Grenada

Grenada is an island country in the eastern Caribbean, the southernmost of the Windward Islands, about 160 km (100 mi) north of Trinidad. St. George's is the capital, English is the official language, and besides the main island the country includes Carriacou, Petite Martinique and several small islands of the Grenadines.

People from South America may have lived on the island from about 3600 BC, and permanent villages appeared around AD 100 to 200. Columbus sighted it in 1498 on his third voyage and called it La Concepción, while Spanish sailors probably named it after the city of Granada. The Kalinago drove off an English attempt to settle in 1609, and French colonization began in 1649.

France ceded Grenada to Britain under the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763, and apart from a French return from 1779 to 1783 it stayed British. Nutmeg trees arrived in 1843 from a ship sailing home from the East Indies. Grenada became independent on 7 February 1974 under Eric Gairy. Maurice Bishop led the government from 1979 to 1983.

The country keeps the British monarch as head of state, represented by a governor-general. Nutmeg and mace earned it the name Island of Spice, and nutmeg remains an important crop, while cocoa, brought in 1714, is grown for chocolate. The island is volcanic, with crater lakes such as Grand Etang and Lake Antoine, and Mount St. Catherine, the highest point, rises to 840 m (2,760 ft). Hillsborough on Carriacou is the largest town of the sister islands, and Grenville and Gouyave are the main towns on the main island after St. George's.