Background
History
When Columbus discovered the island on his third voyage in 1498, it was inhabited by Caribs, who had migrated from the South American mainland, killing or enslaving the peaceful Arawaks who were already living there. The Amerindians called their island Camerhogue, but Columbus renamed it Concepción, a name which was not to last long, for shortly afterwards it was referred to as Mayo on maps and later Spaniards called it Granada, after the Spanish city. The French then called it La Grenade and by the 18th century it was known as Grenada. Aggressive defence of the island by the Caribs prevented settlement by Europeans until the 17th century. In 1609 some Englishmen tried and failed, followed by a group of Frenchmen in 1638, but it was not until 1650 that a French expedition from Martinique landed and made initial friendly contact with the inhabitants. When relations soured, the French brought reinforcements and exterminated the Amerindian population. Sauteurs, or Morne des Sauteurs, on the north coast, is named after this episode when numerous Caribs jumped to their death in the sea rather than surrender to the French.
The island remained French for about 100 years, although possession was disputed by Britain, and it was a period of economic expansion and population growth, as colonists and slaves arrived to grow tobacco and sugar at first, followed by cotton, cocoa and coffee. It was during the Seven Years’ War in the 18th century that Grenada fell into British hands and was ceded by France to Britain as part of a land settlement in the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Although the French regained control in 1779, their occupation was brief and the island was returned to Britain in 1783 under the Treaty of Versailles. The British introduced nutmeg in the 1780s, after natural disasters wiped out the sugar industry. Nutmeg and cocoa became the main crops and encouraged the development of smaller land holdings. A major slave revolt took place in 1795, led by a free coloured Grenadian called Julian Fedon , but slavery was not abolished until 1834, as in the rest of the British Empire.
In 1833, Grenada was incorporated into the Windward Islands Administration which survived until 1958 when it was dissolved and Grenada joined the Federation of the West Indies. The Federation collapsed in 1962 and in 1967 Grenada became an associated state, with full autonomy over internal affairs, but with Britain retaining responsibility for defence and foreign relations. Grenada was the first of the associated states to seek full Independence, which was granted in 1974.
Political leadership since the 1950s alternated between Eric (later Sir Eric) Gairy’s Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) and Herbert Blaize’s Grenada National Party. At the time of Independence, Sir Eric Gairy was Prime Minister, but his style of government was widely viewed as authoritarian and corrupt, becoming increasingly resented by a large proportion of the population. In 1979 he was ousted in a bloodless coup by the Marxist-Leninist New Jewel (Joint Endeavour for Welfare, Education and Liberation) Movement, which formed a government headed by Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Reforms were introduced and the country moved closer to Cuba and other Communist countries, who provided aid and technical assistance. In 1983, a power struggle within the government led to Bishop being deposed and he and many of his followers were murdered by a rival faction shortly afterwards. In the chaos that followed a joint US-Caribbean force invaded the island to restore order. They imprisoned Bishop’s murderers and expelled Cubans and other socialist nationalities engaged in building an airport and other development projects. Elections were held in 1984. They were won by the coalition New National Party (NNP), headed by Herbert Blaize, with 14 seats to GULP’s one in the legislature. After the intervention, Grenada moved closer to the USA which maintains an embassy near the airport, but on 1 December 1999 diplomatic relations with Cuba were restored and embassies were opened in St George’s and Havana.
In 1991 the Government decided to commute to life imprisonment the death sentences on 14 people convicted of murdering Maurice Bishop. Amnesty International and other organizations appealed for the release of Mrs Phyllis Coard, one of the 14 convicted, on grounds of ill-health following years of solitary confinement. She was allowed to go to Jamaica for cancer treatment in 2000, but was not pardoned. In 2006 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its long-awaited report about the events of October 1983, but it still left some questions unanswered.
Factionalism was rife in the 1980s and 1990s and political parties frequently divided until there were nine by 1999. Herbert Blaize died in 1989 and Sir Eric Gairy in 1997. The January 1999 general elections were a victory for the New National Party (NNP), which won all 15 seats. The opposition parties were too numerous and weak to provide a challenge, although the National Democratic Congress (NDC) received 24% of the vote. Keith Mitchell was sworn in for a second term as Prime Minister. The latest elections, in November 2003, gave him a third term in office and in December 2004 he celebrated 20 years in parliament, becoming the only member to have been re-elected in five consecutive general elections.
September 2004 was the month no Grenadian will forget, when Hurricane Ivan passed directly over the island, killing 37 people, damaging or destroying practically every building and leaving 50,000 homeless. Water, electricity and phone services were cut off, looting was rife and a dawn to dusk curfew was imposed with the help of regional security services, who were also drafted to help guard prisoners after the prison had its roof blown off. It took several weeks for power to be restored, but shortages of food and building supplies continued for months, with many homes unrepaired for lack of materials. Most hotels were soon open for business, even if some rooms were still out of action, although some took the opportunity for an extended closure to carry out improvements and upgrading. By the winter season, cruise ships were calling again and the airport was back to normal. Today there is still some evidence of the hurricane’s passing. Apart from the church roofs still missing and the tree stumps in the forest, houses are more visible without the trees which used to obscure them and residents feel that their neighbours are closer than they thought.
Economy
In the last decade, Grenada has seen a huge expansion of its tourism industry and the economy has been driven by the construction sector meeting demand for new hotels, villas and infrastructure projects. Stopover visitors and cruise ship passengers have risen steadily and the yacht charter business has also expanded considerably. Agriculture accounts for about 12% of GDP but is falling. The number of farmers has fallen by 25% since 1961, with the area of prime farming land decreasing by 50% to about 30,000 acres in the same period. The major export crops are nutmeg, bananas and cocoa, but all three were badly damaged by Hurricane Ivan and many of the nutmeg and cocoa bushes are overgrown with creepers and unproductive; nutmeg and mace traditionally account for about 14% of all exports and Grenada is a leading world producer of this spice. There is also a nutmeg oil distillation plant.
People
The population of some 98,400 (of which 7,000 live on Carriacou and Petit Martinique) is largely of African (85%) or mixed (11%) descent. In contrast to other Windward Islands which have had a similar history of disputed ownership between the French and English, the French cultural influence in Grenada has died out. Nevertheless, it is a predominantly Catholic island, though there are Protestant churches of various denominations. Many people who emigrated from Grenada to the UK are returning to the island and are building smart houses for their retirement which are in stark contrast to the tiny shacks which are home to many of their countrymen. The population is young; 38% are under 15 years old and nearly 26% are in the 15-29 years’ age bracket.
