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| Region | Réunion |
| Number | 974 |
| Préfecture | Saint-Denis |
| Sous-préfectures | Saint-Benoît, Saint-Paul, Saint-Pierre |
| Area - Total - % water | 2,512 km²To help compare orders of magnitude of different geographical regions, we list here areas between 1,000 km² and 10,000 km². See also areas of other orders of magnitude. areas less than 1000 km² 1,000 km² is equal to: 1 E9 m² in scientific notation 100,000 0.4% |
| PopulationFor the use of the word population in statistics, see statistical population. In the most common sense of the word, a population is the collection of people—or organisms of a particular species—living in a given geographic area. Populations are studied in
- DensityFor other meanings of density, see density (disambiguation Density (symbol: rho Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. The higher an object's density, the higher its mass per volume. The average density of an object equals its total mass div |
287/km² |
Arabian sailors used to call this island Dina Morgabin ("Western island").
The PortugueseRepublica Portuguesa ( In Detail) National motto: None Official language Portuguese 3 Capital Lisbon President Jorge Sampaio Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes Area Total % water World ranking: 109th 92,391 km²0. 5 % Population Total ( 2004) Density World discovered the uninhabited islandAdriatic sea An island is any piece of land smaller than a continent and larger than a rock, that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets . Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on a in 1513Events January 20 Christian II becomes King of Denmark and Norway. March 11 Leo X elected pope. March 27 Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sights North America (specifically Florida) for the first time mistaking it for another island. Later, on April 2, he land.
The island was then occupied by the French. In 1642Events January 4 Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. Beginning of English Civil War. March 1 Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in America May 17 S, the King of France Louis XIIILouis XIII ( September 27 1601 May 14 1643) was King of France from 1610 to 1643. Born at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, Louis was the first child of Henri IV and Marie de Medicis. He ascended to the throne at age nine after the assassination of his father named it Île Bourbon. It was renamed Réunion during the French Revolution.
From the 17th to the 19th centuries, French immigration supplemented by influxes of Africans, Chinese, Malays, and Malabar Indians gave the island its ethnic mix. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cost the island its importance as a stopover on the East Indies trade route.
Réunion became an overseas departement of France on March 19, 1946.