Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BLACK HISTORY
The late 18th century saw a number of slave revolts, and many resourceful Malagasy and African slaves, called
marrons
, escaped from their owners and took refuge in the mountainous interior. Some of them established
private utopias in inaccessible parts of the Cirques, while others grouped together and formed organised com-
munities with democratically elected leaders. These tribal chieftains were the true pioneers of the settlement of
Réunion, but most ultimately fell victim to bounty hunters who were employed to hunt them down. The scars of
this period of the island's history are still fresh in the population's psyche; perhaps from a sense of shame, there's
surprisingly little record of the island's Creole pioneers except the names of several peaks (Dimitile, Enchaing,
Mafate, Cimendef) where they were hunted down and killed. The Espace Culturel Muséographique Dimitile
(ECM) at Entre-Deux provides excellent introductions to these sensitive subjects, tracing the history of slavery
and
marronage
(the act of escaping plantation life) and celebrating the achievements of these unsung heroes of
the Cirques.
The British Move In…
In 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon Bonaparte lost the island to the
habits
rouges
(redcoats). Under British rule, sugar cane was introduced to Réunion and quickly
became the primary crop. The vanilla industry, introduced in 1819, also grew rapidly.
The British didn't stay long: five years later, under the Treaty of Paris, the spoils were
returned to the French as Île Bourbon. The British, however, retained their grip on Mauri-
tius, Rodrigues and the Seychelles.
…And the French Come
Back to Stay
In 1848, the Second Republic was proclaimed in France, slavery was abolished and Île
Bourbon again became La Réunion. Like Mauritius, Réunion immediately experienced a
labour crisis and, like the British in Mauritius, the French 'solved' the problem by import-
ing contract labourers from India, most of them Hindus, to work the sugar cane.
Réunion's golden age of trade and development lasted until 1870, with the country
flourishing on the trade route between Europe, India and the Far East. Competition from
Cuba and the European sugar-beet industry, combined with the opening of the Suez Canal
(which short-circuited the journey around the Cape of Good Hope), resulted in an eco-
nomic slump.
After WWI, in which 14,000 Réunionnais served, the sugar industry regained a bit of
momentum, but it again suffered badly through the blockade of the island during WWII.
