Population of Montserrat. Montserrat, the abandoned country
Tiny State Montserrat, occupying an area of just over 100 square meters. km, is located on the island of the same name, which is part of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea and has the status of an overseas territory Great Britain.
These lands were discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and named after a Benedictine monastery located in the mountainous regions of Catalonia. During the 17th-18th centuries, England and France actively competed for possession of the island, and in the end it went to the British. Thanks to the Birmingham philanthropist Joseph Sturge, in 1869, the Montserrat Company was founded here, which bought sugar cane plantations and planted lime trees on the fertile lands of the island, after which large-scale production of lime juice began, which allowed the British colony to significantly improve its economic situation. At the beginning of the 20th century, houses and municipal and educational institutions began to be actively built in Montserrat. In a fairly short period of time, the overseas territory of Great Britain has become a well-organized independent Island state with an excellent agricultural system and developed tourism infrastructure, governed by a governor and having an Executive and Legislative Council.
The main natural attraction of Montserrat is the majestic volcanic Soufriere Hills complex, located in the southern part of the island. Its height is 915 meters, and it consists mainly of andesite rock. The crater of the volcano has a diameter of 1 km, and its top has several volcanic domes. All life on the island depends on this ancient natural formation, which last years was greatly affected by the Soufriere Hills eruption that occurred on June 25, 1997, when 19 people were buried under fiery lava. At the same time, the city of Plymouth was completely destroyed, until that moment it had served as the capital of the country of Montserrat and the only one in the country international Airport. The first eruption occurred in August 1995, but unlike the events that occurred two years later, at that moment the island’s authorities managed to prevent the consequences of the disaster in advance by evacuating local population. After some time, people returned to their homes, but only to leave them again after 1 year and 10 months. Now Plymouth, which was previously home to more than 4,000 people, fully corresponds to the status of a ghost town, completely covered with gray ash and permeated with the atmosphere of the tragedy that occurred here. After the 1997 eruption, the island's population decreased by two-thirds, and the role of the capital is now temporarily filled by the village of Brades.
On July 28, 2008, a strong eruption occurred again in the southern part of Montserrat, again reaching the territory of Plymouth. At the moment, this region of the island is under strict protection and supervision of specialists. Civilians are prohibited from entering there under threat of a large fine and administrative liability. All civilized objects and several thousand local residents, are located in the northern part of the island in the area of the actual capital Brades, away from Soufriere Hills. According to researchers, life in the south of Montserrat will resume no earlier than in 10 years, but for now those indigenous islanders who left these places at the end of the last century are beginning to gradually return to their homeland, engaging in agricultural cultivation, cattle breeding and fishing. The main fruit and vegetable crops are still sugar cane, cotton, bananas, avocados, coconuts, and mangoes. Over the past 10 years, it has begun to recover and tourism infrastructure islands. However, mainly financial support comes only from the UK, so the pace of recovery cannot be called rapid. However, by the mid-2000s the country began to take on its former appearance. The airport has been restored, air connections with some countries have been established, and new modern and comfortable hotels have been built on the coast, dotted with bright evergreen palm trees and snow-white fine sand.
All tourist infrastructure is also located in the northern part of the island. The most picturesque place is considered to be the coast of the bay. Carrs Bay, which houses a historical reserve with the ruins of a 17th-century fort, ancient cannons, a war memorial and an elegant clock tower. Near the town of Brades there is a real football field that meets FIFA requirements and where the Montserrat football team regularly plays, which has been fighting for the right to play in the World Cup for many years now, with great desire, but so far unsuccessfully. Rich undersea world attracts divers here, the soft warm sand promotes a pleasant time on the beach, and connoisseurs of culinary delights have the opportunity to taste local cuisine, replete with dishes traditional to Great Britain and the Mediterranean countries. You can move around the island by regular buses and taxis, and those who want to enjoy sea trips, can rent a boat or any other floating vehicle.
