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Réunion
Overseas department and region of France and outermost region of the European Union
Coat of arms of Réunion
Coat of arms
Motto: 
Florebo quocumque ferar
(Latin for 'I will flourish wherever I am brought')
Coordinates: 21°06′52″S 55°31′57″E / 21.11444°S 55.53250°E / -21.11444; 55.53250
Country France
PrefectureSaint-Denis
Departments1
Government
 • President of Regional CouncilHuguette Bello (PLR)
 • President of Departmental CouncilCyrille Melchior (LR)
Area
 • Total
2,511 km2 (970 sq mi)
 • Rank15th region
Population
 (January 2026)[1]
 • Total
910,985
 • Density362.8/km2 (939.6/sq mi)
DemonymRéunionese
GDP
[2]
 • Total€24.457 billion (2024)
 • Per capita€27,054 (2024)
Time zoneUTC+04:00 (RET)
ISO 3166 code
LanguagesFrench
Réunion Creole
CurrencyEuro (€) (EUR)
Website

Réunion (/riːˈjuːnjən/; French: [la ʁe.ynjɔ̃] ⓘ; Reunionese Creole: La Rényon; known as Île Bourbon before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France within the African region. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately 679 kilometres (367 nautical miles) east of the island of Madagascar and 175 kilometres (94 nmi) southwest of the island of Mauritius. As of January 2026, it had a population of 910,985.[1] Its capital and largest city is Saint-Denis.

Before the arrival of French colonial subjects and immigrants in the 17th century, Réunion was an uninhabited island. Its tropical climate led to the development of a plantation economy focused primarily on sugar; slaves from East Africa were imported as fieldworkers, followed by Malays, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Indians as indentured laborers. Today, the greatest proportion of the population is of mixed descent, while the predominant language is Réunion Creole, though French remains the sole official language.

Since 1946, Réunion has been governed as a French region and thus has a similar status to its counterparts in Metropolitan France. Consequently, it is one of the outermost regions of the European Union and part of the eurozone;[3] it is, along with the French overseas department of Mayotte, one of the two eurozone areas in the Southern Hemisphere and in Africa. Owing to its strategic location, France maintains a large military presence on the island.

Name

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The French took possession of the island in the 17th century, naming it Isle Bourbon after the House of Bourbon which then ruled France. To break with this name, which was too attached to the Ancien Régime, the National Convention decided on 23 March 1793[4] to rename the territory La Réunion ("réunion", in French, usually means "meeting" or "assembly" rather than "reunion"). This name was presumably chosen in homage to the meeting of the fédérés of Marseilles and the Paris National Guards that preceded the insurrection of 10 August 1792. No document establishes this, and the word "meeting" could have been purely symbolic.[5]

The island changed its name again in the 19th century: in 1806, under the First Empire, General Charles Decaen named it Isle Bonaparte (after Napoleon), though, in 1810, it became Isle Bourbon again. It was eventually renamed La Réunion after the fall of the July monarchy by a decree of the Provisional Government on 7 March 1848.[6]

In accordance with the original spelling and the classical spelling and typographical rules,[7] "la Réunion" was written with a lower case in the article, but during the end of the 20th century the spelling "La Réunion" with a capital letter was developed in many writings to emphasize the integration of the article in the name. This last spelling corresponds to the recommendations of the Commission nationale de toponymie[8] and appears in the current Constitution of the French Republic in Articles 72-3 and 73.

History

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An 1816 ten-centime coin from Réunion, from when it was still called Isle Bourbon

The island has been inhabited since the 17th century, when people from France and Madagascar settled there. Slavery was abolished on 20 December 1848 (a date celebrated yearly on the island), when the Second Republic that had been established months earlier by the February Revolution abolished slavery in the French colonies. However, indentured workers continued to be brought to Réunion from South India, among other places. The island became an overseas department of France in 1946.

Early history

[edit]

Not much is known of Réunion's history before the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century.[9] Arab traders were familiar with it by the name Dina Morgabin, "Western Island" (likely Arabic: دنية مغربي Daniyah/ Maghribīy).[10][dubious – discuss] The island is possibly featured on a map from 1153 AD by Al Sharif el-Edrisi.[citation needed] The island might also have been visited by Swahili or Austronesian (ancient Indonesian–Malaysian) sailors on their journey to the west from the Malay Archipelago to Madagascar.[9]

