Grenada

Grenada is an archipelagic country of the West Indies located in the eastern Caribbean Sea. As a sovereign state with a land area of 344 square kilometres, it encompasses the main island of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique.

Indigenous Kalinago people originally inhabited the island before European arrival, resisting early colonisation attempts. Christopher Columbus sighted the island in 1498.

French settlement and colonisation formally began in 1649, bringing enduring cultural shifts. Between 1669 and 1808, approximately 127,600 African slaves were brought to the territory by British and French authorities, reshaping the demographic and cultural fabric of the nation.

Following the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763, the island was ceded to the British. British administration persisted through centuries of political transformation, including a brief French takeover between 1779 and 1783, until full independence was attained on 7 February 1974.

Today, the nation maintains a population of 111,454 residents who navigate an island environment shaped by historical interactions among Indigenous populations, European powers, and African arrivals.

Grenada is an archipelagic country of the West Indies located in the eastern Caribbean Sea. As the southernmost of the Windward Islands, the nation spans an area of 344 square kilometres with a capital at Saint George's.

Before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, the islands were inhabited by Indigenous peoples from South America known as the Kalinago, who named the main landmass Camajuya. Christopher Columbus sighted the region in 1498 during his third voyage and named the island La Concepción. Spanish sailors subsequently associated the territory with Granada, while the Indigenous name Camajuya faded from European maps.

Following resistance from the resident Kalinago population against early colonization efforts, French settlement began in 1649 and established the name La Grenade. Under the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763, the territory was ceded to the British, who anglicized the designation to Grenada. Between 1669 and 1808, approximately 127,600 African slaves were transported to the islands by British and French authorities according to the Voyages database.

Cultural exchange and political structures transformed through centuries of colonial administration, regional federations, and shifting sovereignty. Grenada participated in the short-lived Federation of the West Indies between 1958 and 1962 before gaining full internal autonomy as an Associated State on 3 March 1967. Sovereign independence followed on 7 February 1974 under Eric Gairy, establishing the nation as a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Political turbulence marked the late 1970s and early 1980s, including a 1979 coup by the Marxist–Leninist New JEWEL Movement and the subsequent execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop by the People's Revolutionary Army. A United States-led invasion occurred in October 1983. Today, Grenada functions as a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy recognizing King Charles III as head of state, while retaining its global identity as the Island of Spice due to its significant agricultural production of nutmeg and mace.