Variety

Islands in the Indian Ocean:

Reunion - a mountainous island

It is only a little bigger than the District of Colombo.

Reunion is a tiny island in the south western Indian Ocean. Look up the map; you'll see only a black dot indicating its location on 55 degrees east longitude and 20-21 degrees south latitude. It is 420 miles (680 km) east of Madogascar and 110 miles (180 km) south west of Mauritius. You must have read about Mauritius in our issue of September 19.

Reunion is very small, only a little bigger than the Colombo district which is 625 sq miles. Reunion is 970 sq miles. The island is oval in shape, 45 miles/65 km long and 30 m / 50 km wide. It is a mountainous island with many peaks above 10,000 feet. Our highest peak Pidurutalagala is a little over 7,900 feet above sea level.

Reunion is not an independent country like most other islands in the Indian Ocean; nor is it a colony of some European power, just as Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was a colony in the British Empire until 1948. Reunion is an Overseas Department of France.

The Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas is said to have discovered the island on February 9, 1513 eight years after Lorenzo de Almeida landed in Colombo in 1505. About 140 years later, the French came. Captain Goubert took possession of the island in 1638. The island was uninhabited. The Frenchmen who came with him settled down there, and the island remained a French colony until 1946 when it was made a Department of France.

Reunion has a National Assembly and a Senate. Five members called Deputies are elected to the National Assembly and three members to the Senate. They are sent to the French legislature (parliament). The administration of the island is by a Council of 44 elected members headed by a Prefect appointed by the Government of France.

The people are full citizens of France. About 90 per cent of them are Catholics. The population is mainly Creole, that is of mixed French and African descent. The French colonists who settled down in the island brought slaves (male and female) from East Africa, to work on the coffee and later sugar plantations. After slavery was abolished in 1848, they got down labourers on contract from Malabar in India from the Andaman islands and from Malaya and China. Today, in addition to the Creole population there are a fair number of Indians and Chinese. Over population is a problem.

Reunion has been called Colonie Colonisatrice because the people from there were among the first French settlers in Mauritius, Rodrigues and the Seychelles in the 18th century and Madagascar in the 19th century. People from Reunion have gone as colonists to Indo-China and even New Caledonia in the Pacific.

Sugar introduced in 1711 is the main crop and for over 100 years the economy is based on it. Sugar and its by-products rum and molasses are exported. Reunion also exports vanilla, tobacco and geraniums. The last item will take you by surprise. Why geraniums? They are cultivated for the oil extracted from the flower for making perfume.

A paved road running round the island connects the capital St. Denis with the main port Point des Galets. Lateral roads lead from this road to the hill stations inland. A railway line serving the port also goes round the coast. There is also an international airport too.

French is the official language, but Creole is the language of conversation. Classes in primary and secondary schools is conducted in French. There is a University and a Teacher-Training College. Recently one of the daily English papers reported that a Sri Lankan student, (a girl) had passed out of the university.

As mentioned earlier, the island was discovered by Pedro Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator on February 9, 1513. This was, according to the Portuguese calendar, St. Apollina's Day. So, the island had been named Santa Apollonia. The French named their new found colony Bourbon. The name was changed twice and again renamed la Reunion de Patrotes in 1848 after the revolution. Over the years the name has come down as plain Reunion.

Sumana Saparamadu

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Fact File

Reunion Overseas Department of France

People - Full citizens of France, Mainly Creole. 90 per cent are Catholics.

Language - Official French conversation Creole.

Currency - Franc

Administration by Council of elected members

Reunion is the largest island in the Mascarene group in the Indian Ocean,

lying about 200 km southwest of Mauritius and 650 km east of Madagascar.

The French tricolour is the official flag of the Reunion Island.