Réunion is one of the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar, spanning approximately 2,547 square kilometres. It has a population of about 750,300 (2002), Saint-Denis is its capital, and Le Port is its chief port. Réunion is an overseas department of France under the Ministère de l'Outre-Mer, and this department, as opposed to just the island itself, consists of 9 administrative regions: Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, Saint-Benoît, Saint-Denis, Saint-Paul, Saint-Pierre, and Tromelin Island.

Reunionese settlement is mainly concentrated in the island's lowlands, around one active and several extinct volcanoes. The main ethnic groups on the island are French, African, Malagasy, Chinese, Pakistani, and Indian. The population is mainly Roman Catholic, and although French is the official language, Reunionese Creole is most widely spoken.

History

Réunion was visited by early Malay and Arab mariners, but was not settled until the French arrived in 1642. In the intervening period, the archipelago, comprised of Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Réunion, was discovered in 1512 by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Mascarenhas, who modestly named them the Mascarenes. Despite the establishment of a French settlement, there was no push to further populate and develop the island, and it was even used as a trading base by Indian Ocean pirates from 1685. It did not matter that Réunion had been made an official post of the French East India Company twenty years earlier.

The colony was generally neglected up until 1715 when coffee was introduced, which was the island's main cash crop until 1730. France and the French East India Company quickly mobilized and began to enslave Africans in order to supply the intensive labour required for coffee cultivation. Other cash crops, including grains, spices, and cotton, were also introduced during this period. In 1764, governance of the island passed directly to the French crown as a result of mismanagement, the collapse of the French East India Company, and the ongoing rivalry between France and Britain. Réunion then came under the jurisdiction of the French Colonial Assembly after the French Revolution. Towards the end of the 18th century, slaves began to revolt and those who managed to escape into the interior elected chiefs and organized themselves into villages to preserve their independence.

In 1810, Napoléon Bonaparte lost the island to the British during the Napoleonic Wars, though it was returned to France five years later under the Treaty of Paris. The British had introduced sugar cane as yet another cash crop, which quickly supplanted food production, resulting in a mass migration of dispossessed farmers into the interior. Vanilla was also introduced in 1819 with great success. Réunion's commercial golden age came to an end in 1870 due to competition from Cuba and the European sugar beet industry, combined with the opening of the Suez Canal. The economy crashed and the remaining capital was further concentrated in the hands of the French elite.

In 1947, Réunion's status was changed from colony to overseas department, and it remains under French jurisdiction to this day. Although there have been Reunionese independence movements, none of them have managed to gain enough public support and momentum to challenge French administration. Anti-government riots in February 1991 in Saint-Denis left 10 people dead and the French prime minister was jeered on an official visit, but the charged atmosphere calmed down by 1993.

Re*un"ion (?), n. [Pref. re- + union: cf. F. r'eunion.]

1.

A second union; union formed anew after separation, secession, or discord; as, a reunion of parts or particles of matter; a reunion of parties or sects.

2.

An assembling of persons who have been separated, as of a family, or the members of a disbanded regiment; an assembly so composed.

© Webster 1913.