 The island was given its name by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, after its namesake located in Catalonia.Montserrat is often referred to as "the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean", due both to its resemblance to coastal Ireland and to the Irish descent of most of its early European settlers.Its Georgian era capital city of Plymouth was destroyed and two-thirds of the island's population forced to flee abroad by an eruption of the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano that began on July 18, 1995.