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The infamous
volcano of Mt. Pel�e looms over the village of St. Pierre on the
French Caribbean Island of Martinique. This sleepy little village
shows little of the grandeur of turn-of-the-century St. Pierre,
which was a vibrant colonial city, known to European tourists
as the "Paris of the West Indies." With its red-tiled cottages,
rambling streets, and tropical vegetation, this prosperous little
city was renowned for its beauty. In the official 1894 census,
the population of St. Pierre was around 20,000. Although most
were native Martiniquans, the wealth and political power were
controlled largely by Creoles and a few French colonial officials
and civil servants. No one at the time could have predicted the
horror that was to descend on this tropical paradise with the
reawakening of Mt. Pel�e in the Spring of 1902. The violent eruption
of Mt. Pel�e on May 8, 1902 generated a pyroclastic flow that
rapidly moved down the River Blanche to destroy the small city
of St. Pierre on the Island of Martinique. The pyroclastic flow
killed over 25,000 people.
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