In the Caribbean, Montserrat is a British overseas territory. It is a part of the Leeward Islands, which are the northernmost islands in the West Indies' Lesser Antilles chain. Montserrat has a coastline that is approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) long and 11 kilometers (7 miles) wide. Due to its similarity to coastal Ireland and the Irish ancestry of many of its residents, it is dubbed "The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean." Montserrat is the only non-fully sovereign full member of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and the Caribbean Community.

In the southern part of the island, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano became active on July 18, 1995. Plymouth, Montserrat's capital during the Georgian era, was destroyed by eruptions. Two-thirds of the island's population fled between 1995 and 2000, mostly to the United Kingdom, leaving less than 1,200 people on the island in 1997 and nearly 5,000 by 2016. Volcanic activity continues, mostly in the area around Plymouth, including its docking facilities, and on the eastern side of the island around the former W. H. Bramble Airport, whose remains were buried by volcanic flows on February 11, 2010.

Due to the size of the existing volcanic dome and the potential for pyroclastic activity that results from it, an exclusion zone was established that extends from the southern part of the island all the way north to parts of the Belham Valley. Although visitors are generally not permitted to enter the exclusion zone, Isles Bay's Garibaldi Hill offers a view of Plymouth's devastation. The Montserrat Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor the volcano, which has been relatively quiet since the beginning of 2010.