island group of French Guiana, northeastern South America, in the Atlantic Ocean about 8 mi (13 km) northeast of Kourou, comprising three main islands: Royale, Saint-Joseph, and Diable, the site of the infamous “Devil's Island” penal colony from 1852 to 1953 (see photograph-->). Originally the entire group was called the Îles du Diable by their earliest known settlers, a group of colonists from France who retreated to the islands in the 1760s from the unhealthy lowlands around Kourou. The archipelago long served as an outport for ships too large to dock at Cayenne, the national capital. Today the islands are developed for tourism; a hotel on Île Royale was formerly a prison warders' mess hall.