HISTORY
A short history of Réunion Island
An uninhabited island until the 17th century, Réunion was shaped by settlement, slavery, indentured labour and, since 1946, by its status as a French department.
Key dates
- Early 16th century · Portuguese navigators sight the Mascarene Islands, named after Pedro de Mascarenhas. Réunion has no indigenous population.
- 1642–1649 · France claims the island, which is named Île Bourbon.
- 1663 · The first lasting settlement: two Frenchmen and ten Malagasy men and women land at what is now Saint-Paul.
- 1665 · The French East India Company sends the first group of settlers.
- 18th century · Coffee, then other crops, are grown on plantations worked by enslaved people brought mainly from Madagascar, East Africa and India.
- 1793 · The island is renamed La Réunion.
- 1810–1815 · British occupation during the Napoleonic Wars.
- 20 December 1848 · Abolition of slavery, proclaimed on the island by Commissioner Sarda Garriga. The date is a public holiday in Réunion.
- After 1848 · Sugar estates recruit indentured labourers (« engagés »), mostly from India, but also from Africa, Madagascar and China.
- 19 March 1946 · A law turns Réunion into a French overseas department.
- 1963–1982 · The state agency Bumidom organises the migration of thousands of Réunionese to mainland France.
- 2010 · The « Pitons, cirques and remparts » of Réunion are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Go further (in French)
- Settlement: from an empty island to a colony
- The French East India Company years (1638-1767)
- Revolution, Empire and British occupation (1789-1815)
- Slavery and its abolition
- Sugar, vanilla and abolition (1815-1870)
- Indentured labour (engagisme)
- From the colonial Republic to the Liberation (1870-1945)
- Contemporary Réunion
- Sugar cane: two centuries of history
- Twenty figures of Réunion history
- The history of the 24 municipalities
Each French chapter lists its sources.
Figures updated with the French version of the site.