The area of long-term eruption ( the hotspot ), known as the Réunion hotspot, is suspected of both causing the Deccan Traps eruption and opening the rift that once separated the Seychelles plateau from India.

The island, garrisoned by a detachment from Réunion, has a weather station and is visited by scientists.

International tourism is a significant factor in the local economy of Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Réunion, Hawaii and the Maldives, among others.

The climate in Réunion is tropical, but temperature moderates with elevation.

The population of Réunion is 720, 934 as of 2000.

Réunion, is an overseas département of France.

The island's conventional name is the Department of Réunion, or Réunion.

It is also locally referred to as Île de la Réunion.

Réunion is governed by French law, and its constitution is the French constitution of 28 September 1958.

The gap in Réunion between the well-off and the poor is large and accounts for the persistent social tensions.

The top-level domain for Réunion is " RE ".

Réunion possesses a merchant marine of one ship with a weight exceeding 1, 000GRT, which is a chemical tanker.

The island's weather station, which warns of cyclones, is still operated by France and is staffed by meteorologists from Réunion.

The majority of the world's vanilla is the V. planifolia variety, more commonly known as Bourbon vanilla ( after the former name of Réunion, Île Bourbon ) or Madagascar vanilla, which is produced in Madagascar and neighboring islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and in Indonesia.

* Bourbon vanilla or Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla, produced from V. planifolia plants introduced from the Americas, is the term used for vanilla from Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar, the Comoros, and Réunion, formerly the Île Bourbon.

* December 20 – Slavery is abolished in Réunion.

The international airport of La Réunion, Roland Garros Airport, is also named after him.

Most freight is sent first to Mombasa or Réunion and transshipped from there.

This rift formation is associated with the Réunion hotspot which is also responsible for Réunion Island and the Deccan Traps in India.

A white Dodo was once incorrectly thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion.

Seafloor spreading at the boundary between the Indian and African Plates subsequently pushed India north over the plume, which now lies under Réunion island in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India.

Thus, the ship Cirne of the captain Diogo Fernandes Pereira, came into view of Réunion island on 9 February 1507.

On 4 October of the same year, a Mauritian pilot, Jean Hily, took off from Mon-Choisy for Réunion island.

In 1841, Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old slave who lived on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, discovered the plant could be hand-pollinated.

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Another proposed change is that new départements are created such as in the case of Réunion, where it has been proposed to create a second in the south of the island, with the région of Réunion above these two départements.

A Ciconia bone found in a rock shelter on the island of Réunion was probably of a bird taken there as food by early settlers ; no known account mentions the presence of storks on the Mascarene Islands.

Réunion (, ; previously Île Bourbon ) is a French island with a population of about 800, 000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.

The uninhabited island may have been first sighted by the expedition led by Don Pedro Mascarenhas, who gave his name to the island group around Réunion, the Mascarenes.

“ Réunion ” was the name given to the island in 1793 by a decree of the Convention with the fall of the House of Bourbon in France, and the name commemorates the union of revolutionaries from Marseille with the National Guard in Paris, which took place on 10 August 1792.

When it was restored to France by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the island retained the name of " Bourbon " until the fall of the restored Bourbons during the French Revolution of 1848, when the island was once again given the name “ Réunion ”.

During the Second World War, Réunion was under the authority of the Vichy Regime until 30 November 1942, when Free French forces took over the island with the destroyer Léopard.

All of the ethnic groups comprising the island are immigrant populations that have come to Réunion from Europe, Asia and Africa over the centuries.

It is not known exactly how many people there are of each ethnicity since there is a ban on ethnic censuses in France, which applies in Réunion because it is a part of the 1958 constitution and also due to the extnet of racial mixing on the island.

* Saint-Gilles, Réunion, Réunion island overseas département

The zest of the fruit is used in creole cuisine and to impart flavor to " arranged " rums in the Martinique, Réunion island and Madagascar. The leaves are the main part though

* Approximately 6000 years ago, a landslide on Réunion island, to the east of Madagascar, may have caused a megatsunami.

The French Navy has a flotilla based in Réunion, comprising ( from left to right on the photo ): the Southern patrol ship Albatros, the frigate Floréal, the P400 class patrol vessels La Rieuse and La Boudeuse and the patrol boat of the Gendarmerie Navale Jonquille, the BATRAL La Grandière and the Garonne, behind the CIGH22 tank, and the swift boat Vétiver ( outside the water ).

The French Southern Indian Ocean force based at La Réunion.

Overseas Départements and Territories use 3-digit codes starting with: 971 ( Guadeloupe ), 972 ( Martinique ), 973 ( French Guiana ), 974 ( Réunion ), 975 ( Saint-Pierre and Miquelon ), 976 ( Mayotte ), 984 ( French Southern Territories ), 986 ( Wallis and Futuna ), 987 ( French Polynesia ), 988 ( New Caledonia ).

The French Navy has a flotilla based in Réunion, comprising ( from left to right on the photo ): the Southern patrol ship Albatros, the frigate Floréal, the P400 class patrol vessels La Rieuse and La Boudeuse and the patrol boat of the Gendarmerie Navale Jonquille, the BATRAL La Grandière and the Garonne, behind the CIGH22 tank, and the swift boat Vétiver ( outside the water ).

* Southern Mascarene Plateau – Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge ( Réunion hotspot )

On 26 June 1960 they became a regular French possession, initially administered by the High Commissioner for Réunion, on 3 January 2005 transferred to the administrators of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

The southern part of the Mascarene plateau, also known as Southern Mascarene plateau ( SMP ), was formed by the Réunion volcanic hotspot along with the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge.

It has 7 species, mainly found in the tropical mountain forests of the Southern Hemisphere from Madagascar and Réunion to the Solomon Islands.