Reunion

Reunion Island travel advice

Arab, Portuguese, British and Dutch sailors stopped at Reunion to replenish water and food stores, but several Frenchmen started to settle on the island from Madagascar. The first children born in Reunion all had some Malagasy blood.

As of 1715, the East India Trading Company took over the responsibility of running the island and, up until 1767, organised coffee bean cultivation. A social system of slavery was put in place and the coffee plantations covered most of the island’s hillsides, right up until the beginning of the 19th century. Clover and nutmeg trees were also introduced successfully.

Location – Indian ocean, east of Madagascar