An island east of Madagascar and southwest of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, Réunion (French: La Réunion) is an overseas region of France, an outermost region of The European Union and the most prosperous island in the Indian Ocean, having the highest GDP per capita in the region. In addition to the capital and largest city of the territory, Saint-Denis, this territory also contains the capital and largest city of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Saint-Pierre. With a population of 850,000 on just over 2,500 square kilometers (970 square miles), Réunion is one of the most densely-populated places in the world (it's actually more densely populated than the notoriously crowded Japan). In practical terms it's even denser: the interior of the island is largely mountainous rainforest not conducive to development, so nearly all the population lives in a "ring" along the coast.
Originally claimed by the French in 1642, the island was colonized in 1665, when the French East India Company sent the first settlers. Africans, Chinese and Indians were imported as workers, contributing to the ethnic diversity in the population, and most of the non-Europeans were enslaved from 1690 until the territory abolished slavery on the 20th of December, 1848. Afterwards, many of the foreign workers came as indentured workers. The Vichy regime took control of the island in World War II, until the Free French liberated the island with the destroyer Léopard on the 30th of November, 1942.
The island is known for the Children of Creuse controversy in the late 20th century, with over 2,000 children from Réunion being relocated to rural areas of metropolitan France, particularly to Creuse, ostensibly for education and work opportunities, and many of these children were abused or disadvantaged by the families with whom they were placed. This was revealed in 2002 when one of them, Jean-Jacques Martial, filed suit against the French state for kidnapping and deportation of a minor.
On a somewhat lighter note, Réunion is a significant producer of vanilla; vanilla produced on the island, called Bourbon vanilla (from the former name Île Bourbon) is widely prized. We say somewhat lighter because this industry originated from the development of the technique (still used to this day) to pollinate vanilla flowers…which was done by a 12-year old enslaved boy by the name of Edmond Albius. Albius is not known to have been compensated for his invention, despite its importance to the world vanilla industry.
The best known animal native to Réunion island (as well as nearby Mauritius and Rodrigues) is the extinct dodo bird. Though nowadays most naturalists are convinced that the Solitaire de la Réunion
("Loner of the Reunion") was rather an ibis, nowhere close to the dodo bird nor the Rodrigues solitaire, which were close cousins of pigeons and doves, their closest living relative being the pigeon of Nicobar islands.
Funnily enough, the iconic local beer Bourbon has been named La Dodo for most of its history, and is still nicknamed as such, with its logo remaining the bird. While the iconic beer from Mauritius, home of the true dodo, is called Phoenix and makes no reference to the dodo...
The Réunionese flag
The French national anthem
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Government
- Overseas department under a unitary semi-presidential republic
- President of the Regional Council: Huguette Bello
Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: Saint-Denis
- Population: 858,450
- Area: 2,511 km
- Currency: Euro (€) (EUR)
- ISO-3166-1 code: RE
- Country calling code: 262