The different names of Réunion

The different names of Reunion

The Saint-Denis audio-guided tour takes you through Rue du Ruisseau des Noirs, whose name recalls, with gravity, the stream where masters sent enslaved people to fetch water. The island's history is inscribed even in its names, beginning with that of Reunion.

A history of names

The first to sight the island are the Arab navigators, who name it Dina Morghabine, the island of the West. The Portuguese stop there in the 16th century and, on a day of Saint Apollonia, call it Santa Apolonia; they also give the archipelago the name of Mascarenes. The island then becomes Ile Bourbon under the India Company, then Ile Bonaparte, before receiving, at the Revolution, its revolutionary name of Reunion, which it keeps today.

What to remember

Each name tells a stage of the settlement and the eventful history of the island, closely linked to that of France. The names of streets, squares and cirques keep the trace of this past, including its most painful pages, such as slavery. This stage invites you to read the city as an open book on its memory.

Practical information

This stage of the tour is a historical perspective, with no specific site to visit. It lends itself to attentive listening through the streets of the Saint-Denis centre, whose names carry the memory of the island's history and its inhabitants.

What names has the island borne ?

Dina Morghabine for the Arabs, Santa Apolonia for the Portuguese, then Ile Bourbon, Ile Bonaparte and finally Reunion.

Where does the name Reunion come from ?

It is a revolutionary name, adopted at the French Revolution, which replaced the former name of Ile Bourbon.