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Wikipedia

Réunion

March 02, 2023

For other uses, see Reunion (disambiguation).

Réunion (/riːˈjuːnjən/;[3] French: La Réunion, [la ʁe.y.njɔ̃] (listen); previously Île Bourbon; Reunionese Creole: La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately 950 km (590 mi) east of the island of Madagascar and 175 km (109 mi) southwest of the island of Mauritius. As of January 2023, it had a population of 873,102.[1]

Réunion
La Réunion (French)
Overseas department and region of France and outermost region of the European Union
Flag
Coat of arms
Motto(s): 
Florebo quocumque ferar
(I will flourish wherever I am brought)
Anthem: La Marseillaise (National)
P'tite fleur aimée (Regional)
Coordinates: 21°06′52″S 55°31′57″E / 21.11444°S 55.53250°E / -21.11444; 55.53250Coordinates: 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
 • Total2,511 km2 (970 sq mi)
 • Rank15th region
Population
 (January 2023)[1]
 • Total873,102
 • Density350/km2 (900/sq mi)
DemonymRéunionese
Time zoneUTC+04:00 (RET)
ISO 3166 code
GDP (nominal) (2019)[2]Ranked 13th
Total€19.5 billion (US$21.8 bn)
Per capita€22,629 (US$25,333)
NUTS RegionFRY4
WebsitePrefecture
Regional Council
Departmental Council

Like the other four overseas departments, Réunion also holds the status of a region of France, and is an integral part of the French Republic. Réunion is an outermost region of the European Union and is part of the eurozone.[4] Réunion and the fellow French overseas department of Mayotte are the only eurozone regions located in the Southern Hemisphere.

Lo Mavéli or Lö Mahavéli, the unofficial flag of Réunion from 2003 used officially by various local authorities, like Saint-Denis and Saint-Philippe.

As in the rest of France, the official language of Réunion is French. In addition, a majority of the region's population speaks Réunion Creole.

Toponymy

When France took possession of the island in the seventeenth century, it was named Bourbon, after the dynasty that then ruled France. To break with this name, which was too attached to the Ancien Régime, the National Convention decided on March 23, 1793,[5] to rename the territory Réunion Island. ("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 use of the word "meeting" could have been purely symbolic.)[6]

The island changed its name again in the 19th century: in 1806, under the First Empire, General Decaen named it Île Bonaparte (after Napoleon), and in 1810 it became Île Bourbon again. It was permanently renamed Réunion after the fall of the July monarchy by a decree of the provisional government on 7 March 1848.[7]

In accordance with the original spelling and the classical spelling and typographical rules,[8] "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[9] and appears in the current Constitution of the French Republic in articles 72-3 and 73.

History

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 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.

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

Not much is known of Réunion's history prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century.[10] Arab traders were familiar with it by the name Dina Morgabin, "Western Island".[11] 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.[10]

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.[12] Réunion itself was dubbed Santa Apolónia after a favourite saint,[11] 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]

By the early 1600s, nominal Portuguese rule had left Santa Apolónia virtually untouched.[12] The island was then occupied by France and administered from Port Louis, Mauritius. Although the first French claims date from 1638, when François Cauche and Salomon Goubert visited in June 1638,[13] the island 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 French royal House of Bourbon. Colonisation started in 1665, when the French East India Company sent the first settlers.[12]

Revolutionary revolts

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

The abolition of slavery voted by the National Convention on February 4, 1794, was rejected by Réunion, as well as by Île de France (Mauritius). A delegation accompanied by military forces, charged with imposing the liberation of slaves, arrived on the island of Bourbon on June 18, 1796, only to be immediately expelled without mercy. There followed a period of unrest and challenges to the power of the metropolis, which no longer had any authority over the two islands. The First Consul of the Republic, Napoleon Bonaparte, maintained slavery there, which was never abolished in practice, with the law of May 20, 1802. On September 26, 1806, the island took the name of Bonaparte and found itself in the front line of the Franco-British conflict for the control of the Indian Ocean.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the island was invaded by British forces and its governor, General Sainte-Suzanne, was forced to capitulate on July 9, 1810. The island then came under British rule and was returned to the French under the Treaty of Paris of 1814.

Following climatic catastrophes of 1806-1807 (cyclones, floods), coffee cultivation declined rapidly and was replaced by sugar cane, whose demand in France increased, due to France's recent loss of Saint-Domingue, and soon of the Île-de-France (Mauritius). Because of its growth cycle, sugarcane is not affected by cyclones. 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 of 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 December 20, 1848, Sarda Garriga finally proclaimed the abolition of slavery (December 20 was a holiday in Réunion). Louis Henri Hubert Delisle became its first Creole governor on August 8, 1852, and remained in this position until January 8, 1858. 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. Subsequently, the opening of the Suez Canal caused a shift in commercial traffic away from the island. 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.

Modern history

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. The colony abolished slavery on 20 December 1848. Afterwards, many of the foreign workers came as indentured workers. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 reduced the importance of the island as a stopover on the East Indies trade route.[citation needed]

 
Hindu festival, 19th century

During the Second World War, Réunion was under the authority of the Vichy regime until 30 November 1942, when Free French forces took over the island with the destroyer Léopard.[citation needed]

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 which 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 program was led by influential Gaullist politician Michel Debré, who was an MP for Réunion at the time. 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.[15] 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.[16]

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.[17] The neighbouring islands of Mauritius and Madagascar also suffered epidemics of this disease during the same year.[18][19] A few cases also appeared in mainland France, carried by people travelling by airline. The French government of Dominique de Villepin sent an emergency aid package worth €36 million and deployed about 500 troops in an effort to eradicate mosquitoes on the island.[citation needed]

Politics

Main article: Politics of Réunion
Further information: Elections in Réunion
 
Map of the European Union (pre Brexit on January 31st 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

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.[20]

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.[20] 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

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. Île de Bourbon (its name under the Ancien Régime) was not, however, the preferred position for trade and military. Governor Labourdonnais claimed that Île de France (Mauritius) was a land of opportunity, thanks to its topography and the presence of two natural harbours. He intended Île de Bourbon to be a depot or an emergency base for Île de France.[21]

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.[22]

Today, the island, the seat of a defense and security zone, is the headquarters of the French Armed Forces of the Southern Indian Ocean Zone (FAZSOI), which brings together French Army units stationed in La 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

Main articles: Arrondissements of the Réunion department, Cantons of the Réunion department, and Communes of the Réunion department

Administratively, Réunion is divided into 24 communes (municipalities) grouped into four arrondissements. It is also subdivided into 25 cantons, meaningful only for electoral purposes at the departmental or regional level.[23] 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)

Name Area (km2) Population (2019)[24] Coat of arms Arrondissement Map
Les Avirons 26.27 11,440   Saint-Pierre  
Bras-Panon 88.55 13,057   Saint-Benoît  
Cilaos 84.4 5,538   Saint-Pierre  
Entre-Deux 66.83 6,927   Saint-Pierre  
L'Étang-Salé 38.65 14,059   Saint-Pierre  
Petite-Île 33.93 12,395   Saint-Pierre  
La Plaine-des-Palmistes 83.19 6,626 Saint-Benoît  
Le Port 16.62 32,977   Saint-Paul  
La Possession 118.35 32,985   Saint-Paul  
Saint-André 53.07 56,902 Saint-Benoît  
Saint-Benoît 229.61 37,036 Saint-Benoît  
Saint-Denis 142.79 153,810   Saint-Denis  
Saint-Joseph 178.5 37,918   Saint-Pierre  
Saint-Leu 118.37 34,586   Saint-Paul  
Saint-Louis 98.9 53,120   Saint-Pierre  
Saint-Paul 241.28 103,208   Saint-Paul  
Saint-Philippe 153.94 5,198 Saint-Pierre  
Saint-Pierre 95.99 84,982   Saint-Pierre  
Sainte-Marie 87.21 34,061   Saint-Denis  
Sainte-Rose 177.6 6,345 Saint-Benoît  
Sainte-Suzanne 58.84 24,065 Saint-Denis  
Salazie 103.82 7,136   Saint-Benoît  
Le Tampon 165.43 79,824   Saint-Pierre  
Les Trois-Bassins 42.58 7,015 Saint-Paul  
 
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 programs. 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

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.

Defence

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. A total of some 2,000 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.[25][26] 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.[27]

The French naval presence includes: two Floréal-class frigates, Floréal and Nivôse, the icebreaker L'Astrolabe, the patrol and support ship Champlain and the coast guard vessel Le Malin. The naval aviation element includes Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopters from Flottille 36F able to embark on the Floréal-class frigates as required.[28][25] By 2024, Le Malin is to be replaced by Auguste Techer, a vessel of the new Félix Éboué class of patrol vessels. The French Navy will further reinforce its offshore patrol capabilities in the region by deploying a second vessel of the class (Félix Éboué) to Réunion by 2025.[29]

About 800 National Gendarmerie, including one mobile squadron and one high mountain platoon, are also stationed in Réunion.[30] The Maritime Gendarmerie operates the patrol boat Verdon in the territory[31] (though she was reported forward-deployed in Mayotte as of 2022).[32]

Geography

Main article: Geography of Réunion

The island is 63 km (39 mi) long; 45 km (28 mi) wide; and covers 2,512 km2 (970 sq mi). It is above a hotspot 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 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 19 September 2022.[33] During another eruption in April 2007, the lava flow was estimated at 3,000,000 m3 (3,900,000 cu yd) per day.[34] 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 south west 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

Reunion Island is a volcanic island born some three million years ago[35] with the emergence of the Piton des Neiges volcano.It has an altitude of 3,070.50 m, 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 center 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,[36] generally deep and whose torrents cut the sides of the mountains up to several hundreds of meters 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

The island of Reunion is characterized by a humid tropical climate, tempered by the oceanic influence of the trade winds blowing from east to west. The climate of Reunion is characterized by its great variability, mainly due to the imposing relief of the island, which is at the origin of numerous 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 in 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 season, with a normal annual precipitation of 447.7 mm (17.63 in), while Le Baril, in Saint-Philippe (Southeast), is the wettest coastal season, with a normal annual precipitation of 4,256.2 mm (167.57 in).[37]

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 Reunion are characterized by their great mildness throughout the year. In fact, 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.[38]

The warmest day on record set on January 30, 2022. In the cold pole of the Reunion Island (all-time low -5C) Gite de Bellecombe (2245m asl) with a max. temperature of 25.4C on 30 January. It beats the previous record of 25.1C set in 2021 and 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 Reunion 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".[39] Réunion holds the world records for the most rainfall in 12-, 24-, 72- and 96-hour periods,[40] including nearly 6 ft (1.8 meters) in 24 hours.[41]

Beaches

Réunion hosts many tropical and unique 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.[42] It is a white sand beach lined with casuarina trees under which the locals often organise picnics. La Plage des Brisants is a well-known surfing spot, with many athletic and leisurely activities taking place. Each November, a film festival is also organised in La Plage des Brisant's. 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 a particularly unique beach as it 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 size. 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.[43]

  •  

    Sunset at Grand Anse beach Reunion Island

  •  

    Restaurants along Boucan Canot beach[44]

  •  

    Manapany beach rock pool

  •  

    L'Étang-Salé Beach - a black sand beach from volcanic basalt

  •  

    L’Ermitage les Bains lagoon in front of Saint Paul, and its pass through the coral reef

Environment

See also: Réunion National Park

Flora

The tropical and insular flora of Reunion Island is characterized by its diversity, a very high rate of endemism and a very specific structure. The flora of Reunion 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).

