France > Réunion > Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis, Réunion

Saint-Denis is the préfecture of the French overseas region and department of Réunion, in the Indian Ocean. It is located at the island's northernmost point, close to the mouth of the Rivière Saint-Denis.

Saint-Denis is the most populous commune in the French overseas departments. At the 1999 census, there were 158,139 inhabitants in the urban area of Saint-Denis, 131,557 of whom lived in the city of Saint-Denis proper and the remainder in the neighbouring commune of Sainte-Marie.

History

Saint-Denis was founded by Étienne Regnault in 1669 and became the capital of Réunion island in 1738.

Geography

Neighbourhoods

The town has many neighbourhoods : Le Barachois, Bellepierre, Bois-de-Nèfles, La Bretagne (Le Cerf), Le Brûlé, Les Camélias, Centre-ville, Champ-Fleuri, La Montagne(Le Colorado, Ruisseau Blanc, Saint-Bernard), Montgaillard, La Providence, La Rivière Saint-Denis (La Redoute), Ruisseau des Noirs, Saint-François, Saint-Jacques, Sainte-Clotilde (Le Butor, le Chaudron, Commune Prima, Domenjod, Le Moufia), La Source, La Trinité, Vauban

Transport and accommodation

The closest airport is Roland Garros Airport which is also the main international airport of Réunion.

The hotels in Saint-Denis include Mercure Creolia Hotel, Austral Hotel and Best Western.

Politics

Mayors

Attractions

Economy

IBM has an office in Saint-Denis.

Climate

Saint-Denis features a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) with two distinct seasons: a hot and humid wet season from December to April and a very warm, less humid dry season for the remaining seven months of the year. Y=The dry season does typically feature relatively light rain, but it is not wet enough to be a tropical rainforest climate. During the wet season, tropical cyclones often affect the city.

Personalities

Sentenced to exile in Réunion, the Moroccan Rais Abd el-Krim lived a few years in Saint-Denis from 1926.


Alphabetical Index of Pages | Hierarchical Index of Pages


All content originates from the English Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0