The different names of Réunion

You're now passing Rue du Ruisseau des Noirs (literally "Black People's Stream Road"), a name that carries a heavy piece of history. It takes its name from the stream below where white masters would send enslaved Black people to fetch water. Réunion's history is written into the names of its streets, squares, and cirques, and the island's name also tells a fascinating story of its turbulent past, so closely intertwined with French history. The first people to spot this island were Arab navigators back in the 12th century, who called it Dina Morghabine, "the island of the West." Then came the Portuguese in the 16th century, stopping here on their route to India. Since they arrived on February 9th, Saint Apollonia's day, they christened this island Santa Apolonia Island. The Portuguese also gave the entire Mascarene archipelago its name, honouring Pedro Mascarenhas who landed in Mauritius in 1505. In the 17th century came the French, who established a trading post in Madagascar. When they decided to colonise this island, they named it Bourbon in honor of the reigning royal dynasty. The island became entangled with the dramatic turns of French history. During the Revolution, it officially became Réunion, referencing the historic union between Marseille federates and Parisian national guards during their march on the Tuileries Palace in 1792. They were symbolically erasing the last royal reference to a dynasty whose final member they had just guillotined. The name changed again in 1806 with Napoleon's empire, becoming Bonaparte Island. That didn't last long either, because when the English seized the island, they renamed it Bourbon again, perhaps as a monarchical dig at this revolutionary nation. Eventually, the English returned Bourbon Island to France, where it became Réunion once again. Now you know the whole story, and you'll never look at the name "Réunion" the same way again!