© aglife.ru
© aglife.ru
Since 1995, the volcano has been erupting intermittently, but people have somehow learned to live next to it (though 2/3 of the country has banned economic activity). There is a volcanic observatory on the island Montserrat Volcano Observatory(MVO), which constantly measures the activity of the volcano, and a complex civil defense system. The island is divided into zones marked with letters (A, B, ...) with different statuses; the observatory, based on observations, assigns a “danger level” from 1 to 5 (currently the “danger level” is 3). Depending on the “level of danger”, certain activities are allowed or prohibited in different zones: somewhere you can live and do whatever you want, fearing only ash falling from the sky and Caribbean cyclones; somewhere you can live for those who already live, but be prepared to evacuate; No one except specialists is allowed to be somewhere. Every house usually has a silent battery-powered radio, through which an evacuation alert can be transmitted at any time - in a sense, an analogue of our radio point (whose main purpose, as we know, is civil defense and emergency alerts)
Most of the island (zone V), regardless of the level of danger, is always closed to normal human life 
The EC$20 note still features the government house of Montserrat: 
Some houses in zone V look completely intact, but after a few cyclones and a few years, their roofs will first collapse, and then trees will grow through the roofs 
Light and fragile volcanic pumice is easily washed away by tropical rains. Erosion is destroying Plymouth much faster than any pyroclastic flows 
Scientists see a pier cruise ships: from the ridge of concrete blocks dividing the frame horizontally in half, and from the remains of some port structures at the bottom of the frame, you can guess its original length. All the rest of the sand is further into the sea - " new land", from the brought volcanic eruption or ordinary mudflow rock 
Scientists see a power plant: they say that intact generators remain inside, and although it is not clear how much time has spared them, there is a plan to dismantle them and restore them in a new place 
This used to be the old airport of Montserrat. Nothing left 
Scientists see a boulder almost the size of a floor on the roof of a house: 
This stone rolled down from a volcano: it is 5 floors high 
Everything below the cliffs is new land, which was formed by eruptions over the past 15 years 
The dome of the volcano is hidden by a cloud in which sulfur fumes are thickly mixed. The smell is truly hellish
This is not a landing or hovering: the helicopter flies at 120-200 km/h, 5-7 meters from the ground. The pilot says that any helicopter pilot is taught this, because such flights (close to the ground and objects) are one of the main niches for the use of helicopters. “There are airplanes for flying at high altitudes and away from obstacles.” Helicopter flights are almost always visual, only very large and/or cool machines are equipped for instrument flights 
People left the “zone”, but the animals remained and went wild. A special Montserrat pastime is hunting wild sheep and goats in the “zone” 
The sulfur erupted by the volcano oxidizes and, mixing with water, spills onto the ground as acid rain - this is why there are so many dead trees here 
The house on the left clearly shows how he was buried pyroclastic flow almost to the level of the 2nd floor, but nature managed to take its toll, everything was already overgrown with lush greenery. Gullies are formed when volcanic sand carried pyroclastic flow washed away by the rain 
But I didn’t walk along this river valley near Plymouth. pyroclastic flow, and an ordinary mudflow: when a cyclone floods the Caribbean with water, the streams wash away volcanic material and carry it down to the sea 
In the valley there used to be a Montserrat golf club, a bridge over a river and a suburb of Plymouth with the most expensive real estate on the island. Now it's all buried under a 5-meter layer of volcanic sand 
Nowadays, volcanic sand is mined here, transported to the port on dump trucks, loaded onto barges and exported to neighboring Caribbean countries - concrete made from volcanic sand requires less cement 
Plymouth again: 
If you look closely at the roof of the workshop, you can see that it is all covered with sand 
Plymouth mon amour 
IKEA? Mega? Auchan? 
Water stadium? 
Hotel 5* 
As elsewhere in the Caribbean, many sugar cane mills remain from colonial times: 
Plymouth stood on a cliff, but now, due to eruptions, beaches of brown sand have formed around it 
This is zone B, people can already live here. House of the main Montserrat oligarch: 
Allihuagana, Emerald Land, Caribbean Pompeii, Abandoned Country... When a tourist who has visited an exotic corner calls Montserrat this way, he is not mistaken - the island actually has several names. One is official, others were inherited from the ancient Indians or appeared in modern times. What is so attractive about this region for travelers? In short, nature and history.
Montserrat on the map
Montserrat island on the world map or detailed map The islands can be viewed using the navigation buttons (+/-).
The land is located in the chain of the Lesser Antilles and is one of the British possessions. Its coastline is washed by the Caribbean Sea, adjacent to Saint Kitts and Nevis in the northwest, Antigua and Barbuda in the northeast, and French Guadeloupe in the south. total area Caribbean Pompeii - 102 km².
The self-explanatory name is no coincidence; in 1995, one of the three volcanoes, Soufriere Hills, came to life. The result of his awakening was the destruction of the capital, the town of Plymouth. Now this temporary status is occupied by the village of Brades, located in the northern part of the territory. During the eruption, two-thirds of the population left the island; currently the number of permanent residents is about 13 thousand.
Figuratively speaking, holidays in Montserrat can be divided into three main areas: beach, research, and environmental. The first is the traditional joy that the hospitable Caribbean gives to all tourists: sunbathing, underwater adventures in scuba masks, boat trips, fishing.
