1665 - 1764 : Bourbon Island is a concession granted by Louis XIV to the Oriental Company. It is governed by two agents of the Company: the governor and the warehouseman.

The first governor was Etienne Regnault who landed in 1665 with about twenty settlers. In 1694, during the governor absence, the inhabitants choose 6 between themselves to constitute the Council of Elders and govern the Island until 1696.

At that time, the Island has 269 inhabitants, 200 of which being Whites and 69 being Blacks.

A royal edict of 1711 institutes a Provincial Council which will become in 1724 the Superior Council. This Council mainly administers justice but also deals with administrative functions.

In 1714, the population of the Island comes to 1,780 inhabitants, including 623 Whites and 1,157 Blacks. In August 1764, Louis XV buies back Bourbon Island and the Island of France (Mauritius Island) to the bankrupted India for an amount of 7,625,348 pounds.

1767 - 1789 : The clearing of the India Company lasted a very long time and the retrocession to the Crown becomes effective only in July 1767.

In 1768, the Superior Council is abolished and the royal decree dated 25th September defines the new administrative organisation.

Both a governor-general, military leader and representative of the King, and an administrator in charge of the administration will jointly be responsable for the administration of Bourbon and the Island of France while living on this latter.

In Bourbon, the Governor is represented by a private Governor. The colony is divided into districts ; the commanders of those districts depend on the administrator. In 1789, at the eve of the French Revolution, there are 6 districts.

1825 - 1871 : The decree of August 21st, 1825 reorganizes the administation of the Colony and creates a County Council of 48 members appointed by King Charles X for a duration of 5 years.

The Charter of 1830 brings a certain liberalization: the deputies of the Island are directly elected by the County Council. Then, the law of April 24th, 1833, replaces the County Council by the Colonial Council composed of 30 members elected for one year.

This new Council will be suppressed by the Second Republic. It is a senatus-consulte dated 3rd May, 1854, that restores a new County Council of 24 members, half of them being appointed by the governor and half by the town councils.

In July 1866, the powers of the County Council are considerably widened : it functions like a real local parliament and exerts, by the vote of the detailed budget, a predominant action on the administration.

At the fall of the Empire, Reunion joins definitively the French politics. Indeed, the law of August 10th, 1871, defines the organization of the County Council whose members are from now on elected at the universal suffrage both in Reunion and France. Today, this law is still in force.

1946 : The law dated 19th March, 1946, transforms the four colonies into French departments: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane and Reunion. The first Prefet, Paul Demange, takes up its duties on August 15th, 1947, with the aim of beginning the departmentalization.

1949 : The law of August 2nd, 1949 stretches to the department and overseas territories the clauses of the law dated 10th August, 1871, related to the constituencies and also to the conditions and way of election of the County Councillors: Reunion is divided into 36 cantons. Today, they are 47.

1982 : On March 2nd, 1982, the law of decentralization related to the rights and liberties of the communes, departments and regions is adopted: certain competences the State held until then are transfered to the Commune, Department and Region. Those transfers are progressively done.

The chairmen of the Reunion County Council since departmentalization:

1949 : Roger Payet - 1966 : Marcel Cerneau - 1967 : Pierre Lagourgue - 1982 : Auguste Legros - 1988 : Eric Boyer - 1994 : Christophe Payet.