Ciboney Indians were the first inhabitants of Montserrat some 1,500 years ago; later came the Arawarks and Caribs, the latter dubbing the island Alliougana, which means either "Island of the Aloe Plant" or "Island of the Pricky Bush.". It was Christopher Columbus who discovered and named the island Montserrat in 1493 because of it's ressemblance to the lush terrain near the Montserrat Monastery in Spain.