The first European discovery of the area was made around 1507 by Portuguese explorer Diogo Fernandes Pereira, but the specifics are unclear. The uninhabited island might have been first sighted by the expedition led by Dom Pedro Mascarenhas, who gave his name to the island group around Réunion, the Mascarenes.[11] Réunion itself was dubbed Santa Apolónia after a favourite saint,[10] which suggests that the date of the Portuguese discovery could have been 9 February, her feast day. Diogo Lopes de Sequeira is said to have landed on the islands of Réunion and Rodrigues in 1509.[citation needed]

Isle Bourbon (1642–1793)

[edit]
Statue of Mahé de La Bourdonnais in Saint-Denis

By the early 1600s, nominal Portuguese rule had left Santa Apolónia virtually untouched.[11] The island was then occupied by France and administered from Port Louis, Mauritius. Although the first French claims date from 1638, when François Cauche [fr] and Salomon Goubert visited in June 1638,[12] the island was officially claimed by Jacques Pronis [fr] 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 House of Bourbon. Colonisation started in 1665, when the French East India Company sent the first settlers.[11]

The French colonists developed a plantation economy founded on the cultivation of coffee and sugar by use of slave labor. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, French colonisation, supplemented by importing Africans, Chinese, and Indians as workers, contributed to ethnic diversity in the population. From 1690, most of the non-Europeans on the island were enslaved. Of the 80,000 slaves imported to Réunion and Mauritius between 1769 and 1793, 45% was provided by slave traders of the Sakalava people in North West Madagascar, who raided East Africa and the Comoros for slaves, and the rest was provided by Arab slave traders who bought slaves from Portuguese Mozambique and transported them to Réunion via Madagascar.[13]

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1814)

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On 19 March 1793, during the French Revolution, the island's name was changed to Réunion in homage to the meeting of the Federates of Marseille and the National Guards of Paris, during the march on the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792, and to erase the name of the Bourbon dynasty.[14]

The National Convention abolished slavery in French colonies on 4 February 1794, though this was rejected by authorities in Réunion and the Isle de France. A delegation accompanied by military forces, charged with imposing the abolition of slavery, arrived on Isle Bourbon on 18 June 1796, only to be immediately expelled by local authorities, who were pressured by the island's overwhelming pro-slavery colonial population. Napoleon, who came to power in France in 1799 as First Consul, legally supported the continuation of slavery in Réunion in the Law of 20 May 1802. On 26 September 1806, the island was renamed Isle Bonaparte.[citation needed]

Following a series of cyclones and floods between 1806 and 1807, coffee cultivation on the island declined rapidly and was replaced by sugarcane in response to increasing demand from France, which had lost the colony of Saint-Domingue in 1803. During the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811, the island was invaded by British forces on 7 July 1810 and its governor, General Jean-Chrysostôme Bruneteau de Sainte-Suzanne, capitulated two days later. The island fell under British occupation until the end of the Napoleonic period, with the British restoring the old name of Isle Bourbon.[citation needed]

Colony of Bourbon, then Réunion (1814–1946)

[edit]

Bourbon Island was returned to the French under the Treaty of Paris of 1814. The slave trade openly operated in the colony after French rule was restored, and despite international condemnation, Bourbon Island imported 2,000 slaves every month during the 1820s, mostly from the Swahili coast or Quelimane in Portuguese Mozambique.[13] In 1841, Edmond Albius' discovery of hand-pollination of vanilla flowers enabled the island to soon become the world's leading vanilla producer. The cultivation of geranium, whose essence is widely used in perfumery, also took off. From 1838 to 1841, Rear-Admiral Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell was governor of the island. A profound change in society and mentality linked to the events of the last ten years led the governor to present three emancipation projects to the Colonial Council.

On 9 June 1848, after the arrival of news of the French Revolution of 1848 from Europe, governor Joseph Graëb [fr] announced the proclamation of the French Republic in Saint-Denis, and on that same day the island was renamed "Réunion", the name it had already held between 1793 and 1806. The establishment of the Republic was met with coldness and distrust by the white plantocracy due to the professed abolitionism of the new Republican authorities in Paris. On 18 October 1848, the new Commissioner of the Republic Joseph Napoléon Sébastien Sarda Garriga, sent from Paris to replace Graëb, announced in Saint-Denis the abolition of slavery in Réunion, effective on 20 December 1848 (20 December has been an official holiday in Réunion since then). Louis Henri Hubert Delisle became its first Creole governor on 8 August 1852, and remained in this position until 8 January 1858.

