Island Hopping Montserrat History

ISLAND HPPING

A Brief History of Montserrat

Carib Indians had been living on Montserrat for centuries before Columbus “discovered” the island on November 11, 1493, and named it after a Spanish abbey where Loyola received his inspiration. The island was not settled until almost two centuries after Columbus when a group of Irish colonists, who were having problem with the Protestants on St. Kitts, landed and set up the first Irish Catholic colony in the Caribbean. More Irish settlers arrived in 1649 following the conquering of Ireland by Cornwell and control of the island ping-ponged between the French and British for a century until Montserrat was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. Years later, when Britain freed her slaves, the slaves in Montserrat donated two silver chalices to St. Anthony’s Church in gratitude.

As with most of the islands of the Caribbean, the sugar industry was replaced by the tourism industry, and on Montserrat it was no different, at least until the arrival of Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which decimated about 95% of the man-made structures on Montserrat. The island recovered quickly and by 1995 had built a cruise ship dock and Montserrat was becoming very chic, much like Mustique, then the island was hit hard by another natural calamity, the eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano in 1995, and subsequent eruptions that occurred over the next four years. An eruption in 1997 destroyed the capital of Plymouth and devastated the southern half of the island. From as much as twenty miles away you can easily see the conspicuous scars from the lava flows of the Soufrière Hills volcano. Plymouth itself reminds me of a deserted town from the movie “On The Beach.” Sailing close in one can see businesses, houses, and part of the clock tower destroyed by the lava flow; Plymouth had just completed construction of a $28-million hospital that was destroyed before it could ever be used. From a population of 11,000 in 1995, the majority of the inhabitants of Montserrat moved away until only a hardy 4,000 remained.

But Montserrat seems to go on and on in spite of volcanic activity. The island is rebounding a bit, there are now over 30 restaurants on the island and a new hotel has been built at the northern end of the island, far from the volcano. The latest in the revival of island life on Montserrat was the return of the annual Fishing Tournament on Labor Day, the first Monday in May, of 2001. For many years this tournament was held with two days of competition closely followed by the Montserrat Open (the last tournament was held in 1995).