Reunion 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 island of Reunion (only present on the island), as well as numerous species endemic to the Mascarene archipelago. Finally, the flora of Reunion 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.[45]

Wildlife

Main article: Wildlife of Réunion
See also: List of extinct animals of Réunion

Like its prodigious floral diversity, Réunion is home to a variety of birds such as the white-tailed tropicbird (French: paille en queue).[46] Many of these birds 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 reef which harbours, 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. 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

Despite the small area of coral reefs, the marine biodiversity of Reunion Island 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".[47] Reunion'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 Reunion Island indicates that there are more than 190 species of corals, more than 1,300 species of mollusks, more than 500 species of crustaceans,[48] more than 130 species of echinoderms and more than 1,000 species of fish.[49]

Reunion'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.[50] 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.[51]

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

 
L'Ermitage Lagoon

Because the island is relatively young (3 million years old),[35] 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.[35]

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.[52] 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

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 Réunion National Park.[53] The island is part of the Mascarene forests terrestrial ecoregion.[54]

Gardening and Bourbon roses

The first members of the "Bourbon" group of garden roses originated on this island (then still Île Bourbon, hence the name) from a spontaneous hybridisation between Damask roses and Rosa chinensis,[55] which had been brought there by the colonists. The first Bourbon roses were discovered on the island in 1817.[56]

 
Humpback whale

Threats to the environment

Among coastal ecosystems, coral reefs are among the richest in biodiversity, but they are also the most fragile.[57]

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.[58]

15 species living on Réunion were included in the Red List published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).[59]

Demographics

 
Manapany in 2004
Main article: Demographics of Réunion
 
Cilaos town, high in the Cirque (2003)
 
People in Réunion (2018)
 
Sri Maha Kalikambal Temple in Saint-Denis, Réunion

Historical population

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1654 13—    
1670 50+8.78%
1686 269+11.09%
1707 734+4.90%
1713 1,171+8.10%
1717 2,000+14.32%
1777 35,469+4.91%
1804 65,152+2.28%
1826 87,100+1.33%
1837 110,000+2.14%
1853 152,600+2.07%
1872 182,676+0.95%
1877 180,295−0.26%
1881 169,493−1.53%
1887 163,881−0.56%
1892 171,713+0.94%
1897 173,192+0.17%
1902 173,315+0.01%
1907 177,677+0.50%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1911 173,822−0.55%
1921 173,190−0.04%
1926 186,837+1.53%
1931 197,933+1.16%
1936 208,258+1.02%
1941 220,955+1.19%
1946 241,667+1.81%
1954 274,370+1.50%
1961 349,282+3.36%
1967 416,525+2.98%
1974 476,675+1.95%
1982 515,814+1.07%
1990 597,823+1.86%
1999 706,300+1.87%
2009 816,364+1.49%
2014 842,767+0.64%
2020 863,083+0.40%
2023 873,102+0.39%
Local population estimates and censuses up to 1946.[60][61] INSEE censuses between 1954 and 2019.[62][63] Last INSEE 2022 estimate.[1]

Major metropolitan areas

The most populous metropolitan area is Saint-Denis, which covers 6 communes (Saint-Denis, Sainte-Marie, La Possession, Sainte-Suzanne, Saint-André, and Bras-Panon) in the north of the island.[64] The three largest metropolitan areas are:[65]

Urban unit Population (2020)
Saint-Denis 315,080
Saint-Pierre-Le Tampon 222,614
Saint-Paul 171,109

Migrations and ethnic groups

See also: Cafres, Malbars, Chinois (Réunion), Zarabes, Zoreilles, and Réunionnais of Indian origin

At the 2019 census, 82.4% of the inhabitants of Réunion were born on the island, 11.7% were born in Metropolitan France, 1.0% were born in Mayotte, 0.3% were born in the rest of Overseas France, and 4.6% were born in foreign countries (46% 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 54% immigrants, i.e. people born in foreign countries with no French citizenship at birth).[66]

In recent decades, the number of Metropolitan Frenchmen living on the island of 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 6 in 23 years, reaching 37,516 at the 1990 census, and then nearly tripled in the next 29 years, reaching 100,493 at the 2019 census.[67][68][66] 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 130,662 at the 2019 census, by which date 15.7% of the natives of Réunion lived outside of Réunion.[68][66]

Réunion has experienced extremely little immigration of foreigners since World War Two, and by the 2019 census only 2.5% of the inhabitants of Réunion 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),[69] 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, and 2019 censuses)
Census Born in
Réunion		 Born in
Metropolitan France		 Born in
Mayotte		 Born in the
rest of Overseas France		 Born in foreign
countries with French
citizenship at birth¹		 Immigrants²
2019 82.4% 11.7% 1.0% 0.3% 2.1% 2.5%
2013 83.7% 11.1% 0.7% 0.3% 2.2% 2.0%
2008 84.6% 10.3% 0.8% 0.2% 2.4% 1.8%
1999 86.1% 9.1% 0.9% 0.4% 2.0% 1.4%
1990 90.4% 6.3% 0.2% 0.1% 1.9% 1.0%
1982 93.1% 4.1% 2.8%
1967 96.8% 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 didn't have French citizenship at birth. Note that 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,[67] INSEE[68][66]

Ethnic groups present include people of African, Indian, European, Malagasy and Chinese origin. Local names for these are Yabs, Cafres, Malbars and Chinois. All of the ethnic groups on the island are immigrant populations that have come to Réunion from Europe, Asia and Africa over the centuries. There are no indigenous people on the island, as it was originally deserted.[70] 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,[71] which applies in Réunion because it is a part of France in accordance with the 1958 constitution. The extent of racial mixing on the island also makes ethnic estimates difficult. According to estimates, Whites make up roughly one quarter of the population,[72] Malbars make up more than 25% of the population and people of Chinese ancestry form roughly 3%.[73] The percentages for those of African and mixed race origins vary widely in estimates. Also, some people of Vietnamese ancestry live on the island, though they are very few in number.[74][75][76]

Tamils are the largest group among the Indian community.[77] The island's community of Muslims from north western India, particularly Gujarat, and elsewhere is commonly referred to 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

See also: Hinduism in Réunion and Islam in Réunion
 
Catholic church of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Cilaos

Religious affiliation (2000 censuses)[78]

  Roman Catholicism (81.8%)
  Hinduism (6.7%)
  Protestantism (4.2%)
  Islam (4.2%)
  Other Christian (1.8%)
  No religion (1.7%)
  Other (1.8%)

The predominant religion is Christianity, notably Roman Catholicism, with a single (Latin Rite) jurisdiction, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Denis-de-La Réunion. Religious Intelligence estimates Christians to be 84.9% of the population, followed by Hindus (6.7%) and Muslims (2.15%).[76] Chinese folk religion and Buddhism are also represented, among others.

Most large towns have a Hindu temple and a mosque.[79]

Culture

See also: Réunionnais literature

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

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.[80]

Other languages spoken on Réunion include: Comorian varieties (especially Shimaore) and Malagasy, by recent immigrants from Mayotte and Madagascar; Mandarin, Hakka and Cantonese by members of the Chinese community; Indian languages, mostly Tamil, Gujarati and Hindi; and Arabic, spoken by a small community of Muslims. These languages are generally spoken by immigrants, as those born on the island tend to use French and Creole.

Cantonese, Arabic and Tamil are offered as optional languages in some schools.[77]

Music

Main article: Music of Réunion
See also: Sega music and Maloya

There are two music genres which originated in Réunion: sega, which originated earlier and is also traditional in Mauritius, Rodrigues and Seychelles, and maloya, which originated in the 19th century and is only found in Réunion. Every December 20, the inhabitants of Reunion Island celebrate Reunion Freedom Day. This celebration, also known as the Fête des Cafres or "Fet' Kaf'", commemorates the proclamation of the abolition of slavery by the Second Republic (France) in 1848. The term "cafre" refers to the Africans of the "Cafrerie" (a part of southern Africa). It derives from the Afrikaans word "kaffer", which is similar to the American slang "nigger" or "nègre", originating in colonial France.[81]

Today, in the 21st century, Reunionese celebrate with joy the end of a long period of oppression. Cafres, Malagasy, Comorians, Indians, Yabs, Z'oreilles and metropolitans gather in the streets dancing to the rhythm of the sega and the maloya, the two great musical genres of Reunion.[82] Numerous concerts are organized, most of them free, as well as costume parades and dance shows such as merengue, for example.

Cuisine

Always accompanied by rice, the most common dishes are carry (sometimes spelled cari), a local version of Indian curry, rougail and civets. Carry is made with a base of onion, garlic and spices such as turmeric (called "safran péi" on the island),[83] on which fish, meat and eggs are fried; tomato is then added. Dishes can also be flavoured with ginger; the peel of a combava is often prized. Chop suey (with rice, not pasta) and other Asian dishes such as pork with pineapple[84]

 
The rougail saucisse.

Some examples of popular réunionese dishes include:

  • Cari poulet
  • Cabri massalé
  • Rougail saucisse
  • Rougail morue
  • Rougail dakatine
  • Achards (inspired by achaar)

In general, there are few dishes without meat or fish, so there are few vegetarian options. One of them is chouchou chayote gratin. Otherwise, mainly poultry is consumed. One of the local specialties is tangue[85] civet (of the hedgehog family).

Sport

Moringue is a popular combat/dance sport similar to capoeira.

There are several famous Réunionese sportsmen and women like the handballer Jackson Richardson, as well as the karateka Lucie Ignace.

Réunion has a number of contributions to worldwide professional surfing. It has been home to notable pro surfers including Jeremy Flores, Johanne Defay and Justine Mauvin. Famous break St Leu has been host to several world surfing championship competitions.

Since 1992, Réunion has hosted a number of ultramarathons under the umbrella name of the Grand Raid. As of 2018, four different races compose the Grand Raid: the Diagonale des Fous, The Trail de Bourbon, the Mascareignes, and the Zembrocal Trail.[86]

Football

Football is the most popular sport. With more than 30,000 licensed players for a population exceeding 850,000 inhabitants, it remains the sport of choice for young people. Although the highest level of competition called the First Division of Réunion is equivalent to a division d'honneur in metropolitan France (DH), all the youngsters hope to play at the highest level one day.

This has been the case for players such as Laurent Robert, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Guillaume Hoarau, Dimitri Payet, Benoit Tremoulinas (the only five Reunionese to have played for the French national team), Bertrand Robert, Thomas Fontaine, Ludovic Ajorque, Fabrice Abriel (of Reunion descent) and Wilfried Moimbe (of Reunion descent), to name but a few. The territory has its own team, the Réunion national football team.

Architecture

See also: Creole garden
 
Château Lauratet.

Structurally, the local Creole house is said to be symmetrical.[87] In fact, in the absence of an architect, workers would draw a line on the ground and build two identical parts on each side, resulting in houses of essentially rectangular shape. The veranda is an important element of the house. It is an outdoor terrace built on the front of the house, as it allowed to show its richness to the street. A Creole garden completes the house. It is composed of local plants, found in the forest. There is usually a greenhouse with orchids, anthuriums and different types of ferns.

The Villa Déramond-Barre is a Creole architectural model of great heritage interest.[88]

Traditions

Two forms of musical expression historically make up the folkloric tradition of Reunion Island. One, the sega, is a Creole variant of the quadrille, the other, the maloya, like the American blues, comes from Africa, carried by the nostalgia and pain of slaves uprooted and deported from their homeland.

The sega, a disguised ballroom dance to the rhythm of traditional Western instruments (accordion, harmonica, guitar, etc.), is a testament to the fun of colonial society at the time. Today, it is still the typical ballroom dance of the island of Réunion and the Mascarene archipelago in general, along with the Mauritian sega and the Rhodesian sega.

The slaves' maloya, a ritual dance full of melodies and gestures, was performed almost clandestinely at night around a bonfire; the few instruments that accompanied it were made of plants (bamboo, gourds, etc.).

 
Dipavali Festival

Beyond their taste for this musical art form, the maloya troupes wanted to perpetuate the memory of the slaves, their suffering and their uprooting. Through sometimes controversial texts, they remind France of its slave-owning past and underline the damage that this colonial era did to human beings; in the course of the island's history, maloya artists and kabars (gatherings) were sometimes banned by the authorities.

With the institution of a public holiday to celebrate the abolition of slavery (fête caf', 20 December), maloya has received official recognition; it is regularly played on public radio and many discotheques and dance parties programme it regularly; it is even enjoying a revival: groups have begun to make modern versions, styles and arrangements, such as maloggae and other electric maloya.

