Originally uninhabited, it was colonized by the French in the seventeenth century, and was populated by the colonizers and their slaves, to whom the inhabitants can trace their lineage.
Frakkar námu land á Réunion á 17. öld og var þar engin byggð fyrir. Fyrstu íbúarnir voru Frakkar ásamt þrælum þeirra og eru því íbúar eyjunnar í dag afkomendur þeirra.