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Welcome to Montserrat on the Paradise
Islands website. The
small island of
Montserrat is located in
the Caribbean Leeward
island chain just 30
miles south west of
Antigua and north west
of
Guadeloupe. The
island has a volcanic
mountainous interior and
is around 10 miles long
and 7 miles wide. It's
nickname is "The Emerald
Isle of the Caribbean"
due both to it's similar
appearance to coastal
Ireland and the Irish
decent of many of it's
early European settlers. |
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Montserrat was named by
Columbus on his second
voyage in 1493. He named
the island "Santa Maria
de Montserrat" after the
famous monastery on the
Mountain of Montserrat
in Catalonia. The island
is a British overseas
territory and was first
occupied by the British
in 1632. |
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Natural
disasters have taken
their toll on this
pretty island in recent
times. In 1989
Montserrat took a direct
hit from Hurricane Hugo
which damaged over 90
percent of the buildings
and wiped out the
tourist trade for
several years. The
island was starting to
get back on it's feet
when the
Soufriere Hills
volcano erupted in 1995
and again in 1997
killing 19 people. The
erupting volcano buried the
island's capital of
Plymouth, the dock and
the W H Bramble airport.
Montserrat's economy was
destroyed and more than
half of the population
abandoned the island to
live elsewhere. |
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The
tourist trade is
gradually returning and
a
new airport was opened
in 2005 and a new
capital is being
constructed with docks
at Little Bay. The south
of the island remains an
exclusion zone, but in
it's own right serves as
a tourist attraction.
The last major volcano
eruption was in 2003.
Montserrat is open for
business and the volcano
and the half buried town
of Plymouth will remain
an important draw to any
tourists visiting the
island. |
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Travel, holiday, vacation and photograph
guide to Montserrat and the Caribbean. All text and images are Copyright
Paradise Islands
org 2009. All photographs on this website are obtained with
the permission of the owners and come from various sources
including the islands tourist boards. Some of our own images
maybe reproduced with permission - please see notes
attached to each image to avoid any copyright penalty.
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Soufriere Volcano |
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Buried Plymouth |
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Reconstruction |
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