Some of Reunion Island's emblematic musical groups include: Groupe folklorique de La Réunion, Kalou Pilé, Baster, Ousanousava, Ziskakan, Pat'Jaune, Danyèl Waro, Tisours, etc. We can also mention one of the greatest Maloya singers: Lo Rwa Kaf. Born in Sainte-Suzanne, he was one of the first to sing Maloya. When he died in 2004, many people were present at his funeral.

In 2008, the artist Brice Guilbert made a video clip entitled La Réunion. In this clip, we see him crossing all the landscapes of the island.

In the field of contemporary dance, we can mention the choreographer Pascal Montrouge, who directs the only company in France that has a double headquarters in Saint-Denis de La Réunion and Hyères, which reinforces the sense of his vision of identity. In 2007, the city of Saint-Denis de La Réunion entrusted him with the artistic direction of its Saint-Denis Danses festival.

The island is home to the regional conservatory of La Réunion, which has four teaching centres and was created in 1987 under the impetus of the then president of the region, Pierre Lagourgue. Today, although traditional dances are not forgotten in the conservatoires (which teach dance, music and theatre), the dances taught are classical dance, contemporary dance and Bharata natyam dance. These students regularly have the opportunity to dance with choreographers from Reunion such as Didier Boutiana cie "konpani Soul city "98, Soraya Thomas cie "Morphose "99or Éric Languet cie "danse en l'R "100. These different local companies allow the inhabitants of Reunion to dance professionally.

Urban culture has also made its appearance, following the trends and influences of metropolitan France and the United States. Thus, hip-hop culture is developing, but also ragga dancehall, with KM David or Kaf Malbar being the figurehead of this new movement, influencing the young generation all over the island, with their songs spread by mp3 or internet. Many young artists are trying to "break through" in this music, whose industry is developing reasonably well, locally but also internationally, and has nothing to envy from the precursors of French dancehall.

Media

Broadcasting

Réunion has a local public television channel, Réunion 1ère, which now forms part of France Télévision, and also receives France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5 and France 24 from metropolitan France, as well as France Ô, which shows programming from all of the overseas departments and territories. There are also two local private channels, Télé Kréol and Antenne Réunion.

It has a local public radio station, formerly Radio Réunion, but now known as Réunion 1ère, like its television counterpart. It also receives the Radio France networks France Inter, France Musique and France Culture. The first private local radio station, Radio Freedom, was introduced in 1981. They broadcast daily content about weather and local services.

 
The set of the television news of Télé Réunion

Newspapers

Two main newspapers:

Cinema

Present on the island since 1896, is marked by its insularity and its geographical distance from metropolitan France. In the absence of the Centre national de la cinématographie (CNC), it has developed specific distribution and dissemination networks. Its landscapes first served as a natural backdrop for many film and television productions, and film events, such as festivals, multiplied there. Digital technology now facilitates the development of local productions, most of which reflect the particularities of a multicultural and multilingual society.

The Réunion Film Festival (festival du film de La Réunion) was created in 2005 and is chaired by Fabienne Redt. The festival presented first and second feature films by French directors. The 10th and last edition took place in 2014 in partnership mainly with the TEAT Champ Fleuri (Saint-Denis) and the city of Saint-Paul.

In the Port, the International Film Festival of Africa and the Reunion Islands (Festival international du film d'Afrique et des îles de La Réunion) was also held.

Among the existing film festivals is the Reunion Island Adventure Film Festival (13 editions), which awards prizes to adventure films.

In Saint-Philippe, the Festival Même pas peur, Réunion's international fantasy film festival, has been held since 2010.

In Saint-Pierre, there are two festivals: Écran jeunes (25th edition in 2019) and the Festival du Film Court de Saint-Pierre, directed by Armand Dauphin (3rd edition in 2019).

Film

Blogs

  • Visit Reunion (English language blog and Instagram page)[89]
  • Reunion Island Tourism blog (English/French tourism blog)

Internet

The Internet situation in Réunion was once marked by its insularity and remoteness from mainland France, which caused some technological delays. Today, the trend has been reversed and the region has a relatively efficient Internet connection and is one of the departments most connected by fibre optics in France.

Internet connection can be provided by ADSL (offered by four operators), fibre optic (three operators), or by cellular data on 4G and 5G networks (currently being tested in Saint-Denis).

Reunion domain names have the suffix .re. The Reunion region has deployed a regional fibre-optic network for operators. This network is based partly on EDF's very high voltage cables - G@zelle network, partly on the region's own fibre and partly on Hertzian links for the most isolated areas. This network is managed by a public service company called La Réunion Numérique.[90]

Economy

Main article: Economy of Réunion
 
The east dock of Réunion's main seaport in Le Port (2006)
 
Man sorting Bourbon vanilla (2004)

In 2019, the GDP of Réunion at market exchange rates, not at PPP, was estimated at 19.5 billion euros (US$21.8 bn) and the GDP per capita (also at market exchange rates) was 22,629 euros (US$25,333), the highest in sub-Saharan Africa,[91] but only 61.7% of metropolitan France's GDP per capita that year, and 73.5% of the metropolitan French regions outside the Paris Region.[2]

Before the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the economy of Réunion was in a process of catching up with the rest of France. From 1997 to 2007, the economy of Réunion grew by an average of +4.6% per year in real terms,[92] and the GDP per capita rose from 53.7% of metropolitan France's level in 2000 to 61.6% of metropolitan France in 2007.[2] The Great Recession that followed the financial crisis greatly affected Réunion whose economy came to a standstill in 2008, then experienced two years of recession in 2009 and 2010, followed by three years of stagnation (2011-2013).[92] By 2013, the GDP per capita of Réunion had fallen back to 60.6% of metropolitan France's level.[2]

Economic growth returned in 2014. The economy grew by an average of +2.9% per year in real terms from 2014 to 2017, and the GDP per capita of Réunion rose to 62.4% of metropolitan France's GDP per capita by 2017, its highest level ever.[2] The economy slowed down in 2018, growing at only +1.7% due in part to the yellow vests protests which paralyzed the Réunionese economy in the end of 2018, before recovering to +2.2% in 2019.[92] As a result of this slower growth since 2018, the GDP per capita of Réunion fell back slightly compared to metropolitan France's, standing at 61.7% of metropolitan France's level in 2019.[2]

Réunion was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, leading to a massive recession of -4.2% that year according to provisional estimates, the largest on record,[92] although less severe than in metropolitan France (-7.9% for metropolitan France in 2020).[2]

Regional GDP of Réunion
(in euros, current prices)
 2000   2007   2013   2014   2015   2016   2017   2018   2019 
Nominal GDP (€ bn) 9.55 15.17 16.53 16.97 17.55 18.07 18.56 19.00 19.51
GDP per capita (euros) 13,218 18,937 19,701 20,045 20,608 21,171 21,707 22,128 22,629
GDP per capita as a %
of Metropolitan France's		 53.7% 61.6% 60.6% 61.0% 61.5% 62.4% 62.4% 62.0% 61.7%
Source: INSEE.[2]

Sugar was traditionally the chief agricultural product and export. Tourism is now an important source of income.[93] The island's remote location combined with its stable political alignment with Europe makes it a key location for satellite receiving stations[94] and naval navigation.[95]

GDP sector composition in 2017 (contribution of each sector to the total gross value added):[96]

Sector % of total GVA
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 1.9%
Detail
Agriculture and forestry 1.4%
Fishing 0.5%
Mining and quarrying 0.0%
Manufacturing 4.6%
Detail
Food manufacturing
(of which: sugar and rum)		 1.9%
(0.5%)
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing 0.0%
Non-food and non-petroleum/coal manufacturing 2.8%
Utilities 1.6%
Construction 5.8%
Market services 49.8%
Detail
Wholesale and retail trade 11.1%
Transportation and warehousing 3.7%
Accommodation and food services 1.9%
Information and communication 3.3%
Finance and insurance 4.5%
Real estate activities 14.8%
Professional, scientific and technical services 3.1%
Administrative and support services 3.4%
Other (entertainment, repair, personal and laundry services) 4.0%
Non-market services 36.2%
Detail
Public administration and defense 10.9%
Education, health care, elderly care, child day-care 25.3%

Unemployment is a major problem on Réunion, although the situation has improved markedly since the beginning of the 2000s: the unemployment rate, which stood above 30% from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, declined to 24.6% in 2007, then rebounded to 30.0% in 2011 due to the 2008 global financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession, but declined again after 2011, reaching 21.5% in 2019,[97] its lowest level in 40 years.[98]

In 2014, 40% of the population lived below the poverty line (defined by INSEE as 60% of Metropolitan France's median income; in 2014 the poverty line for a family of two parents and two young children was €2,064 (US$2,743) per month).[99]

Rum distillation contributes to the island's economy. A "Product of France", it is shipped to Europe for bottling, then shipped to consumers around the world.

Brasseries de Bourbon is the main brewery of the island, with Heineken as shareholder.

 
Façade of the Natural History Museum of Reunion Island in Saint-Denis

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Réunion

Income from tourism is Reunion Island's primary economic resource, ahead of sugarcane production and processing, which has allowed the development of large Reunionese groups such as Quartier Français, Groupe Bourbon ex-Sucreries Bourbon, a large international company now listed on the stock exchange, but based outside the island and which has abandoned the sugar sector for the off-shore maritime sector. With the reduction of subsidies, this culture is threatened. Therefore, the development of fishing in the French Southern Territories has been promoted.

The tertiary sector, particularly the commercial sector, is by far the most developed, and import distribution has taken off in the mid-1980s through affiliation and franchising agreements with metropolitan groups. The advent of franchised distribution has transformed the commercial apparatus, which historically was characterized by the geographic dispersion of small grocery-type units; the few "Chinese stores" still in operation are limited to mid-range towns and, as relics of a bygone era, have more of a tourist and educational appeal, even if they retain a convenience store function.

Despite its economic dynamism, the island is unable to absorb its significant unemployment, which is explained in particular by a very strong demographic growth. Many Réunioners are forced to move to metropolitan France for their studies or to find work.

 
Sugar cane on Réunion island

Agriculture

Agriculture in Réunion is an important activity in the island's economy:[100] the agricultural territory covering 20% of the island's surface area employs 10% of the active population, generates 5% of the gross regional product and provides the island's main export. Formerly centered on coffee and clove cultivation, it has focused on sugar cane since the events of the early 19th century, namely the Great Avalanches and the seizure of Reunion by the British. Today it faces important issues related to the decisions of the World Trade Organization at the international level and the development of the urban fact at the local level.

Reunion Island has about 7,000 farms, 5,000 of which are professional. These farms mobilize almost 11,000 AWU (annual workload of one person on a full-time basis).

Ninety-seven percent of the farms in Réunion are less than 20 hectares in size, compared to an average of 78 hectares in mainland France.

The most common status is that of individual farmer (97%).

In 2005, more than 60% of farm managers were between 40 and 59 years old.

Public services

Health

In 2005–2006, Réunion experienced an epidemic of chikungunya, a viral disease similar to dengue fever brought in from East Africa, which infected almost a third of the population because of its transmission through mosquitoes. The epidemic has since been eradicated. See the History section for more details.

 
The Bernica viaduct or Saint-Paul viaduct at the northern entrance of the route des tamarins

Transport

Main article: Transport in Réunion

Roland Garros Airport serves the island, handling flights to mainland France, India, Madagascar, Mauritius, Tanzania, Comoros, Seychelles, South Africa, China and Thailand. Pierrefonds Airport, a smaller airport, has some flights to Mauritius and Madagascar. In 2019 a light rail system was proposed to link Le Barachois with the airport.[101]

Education

Reunion Island has its own education system. Chantal Manès-Bonnisseau, Inspector General of Education, Sport and Research, was appointed Rector of the Académie de la Réunion and Chancellor of Universities at the Council of Ministers on July 29, 2020.

She succeeds Vêlayoudom Marimoutou, who took office as secretary general of the Indian Ocean Commission on July 16.

