Reunion Island
History
A Map used when discovering reunion
The island of Réunion has a history similar to the island of Mauritius and was visited, but not inhabited, by the early Malay people [Arab and European mariners]. The archipelago comprised of Mauritius and Réunion and was christened by the Mascarenes by Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas, following its European discovery in 1512. In 1642 the French settled the island when La Compagnie des Indes Orientales (the French East India group) sent its ship, the St-Louis, and the King of France named it ile Bourbon. At the end of the seventeenth century, the population could be divided into white French landowners and African and Malagasy slaves.
There was no great rush to populate and develop the island and, from around 1685, Indian Ocean pirates began using Ile Bourbon as a trading base. Until 1715, the French East India Company was content to provide only for its own needs and those of passing ships, but then coffee was introduced, and between 1715 and 1730 it became the island's main cash crop and as a result the economy changed dramatically. The French enslaved Africans to do the intensive labor required for coffee cultivation. During this period, grains, spices and cotton were also brought in as cash crops.
There was no great rush to populate and develop the island and, from around 1685, Indian Ocean pirates began using Ile Bourbon as a trading base. Until 1715, the French East India Company was content to provide only for its own needs and those of passing ships, but then coffee was introduced, and between 1715 and 1730 it became the island's main cash crop and as a result the economy changed dramatically. The French enslaved Africans to do the intensive labor required for coffee cultivation. During this period, grains, spices and cotton were also brought in as cash crops.
