Montserrat. Information.
MONTSERRAT is a Caribbean island that is a British overseas territory. It is located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands known as the Lesser Antilles. Area - 102 sq.km. Population - 4 488 (2005) Capital - Plymouth. Montserrat was populated by Arawak and Carib native people when it was claimed by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493, naming the island Santa Maria de Montserrat, after the Monastery of Montserrat in Catalonia. The island fell under English control in 1632. In 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, Montserrat was briefly captured by France. It was returned to Great Britain under the Treaty of Paris which ended that conflict. From 1871 to 1958, Montserrat was administered as part of the federal crown colony of the British Leeward Islands, becoming a province of the short-lived West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962. In the early hours of September 17, 1989 Hurricane Hugo, a Category 4 storm, struck Montserrat with full force producing sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and damaging over 90 percent of the structures on the island. Within a few years, the island had recovered considerably, only to be struck again by disaster in 1995. Currency : East Caribbean dollar (XCD) .