After abolition, many foreign workers came as indentured workers. Slavery was replaced by a system of contract labor known as engagés, which lasted from 1848 until 1864.[15] In practice, an illegal slave trade was conducted in which slaves were acquired from Portuguese Mozambique and Zanzibar and then trafficked to Réunion via the Comoros slave trade. They were officially called engagés to avoid the anti-slavery British blockade of Africa.[15]

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 reduced the importance of the island as a stopover on the East Indies trade route[16] and caused a shift in commercial traffic away from the island. Europe increasingly turned to sugar beet to meet its sugar needs. Despite the development policy of the local authorities and the recourse to compromise, the economic crisis became evident from the 1870s onwards. However, this economic depression did not prevent the modernization of the island, with the development of the road network, the creation of the railroad, and the construction of the artificial harbor of the Pointe des Galets. These major construction projects offered a welcome alternative for agricultural workers.

Hindu festival, 19th century

During World War II, Réunion was under the control of Vichy France until 30 November 1942, when Free French forces disembarked from the destroyer Léopard and liberated the colony.[17]

Modern history (1946–1999)

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Réunion became a département d'outre-mer (overseas département) of France on 19 March 1946. INSEE assigned to Réunion the department code 974, and the region code 04 when regional councils were created in 1982 in France, including in existing overseas departments that also became overseas regions.

Over about two decades in the late 20th century (1963–1982), 1,630 children from Réunion were relocated to rural areas of metropolitan France, particularly to Creuse, ostensibly for education and work opportunities. That programme was led by influential Gaullist politician Michel Debré, who was an MP for Réunion at the time.[18] Many of these children were abused or disadvantaged by the families with whom they were placed. Known as the Children of Creuse, they and their fate came to light in 2002 when one of them, Jean-Jacques Martial, filed suit against the French state for kidnapping and deportation of a minor.[19] Other similar lawsuits were filed over the following years, but all were dismissed by French courts and finally by the European Court of Human Rights in 2011.[20]

By the 1990s, Réunion was transitioning from its traditional sugarcane-centered economy to service and tourism sectors. The opening of Pierrefonds Airport near Saint-Pierre in 1998 catalysed visitor growth.[21] Within a few years, tourism revenues surpassed those of sugar production: by 2000, nearly 426,000 tourists visited annually, transforming economic patterns especially along the north and west coasts, and prompting the creation of Creole heritage villages to strengthen cultural tourism.[22][23][24][25]

Efforts to adapt to tropical conditions emerged mid-decade. In 1995, an EDF–ADEME–University collaboration produced ECODOM standards for improved passive cooling and energy efficiency in housing. Over 300 pilot homes were built between 1996 and 1998, informing later thermal regulations.[26][27]

21st century

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In 2005 and 2006, Réunion was hit by a crippling epidemic of chikungunya, a disease spread by mosquitoes. According to the BBC News, 255,000 people on Réunion had contracted the disease as of 26 April 2006.[28] The neighbouring islands of Mauritius and Madagascar also suffered epidemics of this disease during the same year.[29][30]

Cyclone Garance struck Réunion in March 2025, killing at least four people and leaving over 160,000 without power. The cyclone, with winds up to 230 km/h, made landfall in the north of the island before moving southwest, causing flash floods, mudslides, and structural damage. Authorities lifted a red alert after the storm weakened. Thousands were left without drinking water or internet, and flights were temporarily halted. French Prime Minister François Bayrou urged caution, while residents described the cyclone as one of the most powerful they had experienced.[31]

Politics

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Map of the European Union (pre Brexit on 31 January 2020) in the world, with overseas countries and territories and outermost regions

Réunion sends seven deputies to the French National Assembly and three senators to the Senate.

Status

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Réunion is an overseas department and region of France (known in French as a département et région d'outre-mer, DROM) governed by article 73 of the Constitution of France, under which the laws and regulations are applicable as of right, as in metropolitan France.[32]

Thus, Réunion has a regional council and a departmental council. These territorial entities have the same general powers as the departments and regions of metropolitan France, albeit with some adaptations. Article 73 of the constitution provides for the possibility of replacing the region and the department by a single territorial entity, but, unlike French Guiana or Martinique, there are currently no plans to do so. Unlike the other DROMs, the constitution explicitly excludes Réunion from the possibility of receiving authorization from Parliament to set certain rules itself, either by law or by the national executive.[32] The state is represented in Réunion by a prefect. The territory is divided into four districts (Saint-Benoît, Saint-Denis, Saint-Paul, and Saint-Pierre). Réunion has 24 municipalities organized into 5 agglomeration communities. From the point of view of the European Union, Réunion is considered an "outermost region".

Geopolitics

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The positioning of Réunion Island has given it a more or less important strategic role depending on the period.

