Réunion is one of the Mascarene islands, a volcanic archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. It is a “mountain in the sea”. The spectacular centre of the island is dominated by volcanic massifs that form a relief teeming with untouched natural habitats. These outstanding sites have been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 2010. The island’s perimeter has been shaped by vast slopes dissected by waterways and rivers with steep banks reaching as far as the coast, and shorelines with very few creeks.
Natural environment and first human activity
The Mascarene islands were probably known to the Arabs long before Europeans arrived in the Indian Ocean. The map produced by Alberto Cantino in 1502 first mentions the island using the Arabic toponym Dina Morgabin (Western Island).
The first travellers to set foot in this virgin land (as recorded in accounts by S. Castleton and W. I. Bontekoe, compiled by A. Lougnon in 1939) in the 17th century, discovered an island with a rare and fragile ecosystem. Fertile and densely forested with an abundant local fauna, including tortoises, birds and fish, it made an excellent stopover to replenish supplies. When English ships stopped over on their way to the Indies in the 17th century, they introduced pigs and nanny and billy goats to the island.
This original environment, recently brought to light by the study of palaeoforest, was the one that existed before the arrival of human beings.
Early colonisation
Mascarin island (now Réunion) was claimed in the name of the King of France in 1638 but remained uninhabited. In 1642, the Compagnie française des Indes Orientales, created by Richelieu, set up a trading station at Fort-Daupin in Madagascar, and Mascarin provided a stopping-off point for French ships returning from or bound for the Indies.
The first people to live on the island set up a small community at Saint-Paul in 1663. A permanent settlement was established in 1665 by twenty settlers recruited by the Compagnie des Indes. The island was under the authority of Fort-Daupin until the revolt of 1674, when it became the only French base in the southern Indian Ocean.
Learn more. Website of the Musée historique de Villèle.