In 1828, the Ministry of the Navy and Colonies sent Sister Anne-Marie Javouhey to Mana to colonize the area.

In 1833, Sister Javouhe set out to create a leprosarium south of the village of Mana on the Acarouany River.

[2] At first the patients were housed in straw huts, the construction of a leprosarium with brick buildings took three years.

After returning to France, he wrote his doctoral thesis Leprosy and its means of spread in French Guiana[4] for which Simond was awarded the Godard Prize.

[2] The Surinamese Interior War, which was fought between 1986 and 1992, resulted in refugees crossing the border between Suriname and French Guiana.