Africa A to Z: Continental and Country Profiles: Third Edition

Réunion

COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z Africa Institute of South Africa | Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles 313 Réunion Orientation Réunion is not an independent state; the island is an integral part of France with the status of a French Overseas Department. It is the largest island in the Mascarene group of islands, located in the Indian Ocean, about 650 km east of Madagascar. The Mascarenes also include Réunion’s sister islands, Mauritius and Rodrigues. Spectacular volcanic mountains, rising to over 3 000 m above sea level, occupy about three-quarters of Réunion; one of the volcanoes, Piton de la Fournaise, is active, having most recently erupted in March 1998. The coastline is rocky and narrow with a lack of large beaches and natural harbours. Similar to Mauritius, the island lies in the path of the frequent summer cyclones that bring abundant rainfall. People Most of Réunion’s some 750 000 people live along the coast and in the island’s capital, St Denis, on the northern side of the island. About three-quarters of the people are mixed-race Creoles, descending from African, Asian and European immigrants. However, there are French European, Indian and Chinese minority groups. Most Réunionnais profess Roman Catholicism. French is the official language but Kreol, the language of the Creoles, is the local lingua franca. Living conditions compare well with those in some other Indian Ocean and African countries, though Réunion is extremely dependent on French financial and technical assistance. Economy The island has no mineral resources and most of the people are engaged in agriculture and marine fishing. Various food crops are produced but substantial quantities of foodstuffs have to be imported. Sugarcane cultivation is the mainstay of the economy and the principal source of foreign earnings. Tourism is a substantial industry and tourists are well catered for. As there is very little other industrial activity, a large proportion of the islanders are unemployed and many have no option but to emigrate abroad in search of work. Réunion has been the headquarters of the French military forces in the Indian Ocean since 1973; the presence of some 4 000 French troops is a factor stimulating business on the island. The island’s main seaport, about 20 km from St Denis, is called Le Port. COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z 314 Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles | Africa Institute of South Africa History and Government The Dutch had already occupied Mauritius when, in 1642, the French East India Company took possession of what is now Réunion, naming it Ile Bourbon. Pirates used Bourbon as a hiding place until French settlement began in the course of the 18th century; by this time the French had also taken over Mauritius. After the fall of the French monarchy in 1789 Britain annexed the French Indian Ocean islands, but later returned Bourbon to France while holding on to Mauritius, Rodrigues and Seychelles. As with Mauritius and Natal Colony (South Africa), sugarcane cultivation became the principal economic activity and large numbers of contract workers were imported from India to work on the sugar plantations in these colonies. Although not as many Indians emigrated to Bourbon as in the case of Mauritius and Natal, the descendants of the Indian workers became a permanent part of the population. In 1848 the slaves in the French colonies were set free. Bourbon was then renamed Réunion. By now, the descendants of the white settlers and the slaves formed a mixed race group and the majority of the island population. Their Kreol language, the local medium of communication, had been strongly influenced by French, as was the case in Mauritius and Seychelles, but Réunionnais Kreol differed from the Kreol spoken on the other islands. A most important development came almost a century later, when, in 1946, France granted self-government to Réunion and a few other colonies where French culture predominated. Furthermore, Réunion became a French Overseas Department (département d’outre mer [DOM]) that enjoyed the same status as the departments in France. (Departments, subdivided into communes, constitute the basis of administrative decentralisation in France.) In contrast with political trends elsewhere in the Indian Ocean region and in Africa, the notion of liberation and independence has never found popular support among the people of Réunion (and of Mayotte Island) who peferred to remain French. Réunion has several political parties competing in elections held every five years...