Grenada - country.
Publié le 04/05/2013
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Grenada is a member of the Organization of American States and the United Nations.
From 1958 to 1962, it was a member of the West Indies Federation, and in theearly 1960s it participated in unsuccessful attempts to form a federation linking the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands.
Grenada is tied with other Caribbeancountries through membership in the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM).
VI HISTORY
Grenada was originally inhabited by Arawak Indians, who were killed or driven away by the warlike Caribs before the 15th century.
Christopher Columbus was the firstEuropean to land on the island during his third voyage in 1498, and he named it Concepción.
Later Spanish sailors called the lushly forested island Granada, after thecity in southern Spain.
The Caribs resisted all attempts at settlement by European nations, and the island remained uncolonized for more than 150 years.
A Colonization
The French founded a settlement at the site of Saint George’s in 1650, and the Carib defenders were defeated the following year.
The French built fortifications aroundthe harbor at Saint George’s and resisted British efforts to seize the island for the next century.
The British successfully invaded the island in 1762 during the SevenYears’ War and acquired Grenada by the treaties of Paris in 1763 and 1783, after the French recaptured it in 1779.
During the 18th century the British established sugar plantations on Grenada and brought Africans to work them as slaves ( see Atlantic Slave Trade).
In 1795 Julien Fédon, a black planter inspired by the French Revolution, led a violent slave rebellion that the British crushed only with great difficulty.
Natural disasters in the late 18thcentury destroyed the sugar fields and led to the planting of nutmeg and other valuable spices.
The slaves were freed in 1834, and many indentured servants from theIndian subcontinent were brought to Grenada as agricultural workers.
Grenada was part of the British Windward Island colony from 1833 to 1958, when it joined the Federation of the West Indies.
When that federation collapsed in 1963,the island attempted to form another ill-fated federation among the British dependencies of the eastern Caribbean.
Grenada became an associated British state withautonomy in its internal affairs in March 1967.
A1 Grenada’s Independence and U.S.
Invasion
Grenada gained full independence from Great Britain on February 7, 1974.
In March 1979 an uprising overthrew the elected, but corrupt and dictatorial, governmentheaded by Eric M.
Gairy, Grenada’s first prime minister.
The coup d’état was headed by Maurice Bishop, founder of the leftist New Jewel Movement, with Jewel standingfor Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation).
Bishop likewise ruled dictatorially but also, with Cuban support, tried to introduce populist social reforms.
InOctober 1983 Bishop was killed by hardliners within his movement, who objected to his efforts to improve ties to the United States.
A week after Bishop’s murder—on October 25, 1983—U.S.
troops, accompanied by those of seven Caribbean countries, invaded Grenada.
About 300 people were killedbefore an interim government, led by Nicholas Brathwaite, was installed.
It remained in office until elections were held in December 1984.
The U.S.
combat troops werewithdrawn by the end of 1983, but contingents of U.S.
and Caribbean technical and security advisers remained.
U.S.
aid of about $90 million helped to repair some ofthe war damage and to promote tourism.
Parliamentary elections in December 1984 established Herbert A.
Blaize, head of the center-left coalition New National Party (NNP), as prime minister.
Blaize died inoffice in 1989, and national elections were held in March 1990.
The centrist National Democratic Congress (NDC) emerged as the strongest party and formed a coalitiongovernment headed by Nicholas Brathwaite.
An economic slowdown prompted by labor unrest led to a decline in Brathwaite’s popularity in 1992 and 1993.
In July 1994Brathwaite announced that he would step down as the head of the NDC and that he would resign as prime minister in 1995.
A2 Mitchell as Prime Minister
Agriculture Minister George Brizan was elected as the head of the NDC in September 1994, and in February 1995 he replaced Brathwaite as prime minister.
In June1995 the NNP won 8 out of 15 parliamentary seats in national elections and replaced the NDC as the ruling party.
NNP leader Keith Mitchell, a former universityprofessor and minister of public works and communications, was sworn in as the prime minister of Grenada on June 22, 1995.
Mitchell called for increased political andeconomic integration with the nearby Caribbean countries of Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with a view to eventual political federation.
During 1996 Grenada’s politics were dominated by problems in the agricultural sector, notably a deterioration in banana quality that led to a temporary suspension ofexports, and an infestation of pink mealybugs that threatened the entire cocoa bean crop.
Losses as a result of decreased exports were estimated at $10 million.Grenada’s relations with Cuba improved in early 1997, leading to plans for Cuban assistance in education, health, and agriculture.
The NNP retained power in 1999elections, taking all 15 parliamentary seats and returning Mitchell for a second term as prime minister.
The November 2003 election was closely fought, with the NNP gaining a one-seat advantage over the National Democratic Congress.
Keith Mitchell began his third termas prime minister.
A3 Devastation from Hurricane Ivan
In 2004 Grenada was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane.
Hurricane Ivan destroyed or damaged about 90 percent of Grenada’s residential housing, including thehome of Prime Minister Mitchell.
About three dozen people were killed in the hurricane.
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