Palais de la Source, seat of the Departmental Council of Réunion

Already at the time of the India Route or Route des Indes, Réunion was a French possession located between Cape Town and the Indian trading posts, although far from the Mozambique Channel. Isle Bourbon (its name under the Ancien Régime) was not, however, the preferred position for trade and military. Governor Labourdonnais claimed that the Isle de France was a land of opportunity, thanks to its topography and the presence of two natural harbours. He intended Isle Bourbon to be a depot or an emergency base for Isle de France.[33]

The opening of the Suez Canal diverted much of the maritime traffic from the southern Indian Ocean and reduced the strategic importance of the island. This decline is confirmed by the importance given to Madagascar, which was later colonized.[16]

Today, the island, the seat of a defense and security zone [fr], is the headquarters of the French Armed Forces of the Southern Indian Ocean Zone (FAZSOI), which brings together French Army units stationed in Réunion and Mayotte. Réunion is also a base for the so-called Frenchelon signal intelligence system, whose infrastructure includes a mobile listening and automatic search unit. Saint-Pierre is also the headquarters of the mostly uninhabited French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, TAAF). Because of France's possession of Réunion, France is a member of the Indian Ocean Commission, which also includes the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Seychelles.

Administrative divisions

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Administratively, Réunion is divided into 24 communes (municipalities) grouped into four arrondissements.[34] It is also subdivided into 25 cantons, meaningful only for electoral purposes at the departmental or regional level. It is a French overseas department, hence a French overseas region. The low number of communes, compared with French metropolitan departments of similar size and population, is unique: most of its communes encompass several localities, sometimes separated by significant distances.

Municipalities (communes)

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The High Court (Tribunal de grande instance) in Saint-Denis, Réunion.

The communes voluntarily grouped themselves into five groups for cooperating in some domains, apart from the four arrondissements to which they belong for purposes of national laws and executive regulation. After some changes in their composition, name and status, all of them operate with the status of agglomeration communities, and apply their own local taxation (in addition to national, regional, departmental, and municipal taxes) and have an autonomous budget decided by the assembly representing all member communes. This budget is also partly funded by the state, the region, the department, and the European Union for some development and investment programmes. Every commune in Réunion is now a member of such an intercommunality, with its own taxation, to which member communes have delegated their authority in various areas.

Foreign relations

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Although diplomacy, military, and French government matters are handled by Paris, Réunion is a member of La Francophonie, the Indian Ocean Commission, the International Trade Union Confederation, the Universal Postal Union, the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa, and the World Federation of Trade Unions in its own right.

Defense

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The French Armed Forces are responsible for the defence of the department. These forces also contribute to the defence of other French territories in the region, including Mayotte and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. About 2,000 regular French troops are deployed in the region, mostly in Réunion, centred on the 2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment. Two CASA CN 235 aircraft, forming air detachment 181 and drawn from the 50th Air Transport squadron, provide a modest air transport and surveillance capability.[36][37] In 2022, the French Air Force demonstrated a capacity to reinforce the territory by deploying two Rafale fighter aircraft, supported by an A330 MRTT Phénix tanker, from France to Réunion for a regional exercise.[38] By 2030 the French Armed Forces aim to increase the size of the reserve force in Réunion to around half that of the regular force presence.[39]

The French naval presence includes two Floréal-class frigates, Floréal and Nivôse, the icebreaker L'Astrolabe, the patrol and support ship Champlain, Auguste Techer, a new patrol vessel of the Félix Éboué class of patrol vessels, and Le Malin, a former trawler seized by French authorities for illegal fishing and converted into a patrol boat.[39] Two RP10-class harbour tugboats have also been deployed in the territory.[40] The naval aviation element includes up to two AS 365N Dauphin helicopters from Flottille 34F able to embark on the Floréal-class frigates as required.[41][42] In 2027, the French Navy intends to replace Le Malin with a second vessel of the Félix Éboué class.[43][44][45][46]

About 800 National Gendarmerie, including one mobile squadron and one high mountain platoon, are also stationed in Réunion.[47]

Geography

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The island is 63 km (39 mi) long; 45 km (28 mi) wide; and covers 2,512 km2 (970 mi2). It is above a hotspot in the Earth's crust. The Piton de la Fournaise, a shield volcano on the eastern end of Réunion, rises more than 2,631 m (8,632 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, most recently erupting on 13 February 2026.[48][49] During another eruption in April 2007, the lava flow was estimated at 3,000,000 m3 (3,900,000 yd3) per day.[50] The hotspot that fuels Piton de la Fournaise also created the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues.

