The Island of Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory dependent on the United Kingdom located in the Lesser Antilles, with the Caribbean Sea to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. It has the islands of Nevis and Antigua to the north and Guadalupe to the south. Its surface is 102 km², and its coasts measure about 40 km.
The capital of Montserrat is Plymouth, but this town had to be abandoned in 2005 due to the eruption of the Soufriere volcano and since then the city of Brades has been operating. The official language is English that is spoken with a marked Irish accent, an inheritance left by the old Irish settlers.
Today Plymouth is a ghost town mostly submerged under the mud of the volcanic eruption. The city is closed and enclosed within the zone imposed as an exclusion of the island.
The exclusion zone extends out of the city and covers approximately half of the island. The coast was greatly expanded by eruptions.
In 2010, a new volcanic explosion sent pyroclastic flows cascading down the volcano's hills to the sea.
Plymouth is still the capital of the island but for a decade and a half, nobody lives there. Only ashes and debris remain from what was once a city of several thousand people.
Brades is the de facto capital of Montserrat and is located in Carr Bay, near the northwestern tip of the island.
AN ISLAND DIVIDED IN TWO
The island of Montserrat, after the devastating eruptions, was divided into several zones.
In the northern zone, you can live and do tourism. There are areas of restricted access. There is also a strip of land only three or four kilometers wide that is exclusive for residents, people who must have helmets and masks in their homes.
Further south of the island is the exclusion zone. It comprises almost two-thirds of the island territory and entry is prohibited except by government permission, which only grants it for scientific purposes.
