Under the Volcano

Reunion island, a cone of volcanic rock that rises out of the Indian Ocean some 750 km east of Madagascar, is over 9,500 km away from Paris but — in theory, at least — is just as French as the Champs Elysées or the Côte d'Azur. Since 1946 the island has been a French département, like the country's 99 other local administrative units. Yet you don't have to spend long in the shadow of Réunion's active volcano to realize that the island is a long way from Lyons. Despite the French Republic's much-vaunted ideals of liberté, egalité, fraternité, Réunion is a...