History of Grenada

History Of Grenada

The recorded history of the Caribbean island of Grenada begins in the early 17th century. First settled by indigenous peoples, by the time of European contact it was inhabited by the Caribs. French colonists drove most of the Caribs off the island and established plantations on the island, eventually importing African slaves to work on sugar plantations.

Control of the island was disputed by Great Britain and France in the 18th century, with the British ultimately prevailing. A 1795 slave rebellion inspired by the Haitian Revolution very nearly succeeded, and was crushed with significant military intervention. Slavery was abolished in the 1830s. In 1885 the island became the capital of the British Windward Islands.

Grenada achieved independence from Britain in 1974. Following a leftist coup in 1983, the island was invaded by U. S. troops and a democratic government was reinstated. The island's major crop, nutmeg, was significantly damaged by Hurrican Ivan in 2004.

Read more about History Of Grenada:  Early History

Famous quotes containing the words history of and/or history:

    I believe that in the history of art and of thought there has always been at every living moment of culture a “will to renewal.” This is not the prerogative of the last decade only. All history is nothing but a succession of “crises”Mof rupture, repudiation and resistance.... When there is no “crisis,” there is stagnation, petrification and death. All thought, all art is aggressive.
    Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)

    America is, therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s history shall reveal itself. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of Old Europe.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)