Pelée

Pelée, commonly Mont Pelée, is an active stratovolcano on the island of Martinique, in the Lesser Antilles. It rises in the island's northern region and is the highest point on Martinique, at about 1,397 meters above sea level.

The name Pelée comes from the French word for bald, referring to the bare, windswept slopes that characterize the volcano.

Geology and activity: Mont Pelée is part of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc, formed by subduction of the Atlantic Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate. The volcano has a long history of explosive activity. Its most notorious eruption occurred in 1902 and produced a deadly pyroclastic flow that destroyed the port town of Saint-Pierre, killing about 28,000 inhabitants and leaving the area devastated. The disaster is among the deadliest volcanic events of the 20th century.

Since 1902, Mont Pelée has shown intermittent eruptive activity and significant fumarolic emissions but no comparable disasters. It remains under continuous surveillance by the French volcanology network, with the Observatoire volcanologique et sismologique de la Martinique coordinating monitoring and risk communication. The site remains an important subject of geological study and, around Saint-Pierre, a place of historical memory and tourism.