The Piton des Neiges volcano, the highest point on the island at 3,070 m (10,070 ft) above sea level, is northwest of the Piton de la Fournaise. Collapsed calderas and canyons are southwest of the mountain. While the Piton de la Fournaise is one of Earth's most active volcanoes, the Piton des Neiges is dormant. Its name is French for "peak of snows", but snowfall on the summit of the mountain is rare. 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. Offshore, part of the west coast is characterised by a coral reef system. Réunion also has three calderas: the Cirque de Salazie, the Cirque de Cilaos and the Cirque de Mafate. The last is accessible only on foot or by helicopter.

Geology and relief

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Réunion is a volcanic island born some three million years ago[51] with the emergence of the Piton des Neiges volcano. It has an altitude of 3,070.5 m (10,074 ft), the highest peak in the Mascarene Islands and the Indian Ocean. The eastern part of the island is constituted by the Piton de la Fournaise, a much more recent volcano (500,000 years old) which is considered one of the most active on the planet. The emerged part of the island represents only a small percentage (about 3%) of the underwater mountain that forms it.

In addition to volcanism, the relief of the island is very uneven due to active erosion. The centre shelters three vast cirques dug by erosion (Salazie, Mafate and Cilaos), and the slopes of the island are furrowed by numerous rivers digging gullies, estimated at least 600 [52] generally deep and whose torrents cut the sides of the mountains up to several hundred metres deep.

The ancient massif of the Piton des Neiges is separated from the massif of La Fournaise by a gap formed by the plaine des Palmistes and the plaine des Cafres, a passageway between the east and the south of the island. Apart from the plains, the coastal areas are generally the flattest regions, especially in the north and west of the island. The coastline of the wild south is, however, steeper.

Between the coastal fringe and the Hauts, there is a steep transitional zone whose gradient varies considerably before arriving at the ridge lines setting the cirques or the Enclos, the caldera of the Piton de la Fournaise.

Climate

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Köppen climate classification map of Réunion

Réunion is characterized by a humid tropical climate, tempered by the oceanic influence of the trade winds blowing from east to west. The climate of Réunion is characterized by its great variability, mainly due to the imposing relief of the island, which produces numerous distinct microclimates.

As a result, there are strong disparities in rainfall between the windward coast in the east and the leeward coast in the west, and in temperature between the warmer coastal areas and the relatively cooler highland areas.

In Réunion, there are two distinct seasons, defined by the rainfall regime:

  • a rainy season from January to March, during which most of the year's rain falls;
  • a dry season from May to November. However, in the eastern part and the foothills of the volcano, rainfall can be significant even in the dry season;

April and December are transition months, sometimes very rainy but also very dry.

Pointe des Trois Bassins, located on the coast of the commune of Trois-Bassins (west), is the driest station, with a normal annual precipitation of 447.7 mm (17.63 in), while Le Baril, in Saint-Philippe (southeast), is the wettest coastal station, with a normal annual precipitation of 4,256.2 mm (167.57 in).[53]

However, the wettest station is in the highlands of Sainte-Rose, with an average annual rainfall of almost 11,000 mm (430 in), making it one of the wettest places in the world.

Temperatures in Réunion are characterized by their great mildness throughout the year. The thermal amplitude from one season to another is relatively small (rarely exceeding 10 °C or 18 °F), although it is perceptible:

  • In the warm season (November to April): average minimums usually range between 21 and 24 °C (70 and 75 °F), and average maximums between 28 and 31 °C (82 and 88 °F), on the coast. At 1,000 m (3,300 ft), average minimums fluctuate between 10 and 14 °C (50 and 57 °F) and average maximums between 21 and 24 °C (70 and 75 °F);
  • In the cold season (May to October): temperatures at sea level vary from 17 to 20 °C (63 to 68 °F) for average minimums and from 26 to 28 °C (79 to 82 °F) for average maximums. At 1,000 m (3,300 ft), average minimums range from 8 to 10 °C (46 to 50 °F) and average maximums from 17 to 21 °C (63 to 70 °F).

In mountain towns, such as Cilaos or La Plaine-des-Palmistes, average temperatures range between 12 and 22 °C (54 and 72 °F). The highest parts of the habitat and the natural areas at altitude may suffer some winter frosts. Snow was even observed on the Piton des Neiges and Piton de la Fournaise in 2003 and 2006.[54]

The warmest day on record was set on 30 January 2022. In the cold pole of the Réunion (all-time low −5 °C or 23 °F) Gite de Bellecombe (2,245 m or 7,365 ft AMSL) with a maximum temperature of 25.4 °C (77.7 °F). It beats the previous record of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) set in 2021.

