Open Travel Guide
History of Réunion

Réunion History & Heritage Guide 2026

Réunion's past, on the ground: the sites, museums, and eras that explain what you're seeing.

By Updated

The short answer: start with Musée Léon Dierx (Saint-Denis), Maison Carrère (Belle-Créole Architecture, Hell-Bourg) and Église Notre-Dame des Laves (Piton Sainte-Rose). This guide profiles 4+ historical sites in Réunion, with prices, timing, and the practical notes that decide whether each one earns a place in your plan.

Réunion is a French overseas region and department in the Indian Ocean, 700 km east of Madagascar and 200 km south-west of Mauritius. This volcanic island of extraordinary drama packs an active volcano, three steep-walled cirques, a UNESCO World Heritage mountain core, dense rainforest, and a warm lagoon into 2,512 km². It is simultaneously French enough to accept euros and credit cards everywhere, and exotic enough to feel like another world entirely.

Historical timeline

Key moments that shaped Réunion.

  1. 1

    Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas charts the island; names the Mascarene group

    ~1507
  2. 2

    French Governor Jacques Pronis lands on the island and names it Île Bourbon for the French royal house

    1642
  3. 3

    Formal French East India Company claim; first permanent settlement attempted

    1649
  4. 4

    First permanent French settlers arrive — 20 Frenchmen from Fort-Dauphin, Madagascar

    1665
  5. 5

    Coffee cultivation introduced; sugar cane follows; enslaved Africans and Malagasy imported to work plantations

    1690s
  6. 6

    Governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais transforms the island; builds Saint-Denis as capital; constructs first roads

    1735–1767
  7. 7

    Island renamed La Réunion during the French Revolution to reflect republican brotherhood

    1793
  8. 8

    British occupation during Napoleonic Wars; island briefly named Bourbon again after Restoration

    1810–1815
  9. 9

    Slavery abolished by the Second French Republic on December 20; 62,000 enslaved people freed — commemorated annually as the Fête des Libertés

    1848
  10. 10

    Indentured workers arrive from British India (Tamil Nadu), China (Hakka), and Comoros to replace freed labour on sugar plantations

    1848–1880s
  11. 11

    Réunion becomes a French Overseas Department (Département d'Outre-Mer); inhabitants gain full French citizenship

    1946
  12. 12

    First successful eruption monitoring station opened at Piton de la Fournaise

    1969
  13. 13

    Pitons, Cirques and Ramparts of Réunion Island inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site (natural)

    2010
  14. 14

    Réunion's lagoon (Hermitage–Saline) classified as UNESCO World Heritage Site (alongside Pitons)

    2017

Historical sites

Places where Réunion's past comes alive.

French colonial / early 20th century (opened 1912)

Musée Léon Dierx (Saint-Denis)

Where: Saint-Denis city centre

Admission: €5 adult / free under 26 (~$5.40)
French colonial Creole (19th c.)

Maison Carrère (Belle-Créole Architecture, Hell-Bourg)

Where: Hell-Bourg, Cirque de Salazie

Admission: €5 adult (~$5.40)
French colonial (church built 1887); 1977 lava flow

Église Notre-Dame des Laves (Piton Sainte-Rose)

Where: Piton Sainte-Rose, east Réunion

Admission: Free
French colonial (19th c.)

Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle (Saint-Denis)

Where: Saint-Denis

Admission: Free

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