The Rectorate is located in the main city, in the Moufia district of Saint-Denis. At the start of the 2012 school year, the island had 522 pre-school and/or primary schools, including 26 private schools, for 120,230 students at the primary level, 82 secondary schools, including six private schools, for 61,300 students, 32 general and technological high schools, including three private schools, for 23,650 students, and 15 vocational schools, including two private schools, for 16,200 students.

Reunion's priority education zones affect slightly more than half of the primary and secondary school students.[102]

Baccalaureate results are relatively close to the national average with a rate of 81.4% in 2012 compared to 82.4% in 2011 (respectively: 84.5% and 85.6% in the national average).

In higher education, the University of Reunion has 11,600 students spread across the various sites, especially in Saint-Denis and Le Tampon. A further 5,800 students are divided between the post-baccalaureate courses of secondary education and other higher studies.[103]

Energy

 
Takamaka II hydroelectric dam

Energy on Réunion depends on oil and is limited by the island's insularity, which forces it to produce electricity locally and import fossil fuels. Faced with increasing demand and environmental requirements, the energy produced on the island is tending to increasingly exploit its great renewable energy potential through the development of wind farms, solar farms and other experimental projects. Although 35% of Réunion's electricity came from renewable sources in 2013, the department's energy dependency rate exceeds 85%. Saving electricity and optimising energy efficiency are two major areas of work for the authorities responsible for energy issues.

Hydroelectric power

Due to the large volumes of rainfall, the flow of surface water allows the installation of hydroelectric infrastructures, especially as erosion has carved out narrow and very deep ravines. The Sainte-Rose plant (22 MW) and the Takamaka plant (17.5 MW) are the two largest. In total, the island's six hydroelectric infrastructures have a capacity of 133 MW.

Symbols

Réunion has no official coat of arms or flag.

Former Governor Merwart created a coat of arms for the island on the occasion of the 1925 colonial exhibition organised on Petite-Île. Merwart, a member of the Reunion Island Society of Sciences and Arts, wanted to include the island's history:

  • The Roman numeral "MMM" evokes the altitude of the highest peaks;
  • the ship Saint-Alexis is the one that first took possession of the island;
  • the fleurs-de-lis evoke the royal era;
  • the bees evoke the Empire;
  • the central coat of arms evokes the French Republican flag;
  • The motto "Florebo quocumque ferar" is that of the French East India Company and means "I will bloom wherever they take me", while the vanilla vines honour a flourishing harvest.

The most commonly used flag in Réunion is that of the "radiant volcano", designed by Guy Pignolet in 1975, sometimes called "Lo Mavéli":[104] it represents the volcano of Piton de la Fournaise in the form of a simplified red triangle on a navy blue background, while five sunbeams symbolise the arrival of the populations that have converged on the island over the centuries.[105]

See also

References

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Bibliography

  • James Rogers and Luis Simón. The Status and Location of the Military Installations of the Member States of the European Union and Their Potential Role for the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Brussels: European Parliament, 2009. 25 pp.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Réunion.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Réunion.

Government

  • Prefecture website (in French)
  • Regional Council website (in French)
  • Departmental Council website (in French)

General information

  • Official tourism website
  • Réunion at Curlie
  •   Wikimedia Atlas of Réunion
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site datasheet

