Pelée, MountFrench Montagne Pelée, active volcanic mountain on the Caribbean island of Martinique, French West Indies. Situated 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Fort-de-France, it is reaches an elevation of 4,583 feet (1,397 mmetres) high. The Pelée (French: “Bald”) massif consists of , whose name is a French term meaning “Bald,” consists of layers of volcanic ash and lavas. A Its gently sloping cone , it is scored with ravines and supports luxuriant forests. Minor eruptions occurred in 1792 and 1851, but on May 8, 1902, it violently destroyed the port of Saint-Pierre, killing approximately 30,000 people, 15 percent of the island’s population. So dramatic was this event that the name of the mountain has been adopted as typifying (as in the term pelean) to describe that particular kind of eruption , the pelean-type eruption of ash, gas, and deadly nuée ardente (“fiery cloud”). A minor eruption occurred in 1929.