The second one will be appreciated by those inclined to adventure, since on the abandoned territory of the island there are many dilapidated buildings, the inspection of which guarantees strong emotions. This also includes mountain climbing.
The third direction is ecotourism. This Caribbean island is divided virtually into two parts: rocky, lifeless, gloomy and blooming, bright, charming in a Caribbean way. Whatever the purpose of the voyage, travelers will find cozy hotels, good cuisine, less crowds and a lot of impressions.
Damp tropical thickets in the mountains, bright flowers, lush ferns near rivers and waterfalls gradually fade away to the lifeless, without a single blade of grass, rocky southern part of the island. Not so long ago, of the three volcanoes, Chance Mountain was considered the highest - 915 meters. After all the eruptions, the lava domes of Soufriere Hills outgrew their neighbor by one and a half dozen meters.
The soil in some areas of Montserrat is fertile, before the sad events it was flourishing Agriculture: limes, sugar cane, avocados, bananas, mangoes, and coconuts were grown on an industrial scale. Now the places where the plantations were green are only suitable for filming a film about the fulfilled prophecies of the Apocalypse. However, lovers natural beauty ecotourism will delight you: the forest thickets are magnificent, the steep banks serve as a haven for colonies of birds, solitude on the wonderful coast will fill you with energy and delight.
Attractions Montserrat
It is preferable to start your acquaintance with Montserrat with an aerial review. For a relatively small fee you can admire from above the volcanoes, the turquoise transparency of the waves, and the mountain slopes covered with forests.
Then go down to earth and go to former capital. It is abandoned, but not torn to pieces by looters. People fled from their native lands, in a hurry taking only documents and savings. Now the settlement looks depressing at the same time (houses, churches, shopping centers, port, abandoned cars, streets filled with cooled lava), and mysterious. A feeling of unreality is created: there are dishes on dusty tables, jackets on hangers in closets, portraits on the walls, unopened bottles in bars, equipment from those times... A wonderful opportunity, having crossed decades, not only to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the recent 90s, but also in an earlier period . In the outlines of many buildings one can discern a colonial-refined style, the remains ancient estates majestic and mysterious.
It is not for nothing that guests of the island flock to Montserrat in winter - at this time traditional festivities take place here. The Christmas festival begins in mid-December and the fun continues until the beginning of January: carnivals, processions, beauty contests, musical parties a la Calypso, fairs. In other months, the measured way of life in the original villages will delight those seeking solitude and peace.
When is the best time to go to Montserrat?
The climate in Montserrat is subequatorial. The temperature closer to the sea varies, depending on the season, from 24 to 35 degrees; in the mountains, of course, it is cooler - from 18 to 27 degrees. Tropical hurricanes are possible in late summer and early Caribbean autumn. January and the spring months are recognized as the best in terms of recreation.
An ambiguous, mysterious, charming island in its exotic harmony. It may not be a very suitable place for traveling with children, but adventurers in the 18+ age category will definitely not forget a trip to Montserrat!
Island on the N. arch. Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Sea. Discovered in 1493 by Columbus and named Montserrat in honor of the Catholic monastery of Montserrat, located on the mountain of the same name in Spain. Name from Spanish Monto Sagrado sacred mountain.… … Geographical encyclopedia
MONTSERRAT- British possession on the island of the same name, part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago. The territory area is 102 km2. The population (estimated for 1998) is 12,828 people, including over 1.3 thousand foreigners, average density... ... Cities and countries
MONTSERRAT- (Montserrat) General information Official name Montserrat. An overseas territory of Great Britain on the island of the same name in the West Indies, in the Lesser Antilles group. The total area is 102 km2, the population is 4.5 thousand people. (2001).… … Encyclopedia of countries of the world
Montserrat- island in the north of the arch. Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Sea. Discovered in 1493 by Columbus and named Montserrat in honor of the Catholic monastery of Montserrat, located on the mountain of the same name in Spain. Name from Spanish Monto sagrado sacred mountain... Toponymic dictionary
Montserrat- (Montserrat), a British possession on the island of the same name in the West Indies, in the Lesser Antilles group. Area 101 km2. Population 12.2 thousand people (1978). The dominant religions are Protestant and Catholic. Official language … … Encyclopedic reference book "Latin America"
Montserrat, o.- (Montserrat) Montserrat, an island in the West Indies, one of the Windward Islands; pl. 102 sq. km, 12,000 people (1988, evaluation); official language English; Ch. city Plymouth. Visited by Columbus in 1493. and was named after the Benedictine... ... Countries of the world. Dictionary
- (Montserrat) an island in the West Indies, part of the Lesser Antilles; possession of Great Britain. Area 98 km2. Population 12 thousand people. (1971). Administrative center Plymouth. The main occupation of the population is the cultivation of cotton, bananas... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- (Montserrat) is in the West Indies, a possession of Great Britain. The first Antigua stamps overprinted with the name. o va issue. in 1876. In 1880 ed. stamps with a portrait of the Queen and the title. colonies, 1917 19 military tax stamps, 1932 first commemorative stamps,... ... Large philatelic dictionary
Montserrat- 1st female name, the name is Montserrat 2nd human island in the Antillean archipelasis... Spelling dictionary of Ukrainian language
Montserrat- (Montserrat)Montserrat, mountain, in Catalonia, N.E. Spain, N.W. from Barcelona, on which stands a famous Benedictine monastery, founded in the 2nd century. It is believed that the image of the Virgin Mary located in it was carved by St. Luke and brought... Countries of the world. Dictionary
Books
- Montserrat Caballe. Casta diva, Robert Pullen, Stephen Taylor. The monograph by American authors about the world-famous Spanish diva attracts with its thoroughness, thoroughness in presenting the material, scrupulousness in collecting all kinds of...