March 02, 2023
réunion, other, uses, reunion, disambiguation, juː, french, njɔ, listen, previously, Île, bourbon, reunionese, creole, rényon, island, indian, ocean, that, overseas, department, region, france, located, approximately, east, island, madagascar, southwest, islan. For other uses see Reunion disambiguation Reunion r iː ˈ juː n j e n 3 French La Reunion la ʁe y njɔ listen previously Ile Bourbon Reunionese Creole La Renyon is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France It is located approximately 950 km 590 mi east of the island of Madagascar and 175 km 109 mi southwest of the island of Mauritius As of January 2023 update it had a population of 873 102 1 Reunion La Reunion French Overseas department and region of France and outermost region of the European UnionFlagCoat of armsMotto s Florebo quocumque ferar I will flourish wherever I am brought Anthem La Marseillaise National P tite fleur aimee Regional Coordinates 21 06 52 S 55 31 57 E 21 11444 S 55 53250 E 21 11444 55 53250 Coordinates 21 06 52 S 55 31 57 E 21 11444 S 55 53250 E 21 11444 55 53250Country FrancePrefectureSaint DenisDepartments1Government President of Regional CouncilHuguette Bello PLR President of Departmental CouncilCyrille Melchior LR Area Total2 511 km2 970 sq mi Rank15th regionPopulation January 2023 1 Total873 102 Density350 km2 900 sq mi DemonymReunioneseTime zoneUTC 04 00 RET ISO 3166 codeREFR 974GDP nominal 2019 2 Ranked 13thTotal 19 5 billion US 21 8 bn Per capita 22 629 US 25 333 NUTS RegionFRY4WebsitePrefectureRegional CouncilDepartmental CouncilLike the other four overseas departments Reunion also holds the status of a region of France and is an integral part of the French Republic Reunion is an outermost region of the European Union and is part of the eurozone 4 Reunion and the fellow French overseas department of Mayotte are the only eurozone regions located in the Southern Hemisphere Lo Maveli or Lo Mahaveli the unofficial flag of Reunion from 2003 used officially by various local authorities like Saint Denis and Saint Philippe As in the rest of France the official language of Reunion is French In addition a majority of the region s population speaks Reunion Creole Contents 1 Toponymy 2 History 2 1 Revolutionary revolts 2 2 Modern history 3 Politics 3 1 Status 3 2 Geopolitics 4 Administrative divisions 4 1 Municipalities communes 5 Foreign relations 6 Defence 7 Geography 7 1 Geology and relief 7 2 Climate 7 3 Beaches 8 Environment 8 1 Flora 8 2 Wildlife 8 3 Marine biodiversity 8 4 Coral reef 8 5 Management 8 5 1 Gardening and Bourbon roses 8 6 Threats to the environment 9 Demographics 9 1 Historical population 9 2 Major metropolitan areas 9 3 Migrations and ethnic groups 9 4 Religion 10 Culture 10 1 Language 10 2 Music 10 3 Cuisine 10 4 Sport 10 4 1 Football 10 5 Architecture 10 6 Traditions 11 Media 11 1 Broadcasting 11 2 Newspapers 11 3 Cinema 11 4 Film 11 5 Blogs 11 6 Internet 12 Economy 12 1 Tourism 12 2 Agriculture 13 Public services 13 1 Health 13 2 Transport 13 3 Education 13 4 Energy 13 4 1 Hydroelectric power 14 Symbols 15 See also 16 References 17 Bibliography 18 External links 18 1 Government 18 2 General informationToponymy EditWhen France took possession of the island in the seventeenth century it was named Bourbon after the dynasty that then ruled France To break with this name which was too attached to the Ancien Regime the National Convention decided on March 23 1793 5 to rename the territory Reunion Island Reunion in French usually means meeting or assembly rather than reunion This name was presumably chosen in homage to the meeting of the federes of Marseilles and the Paris National Guards that preceded the insurrection of 10 August 1792 No document establishes this and the use of the word meeting could have been purely symbolic 6 The island changed its name again in the 19th century in 1806 under the First Empire General Decaen named it Ile Bonaparte after Napoleon and in 1810 it became Ile Bourbon again It was permanently renamed Reunion after the fall of the July monarchy by a decree of the provisional government on 7 March 1848 7 In accordance with the original spelling and the classical spelling and typographical rules 8 la Reunion was written with a lower case in the article but during the end of the 20th century the spelling La Reunion 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 9 and appears in the current Constitution of the French Republic in articles 72 3 and 73 History EditThe 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 abolished slavery in the French colonies However indentured workers continued to be brought to Reunion from South India among other places The island became an overseas department of France in 1946 An 1816 ten centime coin from Reunion from when it was still called Isle de Bourbon Not much is known of Reunion s history prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century 10 Arab traders were familiar with it by the name Dina Morgabin Western Island 11 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 10 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 Reunion the Mascarenes 12 Reunion itself was dubbed Santa Apolonia after a favourite saint 11 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 Reunion and Rodrigues in 1509 citation needed By the early 1600s nominal Portuguese rule had left Santa Apolonia virtually untouched 12 The island was then occupied by France and administered from Port Louis Mauritius Although the first French claims date from 1638 when Francois Cauche and Salomon Goubert visited in June 1638 13 the island 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 Ile Bourbon after the French royal House of Bourbon Colonisation started in 1665 when the French East India Company sent the first settlers 12 Statue of Mahe de La Bourdonnais in Saint Denis Revolutionary revolts Edit On March 19 1793 during the French Revolution the island s name was changed to Reunion Island in homage to the meeting of the Federates of Marseille and the National Guards of Paris during the march on the Tuileries Palace on August 10 1792 and to erase the name of the Bourbon dynasty 14 The abolition of slavery voted by the National Convention on February 4 1794 was rejected by Reunion as well as by Ile de France Mauritius A delegation accompanied by military forces charged with imposing the liberation of slaves arrived on the island of Bourbon on June 18 1796 only to be immediately expelled without mercy There followed a period of unrest and challenges to the power of the metropolis which no longer had any authority over the two islands The First Consul of the Republic Napoleon Bonaparte maintained slavery there which was never abolished in practice with the law of May 20 1802 On September 26 1806 the island took the name of Bonaparte and found itself in the front line of the Franco British conflict for the control of the Indian Ocean During the Napoleonic Wars the island was invaded by British forces and its governor General Sainte Suzanne was forced to capitulate on July 9 1810 The island then came under British rule and was returned to the French under the Treaty of Paris of 1814 Following climatic catastrophes of 1806 1807 cyclones floods coffee cultivation declined rapidly and was replaced by sugar cane whose demand in France increased due to France s recent loss of Saint Domingue and soon of the Ile de France Mauritius Because of its growth cycle sugarcane is not affected by cyclones 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 Chretien Louis de Hell was governor of the island A profound change of 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 December 20 1848 Sarda Garriga finally proclaimed the abolition of slavery December 20 was a holiday in Reunion Louis Henri Hubert Delisle became its first Creole governor on August 8 1852 and remained in this position until January 8 1858 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 Subsequently the opening of the Suez Canal caused a shift in commercial traffic away from the island 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 Modern history Edit 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 The colony abolished slavery on 20 December 1848 Afterwards many of the foreign workers came as indentured workers The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 reduced the importance of the island as a stopover on the East Indies trade route citation needed Hindu festival 19th century During the Second World War Reunion was under the authority of the Vichy regime until 30 November 1942 when Free French forces took over the island with the destroyer Leopard citation needed Reunion became a departement d outre mer overseas departement of France on 19 March 1946 INSEE assigned to Reunion the department code 974 and the region code 04 when regional councils were created in 1982 in France including in existing overseas departments which also became overseas regions Over about two decades in the late 20th century 1963 1982 1 630 children from Reunion were relocated to rural areas of metropolitan France particularly to Creuse ostensibly for education and work opportunities That program was led by influential Gaullist politician Michel Debre who was an MP for Reunion at the time 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 15 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 16 In 2005 and 2006 Reunion was hit by a crippling epidemic of chikungunya a disease spread by mosquitoes According to the BBC News 255 000 people on Reunion had contracted the disease as of 26 April 2006 17 The neighbouring islands of Mauritius and Madagascar also suffered epidemics of this disease during the same year 18 19 A few cases also appeared in mainland France carried by people travelling by airline The French government of Dominique de Villepin sent an emergency aid package worth 36 million and deployed about 500 troops in an effort to eradicate mosquitoes on the island citation needed Politics EditMain article Politics of Reunion Further information Elections in Reunion Map of the European Union pre Brexit on January 31st 2020 in the world with overseas countries and territories and outermost regions Reunion sends seven deputies to the French National Assembly and three senators to the Senate Status Edit Reunion is an Overseas department and region of France known in French as a Departement et Region 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 20 Thus Reunion 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 Reunion from the possibility of receiving authorization from Parliament to set certain rules itself either by law or by the national executive 20 The State is represented in Reunion by a prefect The territory is divided into four districts Saint Benoit Saint Denis Saint Paul and Saint Pierre Reunion has 24 municipalities organized into 5 agglomeration communities From the point of view of the European Union Reunion is considered an outermost region Geopolitics Edit The positioning of Reunion 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 Reunion Already at the time of the India Route or Route des Indes Reunion was a French possession located between Cape Town and the Indian trading posts although far from the Mozambique Channel Ile de Bourbon its name under the Ancien Regime was not however the preferred position for trade and military Governor Labourdonnais claimed that Ile de France Mauritius was a land of opportunity thanks to its topography and the presence of two natural harbours He intended Ile de Bourbon to be a depot or an emergency base for Ile de France 21 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 22 Today the island the seat of a defense and security zone is the headquarters of the French Armed Forces of the Southern Indian Ocean Zone FAZSOI which brings together French Army units stationed in La Reunion and Mayotte Reunion 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 francaises TAAF Because of France s possession of Reunion France is a member of the Indian Ocean Commission which also includes the Comoros Madagascar Mauritius and the Seychelles Administrative divisions EditMain articles Arrondissements of the Reunion department Cantons of the Reunion department and Communes of the Reunion department Administratively Reunion is divided into 24 communes municipalities grouped into four arrondissements It is also subdivided into 25 cantons meaningful only for electoral purposes at the departmental or regional level 23 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 Edit Name Area km2 Population 2019 24 Coat of arms Arrondissement MapLes Avirons 26 27 11 440 Saint Pierre Bras Panon 88 55 13 057 Saint Benoit Cilaos 84 4 5 538 Saint Pierre Entre Deux 66 83 6 927 Saint Pierre L Etang Sale 38 65 14 059 Saint Pierre Petite Ile 33 93 12 395 Saint Pierre La Plaine des Palmistes 83 19 6 626 Saint Benoit Le Port 16 62 32 977 Saint Paul La Possession 118 35 32 985 Saint Paul Saint Andre 53 07 56 902 Saint Benoit Saint Benoit 229 61 37 036 Saint Benoit Saint Denis 142 79 153 810 Saint Denis Saint Joseph 178 5 37 918 Saint Pierre Saint Leu 118 37 34 586 Saint Paul Saint Louis 98 9 53 120 Saint Pierre Saint Paul 241 28 103 208 Saint Paul Saint Philippe 153 94 5 198 Saint Pierre Saint Pierre 95 99 84 982 Saint Pierre Sainte Marie 87 21 34 061 Saint Denis Sainte Rose 177 6 6 345 Saint Benoit Sainte Suzanne 58 84 24 065 Saint Denis Salazie 103 82 7 136 Saint Benoit Le Tampon 165 43 79 824 Saint Pierre Les Trois Bassins 42 58 7 015 Saint Paul The High Court Tribunal de grande instance in Saint Denis Reunion 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 programs Every commune in Reunion 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 EditAlthough diplomacy military and French government matters are handled by Paris Reunion 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 Defence EditThe 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 A total of some 2 000 French troops are deployed in the region mostly in Reunion 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 25 26 In 2022 the French Air Force demonstrated a capacity to reinforce the territory by deploying two Rafale fighter aircraft supported by an A330 MRTT Phenix tanker from France to Reunion for a regional exercise 27 The French naval presence includes two Floreal class frigates Floreal and Nivose the icebreaker L Astrolabe the patrol and support ship Champlain and the coast guard vessel Le Malin The naval aviation element includes Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopters from Flottille 36F able to embark on the Floreal class frigates as required 28 25 By 2024 Le Malin is to be replaced by Auguste Techer a vessel of the new Felix Eboue class of patrol vessels The French Navy will further reinforce its offshore patrol capabilities in the region by deploying a second vessel of the class Felix Eboue to Reunion by 2025 29 About 800 National Gendarmerie including one mobile squadron and one high mountain platoon are also stationed in Reunion 30 The Maritime Gendarmerie operates the patrol boat Verdon in the territory 31 though she was reported forward deployed in Mayotte as of 2022 32 Geography EditMain article Geography of Reunion INDIAN OCEAN Piton des Neiges3 071 m Piton de la Fournaise 2 632 mRiviere des PluiesRiviere du MatRiviere des GaletsRiviere des MarsouinsRiviere de l EstRiviere des RempartsRiviere Saint Etienne Saint Denis Sainte Suzanne Sainte Marie Saint Benoit Saint Andre Bras Panon Salazie La Plaine des Palmistes Sainte Rose Saint Paul Le Port La Possession Saint Leu Les Trois Bassins Saint Pierre Les Avirons L Etang Sale Saint Louis Cilaos Entre Deux Le Tampon Petite Ile Saint Joseph Saint Philippe The island is 63 km 39 mi long 45 km 28 mi wide and covers 2 512 km2 970 sq mi It is above a hotspot in the Earth s crust The Piton de la Fournaise a shield volcano on the eastern end of Reunion Island 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 19 September 2022 33 During another eruption in April 2007 the lava flow was estimated at 3 000 000 m3 3 900 000 cu yd per day 34 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 south west 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 Reunion 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 Plaine des Palmistes Cirque de Mafate is a caldera formed from the collapse of the large shield volcano the Piton des Neiges Reunion from space NASA image The three cirques forming a kind