While a growing number of islands (including "non-sovereign" islands) in the world are concerned about the effects of climate change, the island of Réunion was chosen (along with Gran Canaria in Spain) as an example for a case study of an affected ultra-European peripheral territory, for a study on the adequacy of urban and regional planning tools to the needs and characteristics of these islands (including land use and population density and the regulatory framework).

This work confirmed that urban and peri-urban land use pressures are high and that adaptation strategies are incompletely integrated into land use planning. According to the Institute of Island Studies, there is a dysfunction: "island planning tools often do not take climate change adaptation into account and there is too much top-down management in the decision-making process".[55] Réunion holds the world records for the most rainfall in 12-, 24-, 72- and 96-hour periods,[56] including 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) in 24 hours.[57]

Beaches

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Réunion hosts many beaches. They are often equipped with barbecues, amenities, and parking spaces. Hermitage Beach is the most extensive and best-preserved lagoon in Réunion Island and a popular snorkelling location.[58] It is a white sand beach lined with casuarina trees under which the locals often organise picnics.

At La Plage des Brisants, a surfing spot, many athletic and leisure activities take place. Each November, a film festival is organised there. Movies are projected on a large screen in front of a crowd.

Beaches at Boucan Canot are surrounded by a stretch of restaurants that particularly cater to tourists. L'Étang-Salé on the west coast is covered in black sand consisting of tiny fragments of basalt. This occurs when lava contacts water, it cools rapidly and shatters into the sand and fragmented debris of various sizes. Much of the debris is small enough to be considered sand. Grand Anse is a tropical white-sand beach lined with coconut trees in the south of Réunion, with a rock pool built for swimmers, a pétanque playground, and a picnic area. Le Vieux Port in Saint Philippe is a green-sand beach consisting of tiny olivine crystals, formed by the 2007 lava flow, making it one of the youngest beaches on Earth.[59]

Environment

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Flora

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The tropical and insular flora of Réunion Island is characterized by its diversity, a very high rate of endemism, and a very specific structure. The flora of Réunion presents a great diversity of natural environments and species (up to 40 tree species/ha, compared to a temperate forest, which has an average of 5/ha). This diversity is even more remarkable, but fragile, as it differs according to the environment (coastal, low, medium, and high mountain).

Réunion has a very high rate of endemic species, with more than 850 native plants (of natural origin and present before the arrival of humans), of which 232 are endemic to the Réunion (only present on the island), as well as numerous species endemic to the Mascarene archipelago. Finally, the flora of Réunion is distinguished from that of equatorial tropical forests by the low height and density of the canopy, probably due to adaptation to cyclones, and by a very specific vegetation, in particular a strong presence of epiphytic plants (growing on other plants), such as orchids, bromeliads[citation needed] and cacti,[citation needed] but also ferns, lichens, and mosses.[60]

Wildlife

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Like its prodigious floral diversity, Réunion is home to a variety of birds such as the white-tailed tropicbird (French: paille en queue).[61] Many of these bird species are endemic to the island, such as the Réunion harrier and Réunion cuckooshrike. Its largest land animal is the panther chameleon, Furcifer pardalis. Much of the west coast is ringed by coral reefs which harbour, among other animals, sea urchins, conger eels, and parrot fish. Sea turtles and dolphins also inhabit the coastal waters. Humpback whales migrate north to the island from the Antarctic waters annually during the Southern Hemisphere winter (June–September) to breed and feed, and can be routinely observed from the shores of Réunion during this season.

Beekeepers began importing European honey bees during the late 19th century, which in turn have bred with the endemic Apis mellifera unicolor subspecies, which originated from Madagascar. 97% of the honey bees on the island are descended from A. m. unicolor; however, their DNA only accounts for 53% of the genetic mixture. In an attempt to prevent the spread of diseases a bee importation ban was imposed in 1982,[62] however in 2017 one or two Varroa destructor mites were brought into the island when a Queen bee was smuggled in by a beekeeper, within 4.5 months the mites had spread throughout the island, causing an increase of annual deaths of colonies from 0.6% to 64%,[63] after initially reaching 85%.[64][65]

At least 19 species formerly endemic to Réunion have become extinct following human colonisation. For example, the Réunion giant tortoise became extinct after being slaughtered in vast numbers by sailors and settlers of the island.

Marine biodiversity

[edit]

Despite the small area of coral reefs, the marine biodiversity of Réunion is comparable to that of other islands in the area, which has earned the Mascarene archipelago its inclusion among the top ten global biodiversity "hotspots".[66] Réunion's coral reefs, both flat and barrier, are dominated mainly by fast-growing branching coral species of the genus Acropora (family Acroporidae), which provide shelter and food for many tropical species.

