Habitation Loyola, Jesuit plantation ruins in Remire-Montjoly, French Guiana.
Habitation Loyola is an archaeological site of a 17th-century Jesuit plantation with a main house, chapel, cemetery, forge, and other structures scattered across the property. The excavations continue to reveal remnants of the infrastructure and daily life from that era.
The plantation was founded in 1668 by Jesuits to fund their mission work through sugar, coffee, and cocoa cultivation. It played a key role in the early colonial economy of the region until operations ceased in 1769.
The site reflects how different communities coexisted under colonial rule, with buildings and burial grounds showing traces of the lives and beliefs of those who lived there.
The site is open year-round, and guided tours explain the archaeological structures and ongoing research. Wear comfortable shoes and bring weather protection, as the terrain is uneven and the climate is tropical.
The cemetery holds hundreds of graves of enslaved people, Indigenous Americans, and colonists who lived under different circumstances at the site. A calvary monument on the grounds memorializes those buried there.
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