History of Montserrat

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On 3 November 1493 on his second voyage, Christopher Columbus sailed past the island and named it Santa Maria de Montserrate after the "Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrat", located in the Mountain of Montserrat in Catalonia. Despite claiming the island, the Spanish did not colonise it and English and French interest grew.

Charles I granted a patent to allow colonisation in 1625. The first European colony was established in 1631 when Irish Catholics were forcibly moved to there and Antigua to prevent them from siding against English Protestants on St Kitts.

After Oliver Cromwell's defeat of the Irish during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, (notably at the siege of Drogheda in 1649) Irish political prisoners were transferred to Montserrat. A new fort at Kinsale was built.

In 1655 Cromwell himself was entertained on Montserrat. Montserrat was hit by hurricanes in 1657 and 1658.

Montserrat was a province of the West Indies Federation from 1958 until 1962, when it reverted to a colony of the United Kingdom.

The Soufrière Hills volcano erupted starting on July 18, 1995 making most of the island uninhabitable and displacing ⅔ of its population. The UK Government sent HM Ships Liverpool and Newcastle to help evacuate the island.

See also: Montserrat