of three leafed clover shape are visible in the central north west of the image Piton de la Fournaise is in the south east Lava flow emitted in 2005 by the Piton de la Fournaise Plage de l Ermitage beachGeology and relief Edit Reunion Island is a volcanic island born some three million years ago 35 with the emergence of the Piton des Neiges volcano It has an altitude of 3 070 50 m 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 center 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 36 generally deep and whose torrents cut the sides of the mountains up to several hundreds of meters 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 Edit Koppen climate classification map of Reunion The island of Reunion is characterized by a humid tropical climate tempered by the oceanic influence of the trade winds blowing from east to west The climate of Reunion is characterized by its great variability mainly due to the imposing relief of the island which is at the origin of numerous 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 Reunion 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 in 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 season with a normal annual precipitation of 447 7 mm 17 63 in while Le Baril in Saint Philippe Southeast is the wettest coastal season with a normal annual precipitation of 4 256 2 mm 167 57 in 37 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 Reunion are characterized by their great mildness throughout the year In fact 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 38 The warmest day on record set on January 30 2022 In the cold pole of the Reunion Island all time low 5C Gite de Bellecombe 2245m asl with a max temperature of 25 4C on 30 January It beats the previous record of 25 1C set in 2021 and 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 Reunion 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 39 Reunion holds the world records for the most rainfall in 12 24 72 and 96 hour periods 40 including nearly 6 ft 1 8 meters in 24 hours 41 Beaches Edit Reunion hosts many tropical and unique beaches They are often equipped with barbecues amenities and parking spaces Hermitage Beach is the most extensive and best preserved lagoon in Reunion Island and a popular snorkelling location 42 It is a white sand beach lined with casuarina trees under which the locals often organise picnics La Plage des Brisants is a well known surfing spot with many athletic and leisurely activities taking place Each November a film festival is also organised in La Plage des Brisant s 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 Etang Sale on the west coast is a particularly unique beach as it 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 size 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 Reunion with a rock pool built for swimmers a petanque 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 43 Sunset at Grand Anse beach Reunion Island Restaurants along Boucan Canot beach 44 Manapany beach rock pool L Etang Sale Beach a black sand beach from volcanic basalt L Ermitage les Bains lagoon in front of Saint Paul and its pass through the coral reefEnvironment EditSee also Reunion National Park Flora Edit The tropical and insular flora of Reunion Island is characterized by its diversity a very high rate of endemism and a very specific structure The flora of Reunion 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 Reunion 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 island of Reunion only present on the island as well as numerous species endemic to the Mascarene archipelago Finally the flora of Reunion 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 45 Wildlife Edit Main article Wildlife of ReunionSee also List of extinct animals of Reunion Like its prodigious floral diversity Reunion is home to a variety of birds such as the white tailed tropicbird French paille en queue 46 Many of these birds species are endemic to the island such as the Reunion harrier and Reunion cuckooshrike Its largest land animal is the panther chameleon Furcifer pardalis Much of the west coast is ringed by coral reef which harbours 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 Reunion during this season At least 19 species formerly endemic to Reunion have become extinct following human colonisation For example the Reunion giant tortoise became extinct after being slaughtered in vast numbers by sailors and settlers of the island A panther chameleon A juvenile Emperor angelfish A Moorish idol A white tailed Tropicbird A Hawksbill sea turtle A Humpback whale off St GillesMarine biodiversity Edit Despite the small area of coral reefs the marine biodiversity of Reunion Island 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 47 Reunion 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 Reunion Island indicates that there are more than 190 species of corals more than 1 300 species of mollusks more than 500 species of crustaceans 48 more than 130 species of echinoderms and more than 1 000 species of fish 49 Reunion 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 Reunion of which nine were fatal 50 In July 2013 the Prefect of Reunion 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 51 Migrations of humpback whales contributed to a boom of whale watching industries on Reunion and watching rules have been governed by the OMAR Observatoire Marin de la Reunion and Globice Groupe local d observation et d identification des cetaces Coral reef Edit L Ermitage Lagoon Because the island is relatively young 3 million years old 35 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 35 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 52 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 Etang Sale and St Pierre Management Edit Since 2010 Reunion 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 Reunion National Park 53 The island is part of the Mascarene forests terrestrial ecoregion 54 Gardening and Bourbon roses Edit The first members of the Bourbon group of garden roses originated on this island then still Ile Bourbon hence the name from a spontaneous hybridisation between Damask roses and Rosa chinensis 55 which had been brought there by the colonists The first Bourbon roses were discovered on the island in 1817 56 Humpback whale Threats to the environment Edit Among coastal ecosystems coral reefs are among the richest in biodiversity but they are also the most fragile 57 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 58 15 species living on Reunion were included in the Red List published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN 59 Demographics Edit Manapany in 2004 Main article Demographics of Reunion Cilaos town high in the Cirque 2003 People in Reunion 2018 Sri Maha Kalikambal Temple in Saint Denis Reunion Historical population Edit Historical populationYearPop p a 165413 167050 8 78 1686269 11 09 1707734 4 90 17131 171 8 10 17172 000 14 32 177735 469 4 91 180465 152 2 28 182687 100 1 33 1837110 000 2 14 1853152 600 2 07 1872182 676 0 95 1877180 295 0 26 1881169 493 1 53 1887163 881 0 56 1892171 713 0 94 1897173 192 0 17 1902173 315 0 01 1907177 677 0 50 YearPop p a 1911173 822 0 55 1921173 190 0 04 1926186 837 1 53 1931197 933 1 16 1936208 258 1 02 1941220 955 1 19 1946241 667 1 81 1954274 370 1 50 1961349 282 3 36 1967416 525 2 98 1974476 675 1 95 1982515 814 1 07 1990597 823 1 86 1999706 300 1 87 2009816 364 1 49 2014842 767 0 64 2020863 083 0 40 2023873 102 0 39 Local population estimates and censuses up to 1946 60 61 INSEE censuses between 1954 and 2019 62 63 Last INSEE 2022 estimate 1 Major metropolitan areas Edit The most populous metropolitan area is Saint Denis which covers 6 communes Saint Denis Sainte Marie La Possession Sainte Suzanne Saint Andre and Bras Panon in the north of the island 64 The three largest metropolitan areas are 65 Urban unit Population 2020 Saint Denis 315 080Saint Pierre Le Tampon 222 614Saint Paul 171 109Migrations and ethnic groups Edit See also Cafres Malbars Chinois Reunion Zarabes Zoreilles and Reunionnais of Indian origin At the 2019 census 82 4 of the inhabitants of Reunion were born on the island 11 7 were born in Metropolitan France 1 0 were born in Mayotte 0 3 were born in the rest of Overseas France and 4 6 were born in foreign countries 46 of them children of French expatriates and settlers born in foreign countries such as children of Reunionese settlers born in Madagascar during colonial times the other 54 immigrants i e people born in foreign countries with no French citizenship at birth 66 In recent decades the number of Metropolitan Frenchmen living on the island of Reunion has increased markedly only 5 664 natives of Metropolitan France lived in Reunion at the 1967 census but their numbers were multiplied by more than 6 in 23 years reaching 37 516 at the 1990 census and then nearly tripled in the next 29 years reaching 100 493 at the 2019 census 67 68 66 Native Reunionese meanwhile have emigrated increasingly to Metropolitan France the number of natives of Reunion living in Metropolitan France rose from 16 548 at the 1968 census to 92 354 at the 1990 census to 130 662 at the 2019 census by which date 15 7 of the natives of Reunion lived outside of Reunion 68 66 Reunion has experienced extremely little immigration of foreigners since World War Two and by the 2019 census only 2 5 of the inhabitants of Reunion 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 69 Eastern Asia particularly China and Africa came to Reunion to work in the plantation economy Their descendants have now become French citizens Place of birth of residents of Reunion at the 1967 1982 1990 1999 2008 2013 and 2019 censuses Census Born inReunion Born inMetropolitan France Born inMayotte Born in therest of Overseas France Born in foreigncountries with Frenchcitizenship at birth Immigrants 2019 82 4 11 7 1 0 0 3 2 1 2 5 2013 83 7 11 1 0 7 0 3 2 2 2 0 2008 84 6 10 3 0 8 0 2 2 4 1 8 1999 86 1 9 1 0 9 0 4 2 0 1 4 1990 90 4 6 3 0 2 0 1 1 9 1 0 1982 93 1 4 1 2 8 1967 96 8 1 4 1 8 Persons born abroad of French parents such as Pieds Noirs and children of French expatriates An immigrant is by French definition a person born in a foreign country and who didn t have French citizenship at birth Note that 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 67 INSEE 68 66 Ethnic groups present include people of African Indian European Malagasy and Chinese origin Local names for these are Yabs Cafres Malbars and Chinois All of the ethnic groups on the island are immigrant populations that have come to Reunion from Europe Asia and Africa over the centuries There are no indigenous people on the island as it was originally deserted 70 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 Reunion since the French census does not ask questions about ethnic origin 71 which applies in Reunion because it is a part of France in accordance with the 1958 constitution The extent of racial mixing on the island also makes ethnic estimates difficult According to estimates Whites make up roughly one quarter of the population 72 Malbars make up more than 25 of the population and people of Chinese ancestry form roughly 3 73 The percentages for those of African and mixed race origins vary widely in estimates Also some people of Vietnamese ancestry live on the island though they are very few in number 74 75 76 Tamils are the largest group among the Indian community 77 The island s community of Muslims from north western India particularly Gujarat and elsewhere is commonly referred to 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 See also Hinduism in Reunion and Islam in Reunion Catholic church of Notre Dame des Neiges in Cilaos Religious affiliation 2000 censuses 78 Roman Catholicism 81 8 Hinduism 6 7 Protestantism 4 2 Islam 4 2 Other Christian 1 8 No religion 1 7 Other 1 8 The predominant religion is Christianity notably Roman Catholicism with a single Latin Rite jurisdiction the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Denis de La Reunion Religious Intelligence estimates Christians to be 84 9 of the population followed by Hindus 6 7 and Muslims 2 15 76 Chinese folk religion and Buddhism are also represented among others Most large towns have a Hindu temple and a mosque 79 Culture EditSee also Reunionnais literature Reunionese culture is a blend metissage of European African Indian Chinese and insular traditions The most widely spoken language Reunion Creole derives from French Language Edit French is the sole official language of Reunion Though not official Reunion 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 80 Other languages spoken on Reunion include Comorian varieties especially Shimaore and Malagasy by recent immigrants from Mayotte and Madagascar Mandarin Hakka and Cantonese by members of the Chinese community Indian languages mostly Tamil Gujarati and Hindi and Arabic spoken by a small community of Muslims These languages are generally spoken by immigrants as those born on the island tend to use French and Creole Cantonese Arabic and Tamil are offered as optional languages in some schools 77 Music Edit Main article Music of Reunion See also Sega music and Maloya There are two music genres which originated in Reunion sega which originated earlier and is also traditional in Mauritius Rodrigues and Seychelles and maloya which originated in the 19th century and is only found in Reunion Every December 20 the inhabitants of Reunion Island celebrate Reunion Freedom Day This celebration also known as the Fete des Cafres or Fet Kaf commemorates the proclamation of the abolition of slavery by the Second Republic France in 1848 The term cafre refers to the Africans of the Cafrerie a part of southern Africa It derives from the Afrikaans word kaffer which is similar to the American slang nigger or negre originating in colonial France 81 Today in the 21st century Reunionese celebrate with joy the end of a long period of oppression Cafres Malagasy Comorians Indians Yabs Z oreilles and metropolitans gather in the streets dancing to the rhythm of the sega and the maloya the two great musical genres of Reunion 82 Numerous concerts are organized most of them free as well as costume parades and dance shows such as merengue for example Cuisine Edit Always accompanied by rice the most common dishes are carry sometimes spelled cari a local version of Indian curry rougail and civets Carry is made with a base of onion garlic and spices such as turmeric called safran pei on the island 83 on which fish meat and eggs are fried tomato is then added Dishes can also be flavoured with ginger the peel of a combava is often prized Chop suey with rice not pasta and other Asian dishes such as pork with pineapple 84 The rougail saucisse Some examples of popular reunionese dishes include Cari poulet Cabri massale Rougail saucisse Rougail morue Rougail dakatine Achards inspired by achaar In general there are few dishes without meat or fish so there are few vegetarian options One of them is chouchou chayote gratin Otherwise mainly poultry is consumed One of the local specialties is tangue 85 civet of the hedgehog family Sport Edit Moringue is a popular combat dance sport similar to capoeira There are several famous Reunionese sportsmen and women like the handballer Jackson Richardson as well as the karateka Lucie Ignace Reunion has a number of contributions to worldwide professional surfing It has been home to notable pro surfers including Jeremy Flores Johanne Defay and Justine Mauvin Famous break St Leu has been host to several world surfing championship competitions Since 1992 Reunion has hosted a number of ultramarathons under the umbrella name of the Grand Raid As of 2018 four different races compose the Grand Raid the Diagonale des Fous The Trail de Bourbon the Mascareignes and the Zembrocal Trail 86 Football Edit Football is the most popular sport With more than 30 000 licensed players for a population exceeding 850 000 inhabitants it remains the sport of choice for young people Although the highest level of competition called the First Division of Reunion is equivalent to a division d honneur in metropolitan France DH all the youngsters hope to play at the highest level one day This has been the case for players such as Laurent Robert Florent Sinama Pongolle Guillaume Hoarau Dimitri Payet Benoit Tremoulinas the only five Reunionese to have played for the French national team Bertrand Robert Thomas Fontaine Ludovic Ajorque Fabrice Abriel of Reunion