French Guiana is the only non-independent country on the South American mainland. As an overseas department of France, it is governed by French law and the French constitution, and enjoys French customs, currency and holidays.

Bastille Day in South America, celebrated annually on July 14, is a major holiday in French Guiana as it is in France and other French territories.

The holiday celebrates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison in Paris. Mobs of people took over the prison and literally dismantled it, a foreshadowing of what would happen to the French aristocracy in the coming revolution.

Heralding the beginning of the French Revolution, the tearing down of the Bastille became a symbol of the building of a new France, one where power no longer resided in God, the King, or the aristocracy, but in the people themselves.

Read French Guiana for Visitors for more information about the country.

Before You Go Traveling Abroad -- A Checklist

Most of the items on the checklist are things you may already be doing, but a refresher is always good. Check also the tips and suggestions in Plan Your First Trip to South America.

What are your tips/recommendations? Share your knowledge and your experiences, good or bad with the Comments link below.

Previously Unknown Inca Road Discovered in Peru (Artdaily.org) "Peruvian archaeologists and Spanish technicians have discovered an Inca road unknown until now.

The Inca road is made of stone masonry approximately 1 meter (3 1/4 feet) wide, with sustaining walls along the way rising some 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) high, according to a communique from the Project Ukhupacha.

Several stretches of the road have collapsed that began at what is now the Wuarqtambo archaeological premises, went up Machu Picchu mountain and then came down from the citadel.

The director of the Machu Picchu National Historical Sanctuary, Fernando Astete Victoria, said there had been evidence of an Inca road to the citadel different from the one that was known, and so its discovery became one of the Ukhupacha Project's goals. "

Explore the Inca Empire

Peru: A history lost in the ruins (telegraph.co,uk) "Nine years ago, a discovery was made about a place called Caral in northern Peru that transformed the understanding of human history in the Americas.

During the 20th century Caral remained unexplored, just one among many ancient sites dotting the coastal strip between Lima and Peru's border with Ecuador in the north. From the pyramids of the Moche people to Chan Chan, the vast adobe city of the Chimu empire, which immediately predated the Incas, succeeding city states had evolved and dissolved. All were fascinating but none was regarded as pre-eminent.

In 2000, carbon dating of a bag woven from plant fibres proved that the 163-acre site had been built between 3000 and 2100BC, making it the oldest civilisation on the continent of the Americas and contemporaneous with the pyramids of Giza in Egypt. "

Read about the History of Peru and Archaeology and Archaeological Sites of South America.