9th February, 1507 Europeans first landed at the island of Reunion

The first European to step on the island of Reunion, was the Portuguese Diogo Fernandes Pereira. He named the land seen Santa Apoloniain honor of the Holy Apollonia. On the 9th of February Catholic Church celebrates the day of this saint. However, on the Portuguese maps the island appeared in 1502, but it was marked as Dina Morgabim, which is likely to be distorted by the Arab name.

Curiously, the Arabs were aware of this island in the XI century, and called him Dean Maghreb, which translates as "the West Island." The name comes from the geographical location of the island. If you look at the map, you will see that there is also the island of Rodrigues and Mauritius, which form an archipelago with Réunion - Mascarene Islands.

In 1649 France announced the islandas its colony, giving it the name of Bourbon in honor of the ruling dynasty. The first map of the island of Bourbon dates from 1645. After the revolution, the name was changed to "Reunion", which in French means "union" in honor of the Union and Marseilles National Guard regiments in the assault of the palace of Louis XVI in 1792.

If you're about to find on a modern map of the world Reunion Island, please note that it is located in East Africa, the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.