana Basic Map Including Disputed area With Suriname
Guyane map (French Guiana) including Disputed Area
French Guiana Locator Map
Arrondissement Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
Arrondissement Saint-Georges
Arrondissement Cayenne
Locator map of Arrondissements of French Guiana
French Guiana Arrondissement and Communes Map
Map of the communes of French Guiana
N2 French Guiana map Replaced with Neutral map that shows Both N1 and N2
Route nationale 1 French Guiana map N2 French Guiana map Replaced with Neutral map that shows Both N1 and N2
Map showing the Main Roads near Cayenne, Capital of French Guiana N1, N2, N3, N4
Flag map of French Guiana (France)	Pending
French Guiana Arrondissements and Communes
Locator map of Awala-Yalimapo
Locator map of Mana
Locator map of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
Locator map of Apatou
Locator map of Grand-Santi
Locator map of Papaichton
Locator map of Saül
Locator map of Maripasoula
Locator map of Camopi
Locator map of Saint-Georges
Locator map of Ouanary
Locator map of Régina
Locator map of Roura
Locator map of Saint-Élie
Locator map of Iracoubo
Locator map of Sinnamary
Locator map of Kourou
Locator map of Macouria
Locator map of Montsinéry-Tonnegrande
Locator map of Matoury
Locator map of Cayenne
Locator map of Remire-Montjoly
Map of Kalina population, South America,	Pending
Guyane department location map	Pending
Guyane department relief location map

Close

SurinameCentral (talk) 01:25, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

None of these maps make it clear who claims vs who controls, despite the compromise I reached with you at Talk:Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute#Request Neutral maps to be used (Guyana-Suriname border). Better to leave them alone instead. JM (talk) 20:26, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

This is neutrality, what is shown on BBC. anything else is just partial bias. The borders were never settled between the TWO NATIONS, so tell me how this is acceptable here, while neutrality is preached? you gave your opinion about it, and i don't agree with it. what you write is for me not neutral. SurinameCentral (talk) 21:12, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

First of all, you DID agree to compromise at the time. Second of all, this has already been gone over at Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Noticeboard#South American river maps. Third of all, if you think I'm biased, then take it to Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Noticeboard, and you'll have outside opinions. JM (talk) 21:21, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

and look how that turned out, all of the edits were reverted. The incorrect and misleading maps still stand. Go see who reverted them and then continue to see what happened to those river maps that I made neutral versions of. The maps that I had previously places there were of the full borders of Suriname, of course that is completely unacceptable for Wikipedia, but when I added the neutral maps those were reverted too by a user 😂

I honestly have no hope Wikipedia will ever be truly neutral regarding this matter. Full map of Suriname bad, all must be neutral. Full claimed map of Guyana and French Guiana, perfectly fine. Leave like this don’t touch.   SurinameCentral (talk) 21:57, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

So you're saying you won't take it to the NPOV noticeboard because you believe that you won't get an outcome in your favour? That should be a sign to you that you could be POV-pushing and should reconsider your actions. JM (talk) 22:02, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

why are you twisting my comment around. i never wrote i am not going to post it there, i will when i have more time to do so.

it will require some time to formulate it and write it there.

- Stating the facts here is seen as POV Pushing. if you can give your opinions on what you consider neutral, i can give mine too. SurinameCentral (talk) 22:19, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

Please note: The user SurinameCentral was banned for disruptive editing on January 6, 2023 in relation to POV maps. This may be taken into consideration when reviewing the above discussion. It is important to keep the international borders image as is, while using a secondary image to display the disputed areas if need be. The proposed images by SurinameCentral gives the viewer no idea where the disputed land resides. MacDonald2024 (talk) 16:40, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Article states "After France ceded Louisiana to the United States in 1804"

France "sold" Louisiana to the US in "1803" Tjabell (talk) 20:47, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

You're correct on both counts and the errors surprised me. I went to look at the article and saw that this statement was embedded in a direct quotation from a cited source. I couldn't believe the source would have said that so I did some hunting and found that User:DonBeroni had, improperly, altered the quotation with this edit. The original text didn't mention the Louisiana Purchase explicitly but did give 1803 as the year in which "France gave up most of its territory in North America". "Gave up" also seems a strange phrase to use as it seems a synonym for "ceded" and contradictory to the fact that it was sold, but if that's what appeared in the original, we can't change it.

I'd look at the source itself if it were available to me but it isn't. Anyway, I restored the quotation to its earlier state (with the omission of a "citation needed" tag, since it isn't for us to fact-check the source). Largoplazo (talk) 22:51, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

In regards to your characterisation of my contribution to the article, I must apologise for the bad edit I made four years ago. Don't know what I was thinking back then. DonBeroni (talk) 22:55, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: I did some more hunting and found this quote has been altered multiple times. Editors don't seem to realize it's a quote! This edit by User:Parkwells appears to be the original alteration. I'll restore the original quote. Philosopher Spock (talk) 21:10, 22 January 2026 (UTC)

@Philosopher Spock Nice, thanks! Largoplazo (talk) 21:40, 22 January 2026 (UTC)

@Largoplazo I did even more hunting and found this edit by User:PouLagwiyann. It's how the "...France gave up...territory..." sentence got into the quote. Philosopher Spock (talk) 10:05, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

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