- Montserrat Catharsis of the Victim, Hellwald A., Khmelnitskaya T.. To cope with recently experienced stress, Montserrat Edelstahl, on the advice of a psychologist, goes to a resort in Indian Ocean. A wonderful atmosphere, imbued with romance, and next to...
Before my trip to Montserrat, I was sure that volcanoes kill, if not with lava, then with earthquakes. But with a close acquaintance with Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano and the destroyed Plymouth, you have to learn about pyroclastic flows. The magma here is not hot enough to reach the liquid surface and spill out into lava, so the cooling magma clogs the vent, forming something like a champagne cork. While the eruption continues, the clogged dome is supported by lava from below, the dome grows, and sooner or later an explosion occurs, the top of the volcano flies into the air and falls down, forming a pyroclastic flow - a mixture of volcanic gas, superheated steam, ash and solidified lava (from stones the size of 5 -storey building to ordinary sand). The stream, heated to 500°C, rushes down at a speed of 100 km/h, destroying, of course, everything. Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii, and Eyjafjallajökull, which made European history freeze air space, erupted in the same way. The last time Soufriere Hills raged was in February 2010. Boulders of cooling magma can be seen rolling down the slopes of the volcano. During the day, the lava looks black. But on a clear night, if the clouds do not cover the top of the volcano and the cloud of sulfur oxides is blown away by the wind, it is noticeable that the erupting rocks are still very hot.
Previously, at the foot of the volcano there was quite a brilliant Caribbean Plymouth. Soufriere Hills slept for 400 years and suddenly woke up 15 years ago, in 1995, to completely change the life of the island, destroying its capital and only city (now there is not a single city or town on the island that resembles a city - just “one-story America” ). The population dropped from 13,000 to 5,000 (there were almost no deaths, people left the island during evacuation or on their own, but many did not return: housing was destroyed and the tourist-oriented economy fell into disrepair).
And this is Plymouth today. Soufriere Hills, obscured by fumes, in the background. People abandoned the city in 1997, after a series of eruptions.
Some years ago it was still possible to get to Plymouth by land, and visiting the destroyed city became a ritual for locals (for whom the loss of the capital, most of the country’s real estate and almost the entire tourism business is a national tragedy) and an attraction for tourists. These days things have become stricter and viewing Plymouth from a boat or helicopter is the only legal option left. On a boat you can get quite close, but you cannot stop.
Visits are closed due to the danger of pyroclastic flows: once the eruption has begun, then with a flow speed of 100 km/h it will not be possible to escape from it. In 1997, 19 people died this way.
To ensure that no one breaks this rule, the banks are patrolled by police. By the way, the police, like everywhere else in the post-British world, are “checkered.”
Since then, the volcano has been erupting intermittently, but people have somehow learned to live next to it. The island has a volcanic observatory, the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO), which constantly measures volcanic activity, and a sophisticated civil defense system. Montserrat is divided into zones marked with letters (A, B, ...) with different statuses; the observatory, based on observations, assigns a “danger level” from 1 to 5 (currently the “danger level” is 3). Depending on the “level of danger”, certain activities are allowed or prohibited in different zones: somewhere you can live and do whatever you want, fearing only the falling of ash from the sky and Caribbean cyclones; somewhere you can live for those who already live, but be prepared to evacuate; No one except specialists is allowed to be somewhere. Every house usually has a silent battery-powered radio, through which an evacuation alert can be transmitted at any time - in a sense, an analogue of our radio point (whose main purpose, as we know, is civil defense and emergency alerts). Most of the island (zone V), regardless of the level of danger, is always closed to normal human life.
