Mount Pelée is the Caribbean volcano that erupted catastrophically in 1902, destroying Saint-Pierre on Martinique.
The eruption began on 23 April 1902, after weeks of earthquakes, ashfall, and warnings. On 8 May, a fast-moving nuée ardente—a hot mixture of gas, ash, and volcanic fragments—swept down the mountain and devastated Saint-Pierre. Around 28,000 people died, making it one of the deadliest eruptions of the 20th century.
Mount Pelée is a stratovolcano on Martinique, part of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc where the Atlantic seafloor plate is subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate. Its eruption style helped establish the scientific use of the term “pyroclastic flow.”
Saint-Pierre was later rebuilt, but nearby Fort-de-France became Martinique’s main urban center. Mount Pelée remains an active volcano, although it has not repeated the 1902-scale disaster.