The island has been inhabited since the 16th 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 French Second Republic<\/a> abolished slavery in the French colonies. However, later on indentured workers<\/a> were brought to R\u00e9union from South India<\/a>, among other places. The island became an overseas department of France in 1946.<\/p>\n As in France, the official language is French. In addition, the majority of the region’s population speaks R\u00e9union Creole<\/a>.<\/p>\n Administratively, R\u00e9union is one of the overseas departments of France. Like the other four overseas departments, it is also one of the 18 regions of France<\/a>, with the modified status of overseas region, and an integral part of the republic with the same status as Metropolitan France<\/a>. R\u00e9union is an outermost region<\/a> of the European Union<\/a> and, as an overseas department of France, part of the eurozone<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not much is known of R\u00e9union’s history prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century. Arab traders were familiar with it by the name Dina Morgabin, “Western Island”. The island is possibly featured on a map from 1153 AD by Al Sharif el-Edrisi. The island might also have been visited by Swahili<\/a> or Austronesian<\/a> (Ancient Indonesian\u2013Malaysian) sailors on their journey to the west from the Malay Archipelago to Madagascar.<\/p>\n The first European discovery of the area was made around 1507 by Portuguese explorer Diogo Fernandes Pereira<\/a>, but the specifics are unclear. The uninhabited island might have been first sighted by the expedition led by Dom Pedro Mascarenhas<\/a>, who gave his name to the island group around R\u00e9union, the Mascarenes<\/a>. R\u00e9union itself was dubbed Santa Apol\u00f3nia<\/a> after a favorite saint, which suggests that the date of the Portuguese discovery could have been 9 February, her saint day. Diogo Lopes de Sequeira<\/a> is said to have landed on the islands of R\u00e9union and Rodrigues in 1509.<\/p>\n By the early 1600s, nominal Portuguese rule had left Santa Apol\u00f3nia virtually untouched. The island was then occupied by France and administered from Port Louis<\/a>, Mauritius. Although the first French claims date from 1638, when Fran\u00e7ois Cauche and Salomon Goubert visited in June 1638, 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 \u00cele Bourbon after the French royal House of Bourbon<\/a>. Colonization started in 1665, when the French East India Company<\/a> sent the first settlers.<\/p>\n “\u00cele de la R\u00e9union” was the name given to the island in 1793 by a decree of the Convention Nationale<\/a> (the elected revolutionary constituent assembly) with the fall of the House of Bourbon in France, and the name commemorates the union of revolutionaries from Marseille<\/a> with the National Guard<\/a> in Paris, which took place on 10 August 1792. In 1801, the island was renamed “\u00cele Bonaparte”, after First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the Napoleonic Wars<\/a>, the island was invaded<\/a> by a Royal Navy<\/a> squadron led by Commodore Josias Rowley<\/a> in 1810, who used the old name of “Bourbon”.<\/p>\n When it was restored to France by the Congress of Vienna<\/a> in 1815, the island retained the name of “Bourbon” until the fall of the restored Bourbons during the French Revolution of 1848<\/a>, when the island was once again given the name “\u00cele de la R\u00e9union”.<\/p>\n From the 17th to 19th centuries, French colonization, supplemented by importing Africans, Chinese and Indians as workers, contributed to ethnic diversity in the population. From 1690, most of the non-Europeans 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<\/a> in 1869 reduced the importance of the island as a stopover on the East Indies trade route.<\/p>\n During the Second World War<\/a>, R\u00e9union was under the authority of the Vichy<\/a> regime until 30 November 1942, when Free French<\/a> forces took over the island<\/a> with the destroyer L\u00e9opard<\/a>.<\/p>\n R\u00e9union became a d\u00e9partement d’outre-mer<\/a> (overseas d\u00e9partement) of France on 19 March 1946.<\/p>\n Over about two decades in the late 20th century (1963\u20131982), 1,630 children from R\u00e9union were relocated to rural areas of metropolitan France, particularly to Creuse<\/a>, ostensibly for education and work opportunities. That program was led by influential Gaullist<\/a> politician Michel Debr\u00e9,<\/a> who was an MP for R\u00e9union 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<\/a>, 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. 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<\/a> in 2011.