Grenada

Granada is an island democracy located at the southern end of the Windward Islands region of the Caribbean Sea. Consisting of Grenada and six smaller islets, the nation forms part of the Grenadines island chain. The island is volcanic in origin with fertile soils and has earned the nickname 'Island of Spice' due to the volume of spices such as nutmeg exported. Uninhabited, the first settlers were Arawaks, who were later driven out by the Caribs. Christopher Columbus sighted Grenada in 1498, giving it its present day name. The English attempted to colonise the island in 1609 but were unsuccessful, and it wasn't until 1649 that the French were able to establish a settlement at St. Georges Harbour. Grenada was ceded to Britain following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, but was briefly occupied by the French military during the American Revolutionary War until the 1783 Treaty of Versailles. Grenada was declared a British Crown Colony in 1877 and granted full independence in 1974. Following a coup which deposed its prime minister Maurice Bishop in 1983, the Organization of American States requested the United States to intervene and restore democracy (Operation Urgent Fury). The capital and largest city is St. George's, and the estimated island population in 2012 was 109,590.