Grenada - History

Grenada's recorded history began in 1498, when Christopher Columbus sighted the island on his third voyage to the so-called New World. The first European settlement wasn't attempted until 1609, when a party of 208 English settlers tried to establish tobacco plantations, but they quickly fell victim to raids by native Carib Indians and abandoned the island.

In 1650, Governor Du Parquet of Martinique 'purchased' Grenada from the Caribs for a few hatchets, some glass beads and couple of bottles of grog and immediately established 200 French settlers on the island. Within a year the French were weary of skirmishes with the Caribs and sent a contingent of soldiers to sort the locals out. The Caribs were routed at Sauteurs Bay, but rather than submit to the colonists, the survivors - men, women and children - jumped to their deaths from the precipitous coastal cliffs. The French then set about establishing plantations of indigo, tobacco, coffee, cocoa and sugar, which were worked by African slaves.

Grenada remained under French control until it was captured by the British in 1762. Over the next two decades it teetered between the two colonial powers until it was ceded to the Brits in 1783. It remained under British rule until independence, though animosity lingered between the British colonialists and the minority French settlers with violence erupting periodically. In 1877, Grenada became a Crown Colony and in 1967 became an associate state within the British Commonwealth. Grenada and the neighbouring Grenadine Islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique adopted a constitution in 1973 and became an independent nation in 1974.

The post-independence period was plagued by corruption, extremism and political thuggery until a bloodless coup by London-educated lawyer Maurice Bishop in 1979. He immediately reinstated a measure of human rights and promised to resolve the country's economic problems. Bishop had widespread popular support and proved a charismatic leader, but his policy of nonalignment and socialist leanings didn't sit well with the USA or Grenada's more conservative neighbours. Ostracized by the West, Bishop turned to the Cubans for aid, who then undertook construction of a new airport on Grenada.

A struggle between Bishop and military hardliners resulted in Bishop's overthrow in 1983, and he was placed under house arrest. A spontaneous gathering of 30,000 people (one third of the island's population) forced Bishop's release. Together they marched to Fort George, where the military opened fire on the crowd, killing an estimated 40 protesters. Bishop and several of his followers were taken prisoner and summarily executed.

In the turmoil that followed, the US government convinced a handful of Caribbean nations to pledge support for a US invasion of the island. US forces invaded six days later in an operation that claimed the lives of 70 Cubans, 42 Americans and 170 Grenadians, including 18 who were killed when US forces mistakenly bombed the island's mental hospital. Most US forces withdrew two months later, although a joint US-Caribbean force remained stationed on the island for several years. Democratic elections have been held in 1985, 1990 and in 1995, the last bringing the New National Party to power and installing NNP leader Keith Mitchell as the Prime Minister. In late 1998, the defection of several members of Parliament from the NNP to the opposition brought the government down. As a result, elections were held in January 1999, which Mitchell won handily despite accusations of corruption from the opposition.

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