Réunion Island

This is a French-controlled island in the Indian island, east of Madagascar. The French often call it “La Réunion.”

It was “settled” by the French in the 17th century and used for sugarcane production, mostly through slave brought in from East Africa. Today, it still produces sugar and rum, but is also a popular tourist destination.

The population is just under 1 million, with the largest city – St. Denis – home to about one-third of that number. About 10% of the population was born in France proper, and immigrated. About one-quarter of the population is White, with the majority being mixed race of Causcsian, African, and and/or Indian origin.

It is technically part of the Eurozone, and it uses the Euro as currency (in fact, due to it being the extreme east edge of the Eurozone, it was the location of the very first Euro transaction in history, in the early hours of January 1, 1999).

French is the official language, but the language spoken in most exchanges is a creole specific to the island.

There’s a highway that runs approximately 113 miles around the edge of the island. France recently completed an off-shore bypass road to connect two of the larger cities along the northwest coast, since the cliff-side highway was often closed due to rock falls.

The population lives mostly on the coasts, as the interior is comprised of volcanic mountains, several of which are very active and regularly generate lava flows. Virtually all of the urban areas are on the coasts. There is a highway that cuts through middle of the island in the south.

Reunion is the shark attack capital of the world, with more than four times the rate (per capita) of shark fatalities than anywhere else in the world. The rate of shark attacks is increasing, averaging almost one fatality per year in the last decade.