 However, it is certain that it was first used to designate the physical limits of the enormous parcels of land that the French East India Company granted to the French colonists who had just settled on the island's shores from the end of the 18th century.Thus, it is quite likely that it appeared in writing on the legal documents that the company had to draft in order to grant these concessions, a privilege that conferred upon it the status of royal factory.From the time Réunion started to be peopled, the island's entire territory was the property of the King.