Recent scientific research in Réunion Island indicates that there are more than 190 species of corals, more than 1,300 species of mollusks, more than 500 species of crustaceans,[67] more than 130 species of echinoderms and more than 1,000 species of fish.[68]

Réunion's deeper waters are home to dolphins, killer whales, humpback whales, blue sharks, and a variety of shark species, including whale sharks, coral sharks, bull sharks, tiger sharks, blacktip sharks, and great white sharks. Several species of sea turtles live and breed here.

Between 2010 and 2017, 23 shark attacks occurred in the waters of Réunion, of which nine were fatal.[69] In July 2013, the Prefect of Réunion Michel Lalande announced a ban on swimming, surfing, and bodyboarding off more than half of the coast. Lalande also said 45 bull sharks and 45 tiger sharks would be culled, in addition to the 20 already killed as part of scientific research into the illness ciguatera.[70]

Migrations of humpback whales contributed to a boom of whale watching industries on Réunion, and watching rules have been governed by the OMAR (Observatoire Marin de la Réunion) and Globice (Groupe local d'observation et d'identification des cétacés).

Coral reef

[edit]
L'Ermitage Lagoon

Because the island is relatively young (3 million years old),[51] the coral formations (8,000 years old) are not well developed and occupy a small area compared to older islands, mostly in the form of fringing reefs.[51]

These formations define shallow "lagoons" (rather "reef depressions"), the largest of which is no more than 200 m (660 ft) wide and about 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) deep.[71] These lagoons, which form a discontinuous reef belt 25 km (16 mi) long (i.e. 12% of the island's coastline) with a total area of 12 km2 (4.6 sq mi), are located on the west and southwest coast of the island. The most important are those of L'Ermitage (St-Gilles), St-Leu, L'Étang-Salé, and St-Pierre.

Management

[edit]

Since 2010, Réunion is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site that covers about 40% of the island's area and coincides with the central zone of the La Réunion National Park.[72] The island is part of the Mascarene forests terrestrial ecoregion.[73]

Gardening and Bourbon roses

[edit]

The first members of the "Bourbon" group of garden roses originated on this island (then still Isle Bourbon, hence the name) from a spontaneous hybridisation between Damask roses and Rosa chinensis,[74] which had been brought there by the colonists. The first Bourbon roses were discovered on the island in 1817.[75]

Threats to the environment

[edit]

Among coastal ecosystems, coral reefs are among the richest in biodiversity, but they are also the most fragile.[76]

Nearly one-third of fish species were already considered threatened or vulnerable in 2009, with coral degradation in many places. The causes of this state of affairs are pollution, overfishing, and poaching, as well as anthropogenic pressure, especially linked to the densification of urbanization in coastal areas and the discharge of sewage.[77]

15 species living on Réunion were included in the Red List published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).[78]

Demographics

[edit]
Manapany in 2004
Cilaos town, high in the Cirque (2003)
People in Réunion (2018)
Shri Maha Kalikambal Temple in Saint-Denis, Réunion

Historical population

[edit]

Major metropolitan areas

[edit]

The most populous metropolitan area is Saint-Denis, which covers six communes (Saint-Denis, Sainte-Marie, La Possession, Sainte-Suzanne, Saint-André, and Bras-Panon) in the north of the island.[82] The three largest metropolitan areas are:[83]

Urban unit Population (2023)
Saint-Denis 326,743
Saint-Pierre-Le Tampon 227,067
Saint-Paul 177,472

Migration and ethnic groups

[edit]

At the 2022 census, 79.5% of the inhabitants of Réunion were born on the island, 13.4% were born in Metropolitan France, 2.0% were born in Mayotte, 0.3% were born in the rest of Overseas France, and 4.8% were born in foreign countries (44% of them children of French expatriates and settlers born in foreign countries, such as children of Réunionese settlers born in Madagascar during colonial times; the other 56% immigrants, i.e. people born in foreign countries with no French nationality at birth).[84]

In recent decades, the number of Metropolitan Frenchmen living on the Réunion has increased markedly: only 5,664 natives of Metropolitan France lived in Réunion at the 1967 census, but their numbers were multiplied by more than six in 23 years, reaching 37,516 at the 1990 census, and then tripled in the next three decades, reaching 118,178 at the 2022 census.[85][86][84] Native Réunionese, meanwhile, have emigrated increasingly to Metropolitan France: the number of natives of Réunion living in Metropolitan France rose from 16,548 at the 1968 census to 92,354 at the 1990 census to 139,528 at the 2022 census, by which date 16.7% of the natives of Réunion lived outside of the department.[86][84]

Réunion has received little immigration from places other than metropolitan France since World War II, and by the 2022 census, only 2.7% of its inhabitants were immigrants. This is in contrast to the situation that prevailed from the middle of the 19th century until World War Two when many migrants from India (especially from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat),[87] Eastern Asia (particularly China), and Africa came to Réunion to work in the plantation economy. Their descendants have now become French citizens.

