Réunion

Réunion is an island in the Indian Ocean.

It is part of France. The capital is Saint-Denis. Tall mountains rise in the middle.

Réunion is an island in the western Indian Ocean, about 680 kilometers east of Madagascar and 180 kilometers southwest of Mauritius. It is one of the Mascarene Islands.

Réunion is a French overseas department and region. Its people are full French citizens, it elects members of the French parliament, and it uses the euro. French is the official language, and Réunion Creole is the language most people use every day. The capital is Saint-Denis.

Britannica describes Réunion as an island of the Mascarene group that is both a French overseas département, with an appointed prefect and an elected Departmental Council, and an overseas région, with a regional council for social and economic development. It elects seven deputies to the National Assembly and four senators; Réunionese are full French citizens, and French is the language of instruction.

INSEE counted 889,679 residents on January 1, 2023, 1.3% of France's population (excluding Mayotte). Growth averaged 0.7% a year from 2017, faster than in mainland France, driven by natural increase; since the mid-2010s more people have left than arrived, about 2,000 a year net.

Saint-Denis is the capital, by the sea.

In the mountains are three giant bowls called cirques. Tall cliffs stand all around them.

Saint-Denis, the capital and biggest town, is on the north coast. The photo, taken from the hillside district of Bellepierre, shows white buildings spreading down to the deep blue Indian Ocean under towering clouds.

Saint-Pierre is a town in the south. The coast has no good natural harbors, and Le Port can take large ships through a man-made harbor. In the mountains are three cirques, Cilaos, Salazie and Mafate: huge natural bowls with cliff walls.

Saint-Denis, the capital, is the most populous commune, with 155,634 residents in 2023 (INSEE). Britannica notes that the coast has no good natural harbors, that Le Port can handle large ships through artificial port facilities, and that an international airport is near Saint-Denis. INSEE notes growth in 20 of 24 communes from 2017 to 2023, strongest at La Possession, with declines at Cilaos and Saint-Philippe.

UNESCO describes the cirques as massive natural amphitheaters of imposing height and verticality, framed by remparts, steep rock walls of varying geological age. La Réunion National Park names the three cirques Cilaos, Salazie and Mafate, and Britannica describes the west-central massif of Piton des Neiges as encircled by wide basins. The hero photo looks over Saint-Denis toward the sea from Bellepierre.

Réunion has two big volcanoes.

Piton des Neiges is sleeping. Piton de la Fournaise often erupts. The east side of the island gets lots and lots of rain.

Réunion is made of two volcanoes side by side. Piton des Neiges, the highest peak at about 3,070 meters, is dormant, which means it is resting. Piton de la Fournaise, in the east, is highly active: more than 150 eruptions have been recorded since the 1600s, and it erupted again in 2026.

Rain, landslides and rivers have carved the old volcano into cirques, deep gorges and cliffs. Trade winds from the southeast bring 4,000 to 8,000 millimeters of rain a year to the east and south, while the north and west can get as little as 635 millimeters. Tropical cyclones are frequent.

UNESCO credits a combination of volcanism, tectonic landslides, heavy rainfall and stream erosion for a rugged landscape dominated by two volcanoes, the dormant Piton des Neiges and the highly active Piton de la Fournaise. Britannica gives Piton des Neiges as 3,069 m (Wikidata gives 3,070 m) and notes three summits above 2,740 m in the west-central massif. The Global Volcanism Program describes Piton de la Fournaise as a massive basaltic shield volcano, 2,632 m high, with more than 150 eruptions, mostly lava flows, recorded since the 17th century; its latest eruption listed is in 2026.

Southeast trade winds from April to October bring 4,000–8,000 mm of rain a year to the south and east; the north and west may get only 635 mm. Temperatures are cool for the tropics at altitude, the lowlands hot and humid in summer, and tropical cyclones frequent. UNESCO inscribed the Pitons, cirques and remparts in 2010; the property, the core of La Réunion National Park, covers more than 100,000 ha, about 40% of the island.

Many plants on Réunion grow nowhere else.

Rainforests and misty cloud forests cover the mountains. People work to control plants and animals brought from elsewhere.

UNESCO calls Réunion's mountains a global center of plant diversity, with many plants found nowhere else. Subtropical rainforests, misty cloud forests and heaths cover the slopes.

On the islands of the Mascarenes, many native species have already been lost. Today the national park is a last refuge for many rare and endangered species, and plants and animals brought from elsewhere, called invasive species, are a constant threat that needs long-term work to control.

UNESCO describes the property as a recognized global center of plant diversity with remarkably high endemism across many taxa, and as harboring the most valuable natural habitats and species assemblages remaining on the Mascarene Islands. Its subtropical rainforests, cloud forests and heaths form a mosaic of ecosystems.

Given the major and partly irreversible human impacts across the Mascarenes, UNESCO says the property is the last refuge for a large number of endemic, threatened and endangered species, and that past losses of many native species underline the threat from invasive alien species, which will need long-term control and eradication efforts and significant funding.

People in Réunion have families from Africa, Europe and Asia.

Most speak Réunion Creole and French. Sugarcane grows on more than half of the farmland.

Most people in Réunion have mixed African, European and South Asian roots. Their ancestors include French settlers, enslaved Africans, and workers brought later from India, China and Southeast Asia. Réunion Creole is the language in common use, French is official, and some people speak Tamil.

Sugarcane is still the main crop: in 2021 it covered 54% of the island's farmland, according to France's agriculture ministry. Vanilla, fruit, vegetables and geraniums for perfume are grown too. Many people have moved away, mostly to mainland France.

Britannica describes a population mostly of mixed African, European and South Asian descent: enslaved workers were brought from East Africa, and later indentured laborers came from India, China, Southeast Asia and East Africa; after abolition in 1848 they arrived from mainland Southeast Asia, India and East Africa. Réunion French Creole is in common use, French is official, and Tamil is spoken by some; about four-fifths of the people are Roman Catholic. Limited land has encouraged substantial emigration, mostly to France.

Britannica calls sugar the economic base for more than a century, with rum and molasses among exports, and vanilla, tobacco and geraniums for perfume also grown; in 2021 sugarcane still covered 54% of the farmland (DAAF La Réunion). Much of the trade is with France, and unemployment stays high: INSEE estimated 19% of the workforce in the second quarter of 2026.