<\/p>\n In 2005 and 2006, R\u00e9union was hit by a crippling epidemic of chikungunya<\/a>, a disease spread by mosquitoes. According to the BBC News<\/a>, 255,000 people on R\u00e9union had contracted the disease as of 26 April 2006. The neighboring islands of Mauritius and Madagascar also suffered epidemics of this disease during the same year. A few cases also appeared in mainland France, carried by people travelling by airline. The French government of Dominique de Villepin<\/a> sent an emergency aid package worth \u20ac36 million and deployed about 500 troops in an effort to eradicate mosquitoes on the island.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> in the Earth’s crust. The Piton de la Fournais<\/a>e, a shield volcano<\/a> on the eastern end of R\u00e9union 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 29 July 2019. During another eruption in April 2007, the lava flow was estimated at 3,000,000 m3 (3,900,000 cu yd) per day. The hotspot that fuels Piton de la Fournaise also created the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Piton des Neiges<\/a> 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. R\u00e9union also has three calderas: the Cirque de Salazie<\/a>, the Cirque de Cilaos<\/a> and the Cirque de Mafate<\/a>. The last is accessible only on foot or by helicopter.<\/p>\n Sugar was traditionally the chief agricultural product and export. Tourism is now an important source of income. The island’s remote location combined with its stable political alignment with Europe makes it a key location for satellite receiving stations and naval navigation.<\/p>\n Unemployment is a major problem on R\u00e9union, although the situation has improved markedly since the beginning of the 2000s.<\/p>\n In 2014, 40% of the population lived below the poverty line (defined by INSEE<\/a> as 60% of Metropolitan France’s median income; in 2014 the poverty line for a family of two parents and two young children was \u20ac2,064 (US$2,743) per month).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The island has an extensive system of paved roads.<\/p>\n Roland Garros Airport<\/a> serves the island, handling flights to mainland France, India, Madagascar, Mauritius, Tanzania, Comoros, Seychelles, South Africa, China and Thailand. Pierrefonds Airpor<\/a>t, a smaller airport, has some flights to Mauritius and Madagascar.\u00a0 Air Austral<\/a> is the local carrier providing the most flights.<\/p>\n In 2019 a light rail system was proposed to link Le Barachois with the airport.<\/p>\n The country uses the flag of France, the national flag of its mother country. Although the federal period of France installed a number of flags of the metropolitan regions, R\u00e9union does not have a separate official flag.<\/p>\n The Vexillological Association of R\u00e9union selected a flag in 2003. It depicts the volcano of Fournaise<\/a>, bedecked by gold sunbeams. It was designed in 1974 by Guy Pignolet with help of Jean Finck and Didier Finck who called it L\u00f6 Mahav\u00e9li but it really started to be promoted once the association chose it in 2003. It does not have official recognition but since 2014, it is flying on top of many public buildings after several city councils have taken the decision to do so.<\/p>\n The Association for the Reunion Flag has proposed a competing design.<\/p>\n Independentists and nationalists of Reunion also have their flag (green, yellow, red) which was created in 1986. Green symbolizes the marronage, yellow symbolizes the working class and red symbolizes the period of slavery and indentured labour, struck by a yellow star with five points.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Reunion-on-World-Map.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Al-Idrisi-203x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Josias-Rowley-185x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Free-French-Destroyer-L\u00e9opard-300x202.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Topographic-Map-of-Reunion-300x279.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Bourbon-vanilla-287x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Road-Map-of-Reunion-300x266.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Roland-Garros-Airport.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of R\u00e9union:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/03\/Flag-of-France-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Reunion-Flag-Proposed-by-Vexilological-Union-of-Reunion-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Proposed-F-300x225.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Flag-R\u00e9union-Proposed-by-the-Nationalist-Movement-300x187.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Proposed-Cultural-Flag-of-R\u00e9union-300x185.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>