descent and Wilfried Moimbe of Reunion descent to name but a few The territory has its own team the Reunion national football team Architecture Edit See also Creole garden Chateau Lauratet Structurally the local Creole house is said to be symmetrical 87 In fact in the absence of an architect workers would draw a line on the ground and build two identical parts on each side resulting in houses of essentially rectangular shape The veranda is an important element of the house It is an outdoor terrace built on the front of the house as it allowed to show its richness to the street A Creole garden completes the house It is composed of local plants found in the forest There is usually a greenhouse with orchids anthuriums and different types of ferns The Villa Deramond Barre is a Creole architectural model of great heritage interest 88 Traditions Edit Two forms of musical expression historically make up the folkloric tradition of Reunion Island One the sega is a Creole variant of the quadrille the other the maloya like the American blues comes from Africa carried by the nostalgia and pain of slaves uprooted and deported from their homeland The sega a disguised ballroom dance to the rhythm of traditional Western instruments accordion harmonica guitar etc is a testament to the fun of colonial society at the time Today it is still the typical ballroom dance of the island of Reunion and the Mascarene archipelago in general along with the Mauritian sega and the Rhodesian sega The slaves maloya a ritual dance full of melodies and gestures was performed almost clandestinely at night around a bonfire the few instruments that accompanied it were made of plants bamboo gourds etc Dipavali Festival Beyond their taste for this musical art form the maloya troupes wanted to perpetuate the memory of the slaves their suffering and their uprooting Through sometimes controversial texts they remind France of its slave owning past and underline the damage that this colonial era did to human beings in the course of the island s history maloya artists and kabars gatherings were sometimes banned by the authorities With the institution of a public holiday to celebrate the abolition of slavery fete caf 20 December maloya has received official recognition it is regularly played on public radio and many discotheques and dance parties programme it regularly it is even enjoying a revival groups have begun to make modern versions styles and arrangements such as maloggae and other electric maloya Some of Reunion Island s emblematic musical groups include Groupe folklorique de La Reunion Kalou Pile Baster Ousanousava Ziskakan Pat Jaune Danyel Waro Tisours etc We can also mention one of the greatest Maloya singers Lo Rwa Kaf Born in Sainte Suzanne he was one of the first to sing Maloya When he died in 2004 many people were present at his funeral In 2008 the artist Brice Guilbert made a video clip entitled La Reunion In this clip we see him crossing all the landscapes of the island In the field of contemporary dance we can mention the choreographer Pascal Montrouge who directs the only company in France that has a double headquarters in Saint Denis de La Reunion and Hyeres which reinforces the sense of his vision of identity In 2007 the city of Saint Denis de La Reunion entrusted him with the artistic direction of its Saint Denis Danses festival The island is home to the regional conservatory of La Reunion which has four teaching centres and was created in 1987 under the impetus of the then president of the region Pierre Lagourgue Today although traditional dances are not forgotten in the conservatoires which teach dance music and theatre the dances taught are classical dance contemporary dance and Bharata natyam dance These students regularly have the opportunity to dance with choreographers from Reunion such as Didier Boutiana cie konpani Soul city 98 Soraya Thomas cie Morphose 99or Eric Languet cie danse en l R 100 These different local companies allow the inhabitants of Reunion to dance professionally Urban culture has also made its appearance following the trends and influences of metropolitan France and the United States Thus hip hop culture is developing but also ragga dancehall with KM David or Kaf Malbar being the figurehead of this new movement influencing the young generation all over the island with their songs spread by mp3 or internet Many young artists are trying to break through in this music whose industry is developing reasonably well locally but also internationally and has nothing to envy from the precursors of French dancehall Media EditBroadcasting Edit Reunion has a local public television channel Reunion 1ere which now forms part of France Television and also receives France 2 France 3 France 4 France 5 and France 24 from metropolitan France as well as France O which shows programming from all of the overseas departments and territories There are also two local private channels Tele Kreol and Antenne Reunion It has a local public radio station formerly Radio Reunion but now known as Reunion 1ere like its television counterpart It also receives the Radio France networks France Inter France Musique and France Culture The first private local radio station Radio Freedom was introduced in 1981 They broadcast daily content about weather and local services The set of the television news of Tele Reunion Newspapers Edit Two main newspapers Journal de l ile de La Reunion Le Quotidien Reunionese newspaper fr Cinema Edit Present on the island since 1896 is marked by its insularity and its geographical distance from metropolitan France In the absence of the Centre national de la cinematographie CNC it has developed specific distribution and dissemination networks Its landscapes first served as a natural backdrop for many film and television productions and film events such as festivals multiplied there Digital technology now facilitates the development of local productions most of which reflect the particularities of a multicultural and multilingual society The Reunion Film Festival festival du film de La Reunion was created in 2005 and is chaired by Fabienne Redt The festival presented first and second feature films by French directors The 10th and last edition took place in 2014 in partnership mainly with the TEAT Champ Fleuri Saint Denis and the city of Saint Paul In the Port the International Film Festival of Africa and the Reunion Islands Festival international du film d Afrique et des iles de La Reunion was also held Among the existing film festivals is the Reunion Island Adventure Film Festival 13 editions which awards prizes to adventure films In Saint Philippe the Festival Meme pas peur Reunion s international fantasy film festival has been held since 2010 In Saint Pierre there are two festivals Ecran jeunes 25th edition in 2019 and the Festival du Film Court de Saint Pierre directed by Armand Dauphin 3rd edition in 2019 Film Edit Adama animated there Mississippi Mermaid 1969 filmed there Blogs Edit Visit Reunion English language blog and Instagram page 89 Reunion Island Tourism blog English French tourism blog Internet Edit The Internet situation in Reunion was once marked by its insularity and remoteness from mainland France which caused some technological delays Today the trend has been reversed and the region has a relatively efficient Internet connection and is one of the departments most connected by fibre optics in France Internet connection can be provided by ADSL offered by four operators fibre optic three operators or by cellular data on 4G and 5G networks currently being tested in Saint Denis Reunion domain names have the suffix re The Reunion region has deployed a regional fibre optic network for operators This network is based partly on EDF s very high voltage cables G zelle network partly on the region s own fibre and partly on Hertzian links for the most isolated areas This network is managed by a public service company called La Reunion Numerique 90 Economy EditMain article Economy of Reunion The east dock of Reunion s main seaport in Le Port 2006 Man sorting Bourbon vanilla 2004 In 2019 the GDP of Reunion at market exchange rates not at PPP was estimated at 19 5 billion euros US 21 8 bn and the GDP per capita also at market exchange rates was 22 629 euros US 25 333 the highest in sub Saharan Africa 91 but only 61 7 of metropolitan France s GDP per capita that year and 73 5 of the metropolitan French regions outside the Paris Region 2 Before the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 the economy of Reunion was in a process of catching up with the rest of France From 1997 to 2007 the economy of Reunion grew by an average of 4 6 per year in real terms 92 and the GDP per capita rose from 53 7 of metropolitan France s level in 2000 to 61 6 of metropolitan France in 2007 2 The Great Recession that followed the financial crisis greatly affected Reunion whose economy came to a standstill in 2008 then experienced two years of recession in 2009 and 2010 followed by three years of stagnation 2011 2013 92 By 2013 the GDP per capita of Reunion had fallen back to 60 6 of metropolitan France s level 2 Economic growth returned in 2014 The economy grew by an average of 2 9 per year in real terms from 2014 to 2017 and the GDP per capita of Reunion rose to 62 4 of metropolitan France s GDP per capita by 2017 its highest level ever 2 The economy slowed down in 2018 growing at only 1 7 due in part to the yellow vests protests which paralyzed the Reunionese economy in the end of 2018 before recovering to 2 2 in 2019 92 As a result of this slower growth since 2018 the GDP per capita of Reunion fell back slightly compared to metropolitan France s standing at 61 7 of metropolitan France s level in 2019 2 Reunion was affected by the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 leading to a massive recession of 4 2 that year according to provisional estimates the largest on record 92 although less severe than in metropolitan France 7 9 for metropolitan France in 2020 2 Regional GDP of Reunion in euros current prices 2000 2007 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Nominal GDP bn 9 55 15 17 16 53 16 97 17 55 18 07 18 56 19 00 19 51GDP per capita euros 13 218 18 937 19 701 20 045 20 608 21 171 21 707 22 128 22 629GDP per capita as a of Metropolitan France s 53 7 61 6 60 6 61 0 61 5 62 4 62 4 62 0 61 7 Source INSEE 2 Sugar was traditionally the chief agricultural product and export Tourism is now an important source of income 93 The island s remote location combined with its stable political alignment with Europe makes it a key location for satellite receiving stations 94 and naval navigation 95 GDP sector composition in 2017 contribution of each sector to the total gross value added 96 Sector of total GVAAgriculture forestry and fishing 1 9 DetailAgriculture and forestry 1 4 Fishing 0 5 Mining and quarrying 0 0 Manufacturing 4 6 DetailFood manufacturing of which sugar and rum 1 9 0 5 Petroleum and coal products manufacturing 0 0 Non food and non petroleum coal manufacturing 2 8 Utilities 1 6 Construction 5 8 Market services 49 8 DetailWholesale and retail trade 11 1 Transportation and warehousing 3 7 Accommodation and food services 1 9 Information and communication 3 3 Finance and insurance 4 5 Real estate activities 14 8 Professional scientific and technical services 3 1 Administrative and support services 3 4 Other entertainment repair personal and laundry services 4 0 Non market services 36 2 DetailPublic administration and defense 10 9 Education health care elderly care child day care 25 3 Unemployment is a major problem on Reunion although the situation has improved markedly since the beginning of the 2000s the unemployment rate which stood above 30 from the early 1980s to the early 2000s declined to 24 6 in 2007 then rebounded to 30 0 in 2011 due to the 2008 global financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession but declined again after 2011 reaching 21 5 in 2019 97 its lowest level in 40 years 98 In 2014 40 of the population lived below the poverty line defined by INSEE as 60 of Metropolitan France s median income in 2014 the poverty line for a family of two parents and two young children was 2 064 US 2 743 per month 99 Rum distillation contributes to the island s economy A Product of France it is shipped to Europe for bottling then shipped to consumers around the world Brasseries de Bourbon is the main brewery of the island with Heineken as shareholder Facade of the Natural History Museum of Reunion Island in Saint Denis Tourism Edit Main article Tourism in Reunion Income from tourism is Reunion Island s primary economic resource ahead of sugarcane production and processing which has allowed the development of large Reunionese groups such as Quartier Francais Groupe Bourbon ex Sucreries Bourbon a large international company now listed on the stock exchange but based outside the island and which has abandoned the sugar sector for the off shore maritime sector With the reduction of subsidies this culture is threatened Therefore the development of fishing in the French Southern Territories has been promoted The tertiary sector particularly the commercial sector is by far the most developed and import distribution has taken off in the mid 1980s through affiliation and franchising agreements with metropolitan groups The advent of franchised distribution has transformed the commercial apparatus which historically was characterized by the geographic dispersion of small grocery type units the few Chinese stores still in operation are limited to mid range towns and as relics of a bygone era have more of a tourist and educational appeal even if they retain a convenience store function Despite its economic dynamism the island is unable to absorb its significant unemployment which is explained in particular by a very strong demographic growth Many Reunioners are forced to move to metropolitan France for their studies or to find work Sugar cane on Reunion island Agriculture Edit Agriculture in Reunion is an important activity in the island s economy 100 the agricultural territory covering 20 of the island s surface area employs 10 of the active population generates 5 of the gross regional product and provides the island s main export Formerly centered on coffee and clove cultivation it has focused on sugar cane since the events of the early 19th century namely the Great Avalanches and the seizure of Reunion by the British Today it faces important issues related to the decisions of the World Trade Organization at the international level and the development of the urban fact at the local level Reunion Island has about 7 000 farms 5 000 of which are professional These farms mobilize almost 11 000 AWU annual workload of one person on a full time basis Ninety seven percent of the farms in Reunion are less than 20 hectares in size compared to an average of 78 hectares in mainland France The most common status is that of individual farmer 97 In 2005 more than 60 of farm managers were between 40 and 59 years old Public services EditHealth Edit In 2005 2006 Reunion experienced an epidemic of chikungunya a viral disease similar to dengue fever brought in from East Africa which infected almost a third of the population because of its transmission through mosquitoes The epidemic has since been eradicated See the History section for more details The Bernica viaduct or Saint Paul viaduct at the northern entrance of the route des tamarins Transport Edit Main article Transport in Reunion Roland Garros Airport serves the island handling flights to mainland France India Madagascar Mauritius Tanzania Comoros Seychelles South Africa China and Thailand Pierrefonds Airport a smaller airport has some flights to Mauritius and Madagascar In 2019 a light rail system was proposed to link Le Barachois with the airport 101 Education Edit Reunion Island has its own education system Chantal Manes Bonnisseau Inspector General of Education Sport and Research was appointed Rector of the Academie de la Reunion and Chancellor of Universities at the Council of Ministers on July 29 2020 She succeeds Velayoudom Marimoutou who took office as secretary general of the Indian Ocean Commission on July 16 The Rectorate is located in the main city in the Moufia district of Saint Denis At the start of the 2012 school year the island had 522 pre school and or primary schools including 26 private schools for 120 230 students at the primary level 82 secondary schools including six private