Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Réunion became a Département Français d'Outre-Mer (DOM; French Overseas Depart-
ment) in 1946 and has representation in the French parliament. Since then there have been
feeble independence movements from time to time but, unlike those in France's Pacific
territories, these have never amounted to much. While the Réunionnais seemed satisfied
to remain totally French, general economic and social discontent surfaced in dramatic
anti-government riots in St-Denis in 1991.
In March 1998, there was a major eruption at the Piton de la Fournaise - the longest
eruption of the volcano in the 20th century, with a total of 196 days of volcanic activity. In
April 2007, another major eruption resulted in the RN2 expressway being closed for sev-
eral months.
The turn of the century marked a new era for Réunion; the local authorities managed to
sign a few agreements with the French state, which confirmed the launching of subsidised
grands chantiers
(major infrastructure works), including the expressway called the
Nouvelle Route des Tamarins, the tram-train between Ste-Marie and St-Paul and the en-
largement of the Route du Littoral (the expressway between St-Paul and St-Denis). These
huge civil engineering works are expected to sustain growth on the island. So far, only the
Route des Tamarins has been completed.
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The Culture
The physical and cultural distinctions between the various ethnic groups are far less ap-
parent in Réunion than in Mauritius. In Réunion there has been much more interracial
mixing over the years. Ask the Réunionnais how they see themselves and the chances are
they'll say 'Creole' - not in the narrow sense of having Afro-French ancestry, but simply
meaning one of 'the people'. That is, someone who speaks Creole, who was born and bred
on the island and is probably - but not necessarily - of mixed ancestry. This sense of com-
munity is the gel that holds society together.
The Réunionnais are in general more reserved than the Mauritians, but within this over-
all pattern there are local differences: southerners are reckoned to be more relaxed and
friendly, while perhaps not surprisingly the people living in the Cirques are the most intro-
verted.
While the Réunionnais also regard themselves as French, they don't really identify with
people from the mainland. There is even a slight undercurrent of resentment towards the