  • Place of birth of residents of Réunion
  • (at the 1967, 1982, 1990, 1999, 2008, 2013, 2019, and 2022 censuses)
CensusBorn in RéunionBorn in Metropolitan FranceBorn in MayotteBorn in the rest of Overseas FranceBorn in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth1Immigrants2
202279.5%13.4%2.0%0.3%2.1%2.7%
201982.4%11.7%1.0%0.3%2.1%2.5%
201383.7%11.1%0.7%0.3%2.2%2.0%
200884.6%10.3%0.8%0.2%2.4%1.8%
199986.1%9.1%0.9%0.4%2.0%1.4%
199090.4%6.3%0.2%0.1%1.9%1.0%
198293.1%4.1%2.8%
196796.8%1.4%1.8%
  • 1Persons born abroad of French parents, such as Pieds-Noirs and children of French expatriates.
  • 2An immigrant is by French definition a person born in a foreign country and who did not have French citizenship at birth. An immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still listed as an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.
Source: IRD,[85] INSEE[86][84]

Ethnic groups present include people of African, Asian, European, and Malagasy origin. Local names for these are Yabs, Cafres, Malbars and Chinois. These populations have mixed from the earliest days of the island's colonial history (the first settlers married women from Madagascar and of Indo-Portuguese heritage), resulting in a majority population of mixed race and of "Creole" culture.

It is not known exactly how many people of each ethnicity live in Réunion, since the French census does not ask questions about ethnic origin,[88] which applies in Réunion because it is a part of France per the 1958 constitution. The extent of racial mixing on the island also makes ethnic estimates difficult. According to estimates, Europeans make up roughly one quarter of the population,[89] Malbars make up more than 25% of the population and people of Chinese ancestry form roughly 3%.[90] The percentages for those of African and mixed-race origins vary widely in estimates. Also, a few people of Vietnamese ancestry live on the island.[91][92][93]

Tamils are the largest group among the Indian community.[94] The island's Indian-origin Muslims are commonly referred as zarabes.

Creoles (a name given to those born on the island, regardless of ethnic origins) make up the majority of the population. Groups that are not Creole include people recently arrived from Metropolitan France (known as zoreilles) and those from Mayotte and the Comoros, as well as immigrants from Madagascar and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.

Religion

[edit]
Catholic church of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Cilaos
Dipavali festival in Réunion
Religious affiliation (2020 INSEE estimates)[95][96]
  1. Christianity (62.0%)
  2. Hinduism (8.65%)
  3. Islam (5.05%)
  4. Multiple Religions (5.30%)
  5. Unaffiliated (19.0%)

The predominant religion is Christianity. The Catholic Church has a single jurisdiction, the Diocese of Saint-Denis-de-La Réunion.

According to INSEE, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, in 2020, 19% of the population of Réunion didn't declare practicing a religion. 86% of believers practiced some form of Christianity, 12% some form of Hinduism, 7% some form of Islam and 11% a mix of multiple religions. Chinese folk religion and Buddhism have some followers.[96]

Most large towns have a Hindu temple and a mosque.[97]

Ritual

[edit]

     See also: Kabaré (fête) §Les sèrvis kabaré (in French)

There are traditional Réunionnais ceremonial practices (Les sèrvis kabaré, Servis kaf or Servis zansèt) of ancestor veneration arising from Malagasy roots, blended with Malabar, Comorian, European, and Chinese cultural influences. These may be practised by those adhering to the main religions of Christianity, Hinduism and Islam.[98]

Culture

[edit]

Réunionese culture is a blend (métissage) of European, African, Indian, Chinese and insular traditions. The most widely spoken language, Réunion Creole, derives from French.

Language

[edit]

French is the sole official language of Réunion. Though not official, Réunion Creole is widely spoken alongside French. Creole is commonly used for informal purposes, whereas the official language for administrative purposes, as well as education, is French.[99]

Other languages spoken on Réunion include: Comorian varieties (especially Shimaore) and Malagasy, by recent immigrants from Mayotte and Madagascar; Mandarin, Hakka and