The Province of Lafayette occupies the northeastern third of Cape Orange, located between the Bay of Oyapock and the Atlantic Ocean, an area of approximately 230 km². The rural areas are mostly tropical jungle, with the southeastern quarter of the Province being a wildlife sanctuary. At the present time, the Province is unorganized for governmental purposes. The seat of government, currently vacant, is the Château Valençay, in Calais-sous-Soleil. The official languages of the Province are English and French.

The Province of Lafayette is the successor to one of the earliest of modern micronations, the Kingdom (later Republic) of Lafayette, tracing its real history to a peaceful declaration of independence from the United States on March 22, 1960 by Harold D. Thomas, who was crowned as King Harold XXV shortly before his tenth birthday. (The previous kings are a part of a legend that is now lost). The territory consisted of several parcels of property in the village of Greentown, Ohio, totaling approximately one acre and was surrounded by the United States on all sides. At its height, Lafayette had 12 active citizens. In October 1960, a revolution took place which resulted in a Republic, with Harold Thomas being elected to the Presidency in November, under a two-page Constitution modeled on that of the United States. Following a period of declining population, Lafayette was ceded to the United States March 1, 1962, which begins the period in Lafayette history known as the Diaspora.

From November 1996 to September 1997, former citizens of Lafayette, beginning with Harold Thomas (who took the Portoclarian name of Jean Tisserand), settled in the Portoclarian district of Nouvelle-Rouen, where they built upon the French culture of the region. In September 1997, this fact became a source of friction between the district and the central government in St.-Hérculain. Two Nouvelle-Rouenais emigrated with the Exodus November 11-16, 1997 to found the city of Calais-sous-Soleil and the present Province of Lafayette within the Principality of Orange.

A constitution was adopted modeled on the French Constitution of the Year III (1795), providing for a Republic under a Directory of three persons elected by direct ballot, but only two of the positions were ever filled. Unable to develop Lafayette as planned, the three residents emigrated to the United States April 17, 1998. Tisserand, however, returned in late July, and began work with Filipe Olivera and others on the creation of the Orange Constitution, which was adopted August 27, 1998. Tisserand was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Constitution restored Lafayette (along with Pirraines and Utrecht) as a Province of Orange, awaiting further development.

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