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Country : Montserrat Official name: Montserrat Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II; represented by Governor Deborah E V Barnes-Jones (sworn in 10 May 2004) Head of government: Chief Minister John Osborne (since Apr 2001) Ruling party: New People's Liberation Movement (NPLM) (elected 2 Apr 2001) Area: 102 square km Population: 5,000 (2004) Capital: Plymouth – destroyed by volcano in 1997; temporary headquarters at Blades Official language: English Currency: East Caribbean dollar (EC$) = 100 cents Exchange rate: EC$2.70 per US$ (fixed) GDP per capita: US$3,400 (2003) GDP real growth: -1.00% (2003) Labour force: 4,520 (2003) Unemployment: 6.00% (2003) Inflation: 2.60% (2003) Balance of trade: -US$16.99 million (2003) Foreign debt: US$8.90 million (2003) Visitor numbers: 15,700 (2003)

Historical profile

1493 Montserrat was first sighted by Columbus.

1632 Britain gained possession of the island and English and Irish Catholic settlers from the Protestant island of St Kitts and Nevis colonised Montserrat.

1648 There were some 1,000 Irish families on the island.

1651 The first slaves were brought to the island and the economy became based on sugar.

1871–1956 Montserrat was part of the Leeward Islands, and then became a British Dependent Territory.

1958–62 Montserrat was part of the Federation of the West Indies. From 1960 the island had its own administrator (the title was changed to governor in 1971).

1995 The Soufriere Hills volcano began to erupt.

1997 A massive volcanic eruption destroyed the capital Plymouth, the airport and the port, and left the southern half of the island uninhabitable. Nineteen people were killed, thousands were left homeless and the population fell to around 4,000 as many fled to Britain and nearby Caribbean islands. David Brandt replaced Bertrand Osborne as chief minister.

1998 Reconstruction work began under the UK's Sustainable Development Plan.

1999 The UK government announced volcanic activity had dropped to safe levels. Evacuees began to return.

2000 The growth of a new lava dome at the Soufriere Hills volcano once again threatened the island.

2001 John Osborne became chief minister and Tony Longrigg was appointed governor by the Queen.

2002 The New People's Liberation Movement (NPLM) celebrated its first anniversary in office with Montserrat facing a constitutional review and much public debate over the location of a new airport.

2003 On 2 July, Deborah Barnes-Jones was appointed governor, to take office in April 2004. On 12 July, there was a major eruption at the Soufriere Hills volcano.

2004 In March, there was an increase in volcanic activity and people in the evacuation zone were told to leave the area immediately. On 2 April, Governor Tony Longrigg handed over to Sir Howard A Fergus, who became acting governor, and on 10 May, Deborah Barnes-Jones was sworn in as governor.

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