Réunion is a French island of about 800,000 population located in the Indian
Ocean, east of Madagascar, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) south west of
Mauritius, the nearest island.
Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas départements of France.
Like the other overseas departments, Réunion is also one of the twenty-six
regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the
Republic with the same status as those situated on the European mainland.
Réunion is an outermost region of the European Union and, as an overseas
department of France, is part of the Eurozone. Due to its location in a time
zone to the east of Europe, Réunion was the first region in the world where
the euro became legal tender.
History
Arab sailors formerly called the island Adna Al Maghribain ("The closest of
the two western islands"). Chola navy landed in the island during 11th
century and called it as Theemai Theevu, which means Island of destruction
referring to the presence of volcanoes in the Island, which is inscribed on
the Tanjore inscription of 1050AD. The Portuguese are thought to have been
the first European visitors, finding it uninhabited in 1635, and naming it
after Saint Apollonia.
The island was then occupied by France and administered from Port Louis,
Mauritius. Although the French flag was hoisted by François Cauche in 1638,
Santa Apollonia was officially claimed by Jacques Pronis of France in 1642,
when he deported a dozen French mutineers to the island from Madagascar. The
convicts were returned to France several years later, and in 1649, the
island was named Île Bourbon after the royal house. Colonization started in
1665, when the French East India Company sent the first twenty settlers.
"Réunion" was the name given to the island in 1793 by a decree of the
Convention with the fall of the House of Bourbon in France, and the name
commemorates the union of revolutionaries from Marseille with the National
Guard in Paris, which took place on 10 August 1792. In 1801, the island was
renamed "Île Bonaparte," after Napoleon Bonaparte. The island was invaded by
a Royal Navy squadron led by Commodore Josias Rowley in 1810, who used the
old name of "Bourbon". When it was restored to France by the Congress of
Vienna in 1815, the island retained the name of "Bourbon" until the fall of
the restored Bourbons during the French Revolution of 1848, when the island
was once again given the name "Réunion".
From the 17th to the 19th centuries, French immigration supplemented by
influxes of Africans, Chinese, Malays, and Indians gave the island its
ethnic mix. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 reduced the importance of
the island as a stopover on the East Indies trade route.
During the Second World War, Réunion was under the authority of the Vichy
Regime until 30 November 1942, when the island was liberated by the
destroyer Léopard.
Réunion became a département d'outre-mer (overseas départment) of France on
19 March 1946. Its département code is 974.
Between 15 and 16 March 1952, Cilaos at the centre of Réunion received 1,869
9 millimetres (73.62 in) of rainfall. This is the greatest 24-hour
precipitation total ever recorded on earth. The island also holds the record
for most rainfall in 72 hours, 3,929 millimetres (154.7 in) at Commerson's
Crater in March 2007 from Cyclone Gamede.
In 2005 and 2006 Réunion was hit by a crippling epidemic of chikungunya, a
disease spread by mosquitoes which led to more than 200 deaths. According to
the BBC News, 255,000 people on Réunion had contracted the disease as of 26
April 2006. The disease also spread to Madagascar and to mainland France
through airline travel. Then French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
sent an emergency aid package worth 36 million euros ($57.6M U.S. dollars)
and deployed approximately five hundred French troops in an effort to
eradicate mosquitoes.
Geography
The island is 63 kilometres (39 mi) long; 45 kilometres (28 mi) wide; and
covers 2,512 square kilometres (970 sq mi). It is similar to the island
Hawaii insofar as both are located above hotspots in the Earth's crust.
The Piton de la Fournaise, a shield volcano on the eastern end of Réunion
Island, rises more than 2,631 metres (8,630 ft) above sea level and is
sometimes called a sister to Hawaiian volcanoes because of the similarity of
climate and volcanic nature. It has erupted more than 100 times since 1640
and is under constant monitoring. It most recently erupted on 2 January 2010
Before that, the most noticeable was during April 2007, when the lava flow
was estimated at 3,000,000 cubic metres (3,900,000 cu yd) per day. The Piton
de la Fournaise is created by a hotspot volcano, which also created the
Piton des Neiges and the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues.
The Piton des Neiges volcano, the highest point on the island at 3,070
metres (10,100 ft) above sea level, is north west of the Piton de la
Fournaise. Collapsed calderas and canyons are south west of the mountain.
Like Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii, the Piton des Neiges is extinct.
Despite its name, snow (French: neige) practically never falls on the summit
The slopes of both volcanoes are heavily forested. Cultivated land and
cities like the capital city of Saint-Denis are concentrated on the
surrounding coastal lowlands.
Réunion also has three calderas: the Cirque de Salazie, the Cirque de Cilaos
and the Cirque de Mafate. The last is accessible only by foot or helicopter.
Demographics
Creoles (a name given to those born on the island, of various ethnic
origins), make up the majority of the population. Malbars, other Indians,
people from Metropolitan France (known as zoreils), Malagasy, Africans and
Chinese are also present. It is not known exactly how many people there are
of each ethnicity since there is a ban on ethnic censuses in France, which
applies in Réunion because it is a part of the 1958 constitution. According
to estimates, Whites make up approximately one-quarter of the population,
Indians, including Tamils, make up roughly a quarter, and people of Chinese
ancestry form roughly 3%. The percentages for mixed race people and those of
Afro-Malagasy origins vary wildly in estimates. There are also some people
of Vietnamese ancestry on the island, though they are very few in number.
Tamil and Gujarati people make up the majority of the Indo-Réunionnais
people; Bihari and other origins form the remainder of the population. The
island's community of Muslims from North Western India and elsewhere is also
commonly referred to as Zarab.
Réunion is very similar in culture, ethnic makeup, language and traditions
to Mauritius and the Seychelles. Réunion contains most of the same ethnic
populations as Mauritius but in different proportions.
Religion
The predominant religion is Roman Catholicism with Hinduism, Islam and
Buddhism also represented, among others.
Language
French is the only official language of Reunion. Although not official,
Réunion Creole is also commonly spoken by the majority of the population.
One can hear it in any administration or office, but education is only in
French.
Tamil is taught as optional language in some schools. Due to the diverse population, other languages such as Mandarin, Hakka and Cantonese are also spoken by members of the Chinese community, but fewer people speak these languages as younger generations start to converse in French. The number of speakers of Indian languages (mostly Urdu and Gujarati) is also dropping sharply. Arabic is taught in mosques and spoken by a small community of Arabs.
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