schools for 61 300 students 32 general and technological high schools including three private schools for 23 650 students and 15 vocational schools including two private schools for 16 200 students Reunion s priority education zones affect slightly more than half of the primary and secondary school students 102 Baccalaureate results are relatively close to the national average with a rate of 81 4 in 2012 compared to 82 4 in 2011 respectively 84 5 and 85 6 in the national average In higher education the University of Reunion has 11 600 students spread across the various sites especially in Saint Denis and Le Tampon A further 5 800 students are divided between the post baccalaureate courses of secondary education and other higher studies 103 Energy Edit Takamaka II hydroelectric dam Energy on Reunion depends on oil and is limited by the island s insularity which forces it to produce electricity locally and import fossil fuels Faced with increasing demand and environmental requirements the energy produced on the island is tending to increasingly exploit its great renewable energy potential through the development of wind farms solar farms and other experimental projects Although 35 of Reunion s electricity came from renewable sources in 2013 the department s energy dependency rate exceeds 85 Saving electricity and optimising energy efficiency are two major areas of work for the authorities responsible for energy issues Hydroelectric power Edit Due to the large volumes of rainfall the flow of surface water allows the installation of hydroelectric infrastructures especially as erosion has carved out narrow and very deep ravines The Sainte Rose plant 22 MW and the Takamaka plant 17 5 MW are the two largest In total the island s six hydroelectric infrastructures have a capacity of 133 MW Symbols EditReunion has no official coat of arms or flag Former Governor Merwart created a coat of arms for the island on the occasion of the 1925 colonial exhibition organised on Petite Ile Merwart a member of the Reunion Island Society of Sciences and Arts wanted to include the island s history The Roman numeral MMM evokes the altitude of the highest peaks the ship Saint Alexis is the one that first took possession of the island the fleurs de lis evoke the royal era the bees evoke the Empire the central coat of arms evokes the French Republican flag The motto Florebo quocumque ferar is that of the French East India Company and means I will bloom wherever they take me while the vanilla vines honour a flourishing harvest The most commonly used flag in Reunion is that of the radiant volcano designed by Guy Pignolet in 1975 sometimes called Lo Maveli 104 it represents the volcano of Piton de la Fournaise in the form of a simplified red triangle on a navy blue background while five sunbeams symbolise the arrival of the populations that have converged on the island over the centuries 105 See also Edit Africa portal France portal Islands portalAdministrative divisions of France Alfred Nakache Anchaing Du battant des lames au sommet des montagnes List of colonial and departmental heads of Reunion List of French overseas islands List of Reunionnais Lists of islands Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Scouting and Guiding in ReunionReferences Edit a b c INSEE Estimation de population par region sexe et grande classe d age Annees 1975 a 2023 in French Retrieved 24 January 2023 a b c d e f g h Produits interieurs bruts regionaux et valeurs ajoutees regionales de 2000 a 2020 INSEE Retrieved 23 March 2022 Reunion Definition amp Meaning Dictionary com Retrieved 13 May 2022 Reunion is pictured on all Euro banknotes on the back at the bottom of each note right of the Greek EYRW EURO next to the denomination Jean Baptiste Duvergier Collection complete des lois ed A Guyot et Scribe Paris 1834 Decret du 23 mars 1793 p 205 Daniel Vaxellaire Le Grand Livre de l histoire de La Reunion vol 1 Des origines a 1848 ed Orphie 2000 701 p ISBN 978 2 87763 101 3 et 978 2877631013 p 228 avec fac simile du decret Nouveau recueil general de traites conventions et autres transactions remarquables Annee 1848 ed Librairie de Dieterich 1854 Arrete du gouvernement provisoire portant changement du nom de l ile Bourbon Paris 7 mars p 76 Lexique des regles typographiques en usage a l Imprimerie nationale Imprimerie nationale 1990 ISBN 978 2 11 081075 5 reedition 2002 ISBN 978 2 7433 0482 9 reimpressions octobre 2007 et novembre 2008 ISBN 978 2 7433 0482 9 p 90 et 93 Commission nationale de toponymie Collectivites territoriales francaises Archived from the original on 12 November 2008 a b Allen Richard B 14 October 1999 Slaves Freedmen and Indentured Laborers in Colonial Mauritius Cambridge University Press ISBN 9780521641258 a b Tabuteau Jacques 1987 Histoire de la justice dans les Mascareignes in French Paris Ocean editions p 13 ISBN 2 907064 00 2 Retrieved 11 June 2011 a b c Moriarty Cpt H A 1891 Islands in the southern Indian Ocean westward of Longitude 80 degrees east including Madagascar London Great Britain Hydrographic Office p 269 OCLC 416495775 Journal de l ile de la Reunion Clicanoo re Retrieved 12 March 2013 Histoire Assemblee nationale www2 assemblee nationale fr Retrieved 7 July 2021 Jean Jacques Martial 2003 Une enfance volee Les Quatre Chemins p 113 ISBN 978 2 84784 110 7 Retrieved 13 September 2012 Geraldine Marcon Chronologie L histoire des enfants reunionnais deplaces en metropole on francebleu fr Island disease hits 50 000 people BBC News 2 February 2006 Retrieved 18 August 2007 Beesoon Sanjay Funkhouser Ellen Kotea Navaratnam Spielman Andrew Robich Rebecca M 2008 Chikungunya Fever Mauritius 2006 Emerging Infectious Diseases 14 2 337 338 doi 10 3201 eid1402 071024 PMC 2630048 PMID 18258136 Madagascar hit by mosquito virus BBC News 6 March 2006 Retrieved 18 August 2007 a b Collectivites d Outre mer de l article 73 de la Constitution Guadeloupe Guyane Martinique La Reunion Mayotte www legifrance gouv fr Retrieved 28 June 2021 Guy Dupont Conde sur Noireau L Harmattan juin 1990 759 p ISBN 2 7384 0715 3 p 27 Raoul LUCAS et Mario SERVIABLE C R I p 26 Departement de La Reunion 974 Code Officiel Geographique INSEE Retrieved 12 November 2021 Populations legales 2019 974 La Reunion INSEE a b Forces armees dans la Zone sud de l ocean Indien Armed Forces in the South Indian Ocean Zone in French Ministere des Armees Retrieved 6 December 2022 Morcos Pierre 1 April 2021 France A Bridge between Europe and the Indo Pacific Center for Strategic amp International Studies Retrieved 6 December 2022 French Rafales visit Reunion DefenceWeb 25 January 2022 Retrieved 6 December 2022 FAZSOI Entrainement mutuel paille en queue 23 1 aux abords des cotes reunionnaises DefenceWeb 31 January 2023 Retrieved 3 February 2023 Manaranche Martin 29 September 2021 French Navy s New POM OPVs Take Shape At Socarenam Shipyard Naval News Retrieved 16 September 2022 Les DOM defi pour la Republique chance pour la France 100 propositions pour fonder l avenir volume 2 comptes rendus des auditions et des deplacements de la mission The overseas departments challenge for the Republic opportunity for France 100 proposals to found the future volume 2 reports of the hearings and trips of the mission Senat 6 December 2022 Retrieved 6 December 2022 Vedette Cotiere de Surveillance Maritime VCSM Boats Homelandsecurity Technology Archived from the original on 7 December 2021 Retrieved 28 August 2022 Forces armees dans la Zone sud de l ocean Indien Ministere des Armees Retrieved 26 December 2022 1 Archived 7 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine Le Piton du Confinement on clicanoo com Thomas Staudacher 7 April 2007 Reunion sees colossal volcano eruption but population safe AFP Archived from the original on 9 April 2007 Retrieved 18 August 2007 Web archive a b c Emmanuel Tessier Saint Denis These de doctorat sous la direction de Pascale Chabanet et Catherine Aliaume 2005 254 p Guy Dupont Conde sur Noireau L Harmattan juin 1990 759 p ISBN 2 7384 0715 3 p 100 CLIMAT LA REUNION Informations normales et statistiques sur le climat a La Reunion www meteofrance re Retrieved 2 July 2021 Exceptionnel Il a neige au volcan Imaz Press Reunion l actualite de la Reunion en photos in French 10 October 2006 Retrieved 2 July 2021 European island outermost regions and climate change adaptation a new role for regional planning PDF Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 World Meteorological Organization Global Weather amp Climate Extremes Arizona State University World Greatest Twenty four Hour 1 Day Rainfall Arizona State University Retrieved 5 July 2022 Lagon de l Hermitage Snorkeling Report Retrieved 24 July 2020 Ocean Indian 13 September 2013 The beaches of Reunion Island Snorkeling Report Retrieved 15 November 2016 Lunch at Plage de Boucan Canot Flickr 23 October 2016 Retrieved 15 November 2016 Flore de La Reunion Habiter La Reunion in French Retrieved 3 July 2021 in French L Ile de la Reunion com Le paille en queue Biodiversite marine Reunion Hot spot vieoceane free fr Retrieved 4 July 2021 Crusta crustiesfroverseas free fr Retrieved 4 July 2021 Ronald Fricke Thierry Mulochau Patrick Durville Pascale Chabanet Emmanuel Tessier et Yves Letourneur Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde A Neue Serie vol 2 2009 p 1 168 Gilibert Laurence 1 March 2018 Crise requin Les causes scientifiques sous les projecteurs de la revue Nature via ZINFO974 Big Read Reunion Island beset by shark controversy News Corp Australia 30 August 2013 Etude comparative des recifs coralliens de l archipel des Mascareignes station marine d Endoume et Centre d Oceanographie Marseille et Centre Universitaire de La Reunion Saint Denis de La Reunion in Gueze P dir Biologie marine et exploitation des ressources de l Ocean Indien occidental Paris ORSTOM 1976 47 p 153 177 Pitons cirques and remparts of Reunion Island UNESCO Retrieved 30 July 2015 Dinerstein Eric et al 2017 An Ecoregion Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm BioScience 67 6 534 545 doi 10 1093 biosci bix014 ISSN 0006 3568 PMC 5451287 PMID 28608869 ADUMITRESEI LIDIA STĂNESCU IRINA 2009 Theoretical Considerations upon the origin and nomenclature of the present rose cultivars Journal of Plant Development 16 History of Roses Bourbon Roses PDF American Rose Society Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 C Gabrie Initiative Francaise pour les recifs coralliens Ifrecor 1998 p 136 Ronald Fricke Thierry Mulochau Patrick Durville Pascale Chabanet Emmanuel Tessier et Yves Letourneur Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde A Neue Serie vol 2 2009 UICN fr Liste Rouge Reunion PDF Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Evolution de la population du departement depuis 1646 Resultats statistiques du recensement general de la population des departements d outre mer effectue le 9 octobre 1961 Reunion INSEE 1966 p 15 Annuaire de l ile de la Reunion 1875 1925 Temporal Franck 2007 Les Migrations formes et implications sur le marche du travail In Sandron Frederic ed La population reunionaise Analyse demographique IRD Editions p 129 ISBN 978 2 7099 1629 5 INSEE Historique des populations communales Recensements de la population 1876 2019 in French Retrieved 10 February 2022 2 INSEE Statistiques locales France par aire d attraction des villes population municipale 2020 INSEE Retrieved 24 January 2023 a b c d INSEE Individus localises a la region en 2019 Recensement de la population Fichiers detail in French Retrieved 9 February 2023 a b Temporal Franck 2007 Les Migrations formes et implications sur le marche du travail In Sandron Frederic ed La population reunionaise Analyse demographique IRD Editions p 134 ISBN 978 2 7099 1629 5 a b c INSEE Donnees harmonisees des recensements de la population 1968 2018 in French Retrieved 11 February 2022 French island La Reunion is home to several Gujaratis The Times of India Retrieved 11 February 2022 Bollee Annegret 2015 French on the Island of Bourbon Reunion Journal of Language Contact 8 1 91 doi 10 1163 19552629 00801005 Oppenheimer David B 20 August 2008 SSRN Why France Needs to Collect Data on Racial Identity In a French Way by David Oppenheimer Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 31 2 SSRN 1236362 via Papers ssrn com Holm John A 1989 Pidgins and Creoles References survey Cambridge University Press p 394 ISBN 0 521 35940 6 Reunion PDF The Indian Diaspora Archived from the original PDF on 21 August 2010 Clicanoo La Reunion Metisse Tarnus Evelyne Bourdon Emmanuel 2006 Anthropometric evaluations of body composition of undergraduate students at the University of La Reunion Advances in Physiology Education 30 4 248 253 doi 10 1152 advan 00069 2005 PMID 17108254 S2CID 19474655 a b Country Profile Reunion Department of Reunion Archived from the original on 13 October 2007 Retrieved 13 October 2007 a b NRI PDF Archived from the original PDF on 21 August 2010 Retrieved 16 April 2010 Reunion History Location Map Population amp Facts Peoples of Africa Reunion Somalia Marshall Cavendish 2001 pp 412 ISBN 978 0 7614 7166 0 Ethnologue report language code rcf Ethnologue com Retrieved 16 April 2010 La France coloniale casls uoregon edu Retrieved 7 July 2021 Au rythme de la musique creole a La Reunion Ile de la Reunion Tourisme in French Retrieved 7 July 2021 Le Curcuma Ile de la Reunion Tourisme in French Retrieved 7 July 2021 Marmiton aufeminin Saute de porc a l ananas tres facile Marmiton in French Retrieved 7 July 2021 Le civet de Tangue par Pepe do Fe Clicanoo re in French Retrieved 7 July 2021 The Grand Raid 25 years of madness La Reunion 12 October 2017 Archived from the original on 20 August 2018 Retrieved 20 August 2018 Tableau economique regional de La Reunion Institut national de la statistique et des etudes economiques 2007 PDF Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 La Villa Deramond Barre Carte de La Reunion in French 23 March 2016 Retrieved 7 July 2021 Reunion Island visitreunion Instagram photos and videos www instagram com Retrieved 15 April 2018 La Reunion Numerique Archived from the original on 25 June 2018 IMF World Economic Outlook Database October 2021 Retrieved 23 March 2022 a b c d INSEE Comptes economiques de La Reunion Principaux indicateurs de 1996 a 2020 base 2014 Retrieved 23 March 2022 Insel La Reunion Reisen amp Urlaub buchen Reiseveranstalter Elefant Tours Elefant Tours SEAS OI VIGISAT international success Reunion Island acquires an acquisition and processing system for high resolution satellite images Retrieved 3 April 2016 Surveillance of maritime and terrestrial activities by radar Archived from the original on 3 February 2019 Retrieved 3 April 2016 Derniers resultats des comptes definitifs 1996 a 2017 base 2014 Activite des branches in French INSEE 2022 Retrieved 22 March 2022 Moins de chomage plus d inactivite INSEE Retrieved 22 March 2021 Celimene Fred Legris Andre 2011 De l economie coloniale a l economie mondialisee Aspects multiples de la transition XXe et XXIe siecles Paris Publibook p 179 ISBN 978 2 7483 7225 0 Quatre Reunionnais sur dix vivent sous le seuil de pauvrete in French INSEE 2017 Retrieved 12 March 2018 Notes sur La Reunion Industrie sucriere commerce agriculture immigration dans Revue maritime et coloniale avril 1861 p 350 362 Consultation begins on Reunion tram project International Railway Journal 27 August 2019 Retrieved 27 August 2019 Education prioritaire Site de l Universite de la Reunion 2020 2021 Guide tourisme et loisirs guide pratique guide reunion fr in French Retrieved 8 July 2021 Saint Philippe Le drapeau Lo Maveli adopte par la mairie Zinfos 974 l actualite de l ile de La Reunion in French Retrieved 8 July 2021 Bibliography EditJames Rogers and Luis Simon The Status and Location of the Military Installations of the Member States of the European Union and Their Potential Role for the European Security and Defence Policy ESDP Brussels European Parliament 2009 25 pp External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reunion Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Reunion Government Edit Prefecture website in French Regional Council website in French Departmental Council website in French General information Edit Official tourism website Reunion at Curlie Wikimedia Atlas of Reunion UNESCO World Heritage Site datasheet Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Reunion amp oldid 1140820708, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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