^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

La Possession (Municipality, Reunion, France)

Flag of La Possession , current and former versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 7 March 2023 and 26 January 2009

Presentation of La Possession
Flag of La Possession

See also:

Presentation of La Possession

The municipality of La Possession (33,400 inhabitants in 2020; 11,835 sq.km) is located on the north-western shore of the island. The municipal territory includes most of the caldeira (cirque) of Mafate.

The name of the municipality recalls that the island of Reunion was proclaimed a possession of the King of France here in the 17th century. The use was to carve the Royal arms on a tree in a civil and religious ceremony; afterwards, nobody, especially no foreigner, could revendicate the territory.
The exact place and date of the ceremony is not known since nothing has been preserved from the event. The possession might have been proclaimed by Goubert, commanding the Saint-Alexis during the Madagascar expedition (1638), or by Governor of Mauritius Jacques de Pronis when he visited the island (1642), or by the naturalist Flacourt and captain Roger Lebourg, commander of the Saint- Laurent (1649).
The place was called La Possession in 1675 and settled around 1700. The town developed as a port of call located between Saint-Paul and Saint-Denis and was once famous for its coffee. Made an autonomous section of Saint-Paul in 1834, La Possession was granted the full municipal status only in 1890 after repeated requests by its inhabitants.

Ivan Sache & Olivier Touzeau, 9 February 2009 & 30 March 2023

Flag of La Possession

A new logo was adopted at least in 2014.
The current flag is white with the current logo (photo).

Olivier Touzeau, 30 March 2023

The flag of La Possession, as seen hoisted on a traffic circle near the seashore, is white with the municipal emblem.
The former municipal emblem seems to represents the natural environment of the municipality.

Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 9 February 2009