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Montserrat is a small island in the Caribbean Sea close to the islands of Antigua and Guadeloupe, though with far fewer residents – only about 6,000 people live on Montserrat. The island is technically owned by the British with the classification of “British Overseas Territory”, similar designation to that of:
- In the Caribbean – Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos
- In the Atlantic / South Atlantic / Antarctica – Bermuda, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, St. Helena, Tristian da Cunha, and Ascension Islands, and the British Antarctic Territory
- In the Mediterranean Sea – Gibraltar, Sovreign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia
- In the Indian / Pacific Oceans – Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oneo Islands, and British Indian Ocean Territory (including Diego Garcia)
For other maps on islands, check out posts on the Kuril Islands and the Faroe Islands Tunnels!
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
A volcano erupted in 1995 that essentially cut the island in half
Many islands in the Lesser Antilles – the chain of islands that include Montserrat, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia and others down to Trinidad and Tobago along the Venezuelan coast – have volcanic origins. On this small island, the volcano Soufrière Hills in the southern half of the island erupted in 1995 forcing Montserrat residents to flee the former capital city of Plymouth before it became overwhelmed by ash and rubble. In total, a 15-meter-tall layer of ash coated the capital city. Further eruptions in 1996 and 1997 forced the local government to abandon the southern half of the island for the safety of its residents. The old Blackburn Airport was impacted and subsequently closed down, as well.
To this day, the southern half of Montserrat remains closed
The portion of the island impacted by the volcano is dubbed the “Exclusion Zone” and remains unoccupied to this day. The zones are split into 5 separate zones, all of which are accessible to visitors except for one due to its proximity to the Soufrière Hills volcano. Visitors are able to see the ruins of the old capital city, Plymouth, with permission from the local government – sites there include abandoned houses, government buildings and churches.
The “Pompeii of the Caribbean” has been leveraging creative tactics to boost tourism
Though a small island made even smaller due the “Exclusion Zone”, Montserrat has been trying to boost its tourism in creative ways. Due to its location near other popular vacation destinations such as Grenada, Barbados and other islands, Montserrat has been marketing itself as the “Pompeii of the Caribbean” to attract disaster tourists. Another strange tactic that Montserrat took to boost tourism and foreign investment was flipping the traditional visa requirements on their head – the territory instituted a “minimum stay” instead of the maximum stay that you would normally find in any other country.
Additional links and sources
- Tourism article on the island, including its volcanic history (link, published in 2022)
- Article about tourism in Montserrat (link, published in 2021)
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