Culture in the Eparses Islands
Europa, an uncharacteristic history
This island was discovered on the 24th of December 1774 by an English vessel, "Europa". The island kept this name as a map maker named it after the vessel. Europa was annexed to France on the 6th of October 1896 and the official act declaring Europa as being French is dated the 31st of October 1897.
Europa has experienced several unsuccessful colonisation attempts since the end of the 19th century. Around 1860, a French man named Rosiers came from Tuléar to settle on the island. Little is known about what he did on the island or how long he stayed, but all the animals he imported have returned to the wild. About 100 goats still living on the island are probably the descendants of his livestock.
Other human settlements happened at the beginning of the 20th century mainly hoping to cultivate sisal and exploit sea turtles. The presence of a small community has been confirmed for 1903 but the adventure ended due to a lack of drinking water. Those who tried to leave the island by canoe drowned and the others were taken back to Tuléar. Around 1910 two couples from the Seychelles and 3 Malagascan employees lived on Europa for a few months. 5 of them died in terrible circumstances. Their graves remain in Europa's small cemetery.
It seems that some more inhabitants lived on the island between 1910 and 1923 as well as fishermen who came to hunt loggerhead turtles for their shells and eggs.
Some stone construction relics to the North of the island, and a sisal plantation in the heart of the euphorbia forest are the remains of the different periods.
After the Second World War, air transportation development and the need for a more developed worldwide weather observation network led France to build stations on uninhabited islands, from the Kerguelen to the Eparses Islands, confirming at the same time a strategic presence in the Indian Ocean. A weather station and an air strip were built in 1950 and a French plane landed there for the first time on the 18th November 1950.
Located in a flood zone in the South of the island, the air strip was moved to the North of the island after a forest of euphorbia had been cleared. The strip was finished in April 1973. The same year, following a claim for the land by the new Madagascan government, France decided to reinforce military presence on the islands and sent 15 soldiers to Europa (and other French islands in the Mozambique Channel). Even though the army is still present nowadays, the weather station has been automated.
Due to the geographic position, the small surface area (20km2) and the fact that Europa is only 6 meters above sea level, the land biotopes are not very varied and there are only few animal species. However, due to the absence of human life, the lagoon, the mangroves, the plateau and the outside reefs create, for the scientists, a priceless underwater treasure. On the 18th of November 1975, Europa was classified a Natural Reserve.
