Mount Pelée

(Montagne Pelee), an active volcano on Martinique, in the West Indies. Elevation, 1,397 m. Mount Pelee is known for its catastrophic eruption in 1902, when a heavy hot cloud of ash and volcanic bombs and blocks destroyed the city of St. Pierre and its 26,000 inhabitants. The eruption led to the classification of such volcanoes as Pelean. Mount Pelée was less strongly active in 1929–32.