Record Atlas
7 eras · 1642–2026 · 1 places

Réunion (Île Bourbon)

Saint-Denis, Saint-Pierre, Saint-Paul, Saint-Louis, Le Tampon. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1642–1665 French claim - Île Bourbon no registers survive

Before settlement. The island was uninhabited when Jacques Pronis claimed it for France in 1642; it was named Île Bourbon in 1649.
1665–1793 French East India Company - Île Bourbon FamilySearch · Geneanet

Colonisation began in 1665 with settlers sent by the French East India Company. Censuses of Île Bourbon from 1708 to 1779 (except the general census of 1774) are digitised by the departmental archives; the archives' registers fill gaps in the overseas archives' holdings, notably for slave registers.
1793–1810 French Republic and Empire - La Réunion, then Isle Bonaparte FamilySearch · Geneanet

The National Convention renamed the island La Réunion in March 1793 (19 or 23 March by different accounts) and General Decaen renamed it Isle Bonaparte in 1806.
1810–1814 British occupation (from 7-9 July 1810) FamilySearch · Geneanet

British forces invaded in July 1810 and restored the name Isle Bourbon; the island returned to France under the Treaty of Paris in 1814.
1814–1848 France - Île Bourbon, a slave colony FamilySearch · Geneanet

Emancipation registers of 1832 are digitised by the Archives départementales.
1848–1946 France - colony of La Réunion FamilySearch · Geneanet

The name La Réunion was restored in 1848 and slavery abolished with effect from 20 December 1848. The special registers of 1848 are digitised. Indentured workers (engagés), many from South India, were brought in between 1848 and 1864.
1946–2026 France - overseas department and region FamilySearch · Geneanet

Réunion became an overseas department on 19 March 1946 and an overseas region as well in 1982.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1642–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

1 places on this ground

118 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 58 more.

All record regions · The map