Saint Denis The capital of the island is a clean and full of life, although quite expensive. Worth Barachois know the neighborhood and look at the many mansions Creole, although undoubtedly the most beautiful building in the city is the Cathedral of Saint Denis. Reunion is a volcanic island located in the Indian Ocean, about 800 kilometers east of Madagascar and 100 kilometers from Mauritius, near the Tropic of Capricorn. Depend on it other smaller islands: Tromelin, Juan de Nova, Glorioso Islands, India and Europe Bassa, all uninhabited (though with some military presence). Reunion Island is crossed by two mountain areas. One of them is formed by the Piton de la Fornauise, the volcano, as it is known on the island and still spitting washed with some frequency, although its eruptions usually flow through uninhabited areas so rarely cause damage. On the other mountainous area of ??the island, circuses Cilaos, Salazie and Mafate cliffs are breathtaking landscapes, waterfalls and craggy peaks that will delight fans of mountain sports and natural landscapes. The relief of the island of Reunion, therefore, is steep and varied: mountains, valleys, cliffs ... Only in the area of ??the coast the terrain is flat, and it is there where the main focus farms predominating growing corn and sugar. Mariners European, Arab and Polynesian Réunion knew but never colonized, it is said that for fear of volcanic eruptions. It was the French Company of the East Indies which was first established in the seventeenth century and gave the name of Bourbon, which would change several times until finally settling on the Meeting. Until the eighteenth century France had been content to use the island as a staging of his sailors while traveling through the area, but around 1715 the French decided to end the exploitation subsistence agriculture and crops of coffee, cotton and sugar cane, thereby substantially alter the life of the island. France turned to African slaves to the hard agricultural work, but in the early nineteenth century slavery was abolished and France was forced to import Indian labor. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 the island became an obligatory stop on the route between Asia and Europe. After World War II became a district meeting of the French republic. Today, the island is developing its tourism industry to the detriment of agricultural work. Meeting culture is the result of a mixture of peoples, beliefs and customs very different. In music, for example, African rhythms merge with the French and American traditional music. Although the Catholic religion and culture has been the one that has shaped the character of the island for centuries, and Islamic induista significant population also felt with its temples, mosques and traditional rites. The poet and painter Leon Dierx is certainly the most prominent figure of the local cultural scene. In the capital, Saint Denis, you can visit a museum dedicated to the artist which exposes an exceptional collection of French Impressionist works.