Aereial View of Cirque de Cilaos, Reunion Island (photo)

Aereial View of Cirque de Cilaos, Reunion Island. Cilaos is at the center of the island in the southern part of the Piton des Neiges. The urban district is located in the Alto. Cilaos holds the world record of diurnal rainfall amounted to 1.87 m in 1952. The surrounding communities are in Saffron Walden, Entre-Deux, Saint Benedict, Saint-Leu, St. Louis, St. Paul, Salazie and three pools. The name Cilaos comes from the Malagasy word, Tsilaosa (modern form : tsy ilaozana), which means the place one never leaves. The word Cilaos finds its origins in the name of a Malagasian slave named Tsilaos who took refuge in this cirque. At the time, slaves were called "brown", whereas runaway slaves were called "black-brown". The first inhabitants of the cirque of Cilaos were thus "black-browns" who believed themselves to be at the top of the world and completely safe. However, these first runaways were recaptured very quickly, tracked and hunted by well-organized and well-armed slaveholders. In these runaways' attempts to escape recapture, several were killed. It seems likely that these first runaways created the goat paths that climb most of the mountains on Réunion. After the death or recapture of these runaway slaves, the cirque of Cilaos likely became uninhabited once again for a while, since the first official record of its settlement occur only around 1850. In this year, a spa station was set up, and by 1866, there were 960 inhabitants. By 1900, the population had risen to 2500, and the 1982 census recorded 5629 inhabitants in the whole cirque. (photograph 2013)