Island Hopping Grenada History

ISLAND HPPING

Christopher Columbus “discovered” Grenada in 1498 on his third voyage to the New World, but never set foot upon her shores. Columbus named the island Concepción, but that name was short lived. Years later, Spanish sailors passing by, seeing her rolling hills, named her Granada after their hilly homeland in Spain. The French changed this to Grenade, and the British changed that to Grenada. But Grenada’s history begins centuries before Columbus voyage by the island.

Grenada shares a similar history with her sister islands in the Eastern Caribbean, being settled first by the peaceful Arawaks who were followed by the Caribs who named the island Camerhogne. Earlier, the Calivignoid Indians inhabited the island, their only remains being some pottery with strange geometric designs. The Caribs had a strong presence on the island until the mid-1600’s when the French settlers, after years of bloody skirmishes, managed to get the upper hand. In 1609, British settlers attempted to settle on Grenada, but were chased off by the savage Caribs. In 1650, a French expedition from Martinique traded beads, knives, and hatchets to the indigenous Caribs for extensive tracts of land. However fighting soon broke out between the French settlers and the Caribs, which resulted in the last 40 Caribs jumping to their deaths from Sauteurs 100’ cliffs rather than submit to French rule in 1651. Today the place is called Leaper’s Hill, or in French, Place le Morne de Sauteurs.

The British and the French battled for the next 90 years for possession of Grenada; Fort George and Fort Frederick, both overlooking St. George’s Harbour, are of that era. The British finally overwhelmed the French in 1762 and Grenada was ceded to Britain in 1783 by way of the Treaty of Versailles. No sooner had this been done than African slaves were imported as the primary work force on the plantations until Emancipation came in 1834. To replace the former slaves, indentured servants from India arrived in 1857 followed by English settlers from Barbados. These folks settled in the hilly area known as Mt. Moritz just outside St. George’s, keeping to themselves and growing fruits and vegetables. Over the centuries many ships called at Grenada to take on spice, and in return left ballast stones. These stones can be seen as the primary building material in many old houses on the island.

In 1877, Grenada became a Crown Colony and in 1967, an associate state within the British Commonwealth. On February 7, 1974 Grenada gained her independence under the leadership of the late Sir Eric Gairy. Sir Eric was quite a character; he believed in UFO’s and even stated that he had communicated with them. In 1979, while Gairy was off the island, his political opponent, the Marxist Maurice Bishop, staged a coup and took control of the government and attempted to create a socialist/communist state. Over the next four years the radical Bishop and his New Jewel Movement (Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation), formed the People’s Revolutionary Government and established strong ties with Cuba (and Bishop’s mentor, Fidel Castro) and the Soviet Union. The island became home to Cuban soldiers and the airport was being expanded to allow jet aircraft to use the facilities. In 1983, a group of Bishop’s ruling New Jewel Movement, led by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard and Army Commander Hudson Austin, staged another coup placing Bishop under house arrest and taking control of the government. Soon Bishop and several of his aides were executed in St. George’s causing widespread unrest on the island. A short while later, at the request of the Governor General, US military forces (along with troops from Jamaica, Barbados, and the Eastern Caribbean States led by Dominica’s Eugenia Charles) invaded the island on October 25, 1983 under the pretext of rescuing 100 stranded US citizens at the St. George’s University Medical School. However, the true aim of the invasion was to restore democracy and shortly order was restored as Coard and Austin were arrested. Elections were held in December of 1984 and the late Hubert A. Blaize became Prime Minister. Blaize turned Grenada around, reorganized her economy to emphasize agriculture, light manufacturing, and tourism. Soon the roads of Grenada were being rebuilt and a direct-dial telephone system installed. Today Grenada is again a stable democracy with a steady stream of tourists enjoying what she has to offer, and the medical school, near the Renaissance Grenada Hotel at Grand Anse Beach, is somewhat of a tourist attraction though it is still in operation with many U.S. students in attendance.