Grenada (/ɡrəˈneɪdə/ ⓘ grə-NAY-də; Grenadian Creole French: Gwenad, [ɡweˈnad]) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea.

[14][23][24] In 1649, a French expedition of 203 men from Martinique, led by Jacques Dyel du Parquet, founded a permanent settlement on Grenada.

[28] The French named their new colony La Grenade, and the economy was initially based on sugar cane and indigo, worked by African slaves.

[23] The French re-captured the island during the American Revolutionary War, after Comte d'Estaing won the bloody land and naval Battle of Grenada in July 1779.

Theophilus A. Marryshow founded the Representative Government Association (RGA) in 1918 to agitate for a new and participative constitutional dispensation for the Grenadian people.

[34] Due to Marryshow's lobbying, the Wood Commission of 1921–22 concluded that Grenada was ready for constitutional reform in the form of a modified Crown colony government.

[36] In 1950, Eric Gairy founded the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP), initially as a trade union, which led to the 1951 general strike for better working conditions.

On 10 October 1951, Grenada held its first general elections based on universal adult suffrage,[38] with Gairy's party winning six of the eight seats contested.

Civil conflict gradually broke out between Eric Gairy's government and some opposition parties, including the Marxist New Jewel Movement (NJM).

Hardline Marxist party members, including communist Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, deemed Bishop insufficiently revolutionary and demanded that he either step down or enter into a power-sharing arrangement.

Because Bishop was a widely popular leader, he was freed by impassioned supporters who marched en masse to his guarded residence from a rally in the capital's central square.

[44] After the execution of Bishop, the People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) formed a military Marxist government with General Hudson Austin as chairman.

[45][46] US President Ronald Reagan stated that particularly worrying was the presence of Cuban construction workers and military personnel building a 10,000-foot (3,000 m) airstrip on Grenada.

[56] When US troops withdrew from Grenada in December 1983, Governor-General Scoon appointed an interim advisory council chaired by Nicholas Brathwaite to organise new elections.

[23] Mitchell re-established relations with Cuba and also reformed the country's banking system, which had come under criticism over potential money laundering concerns.

[23] The commission was chaired by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Mark Haynes, and was tasked with uncovering injustices arising from the PRA, Bishop's regime, and before.

Grenada lies at the southern edge of the Main Development Region for tropical cyclone activity, though the island has suffered only four landfalling hurricanes in the last several decades.

[78] On 1 July 2024, Hurricane Beryl slammed into Grenada, causing damage throughout the country but especially in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where the eye of the storm passed.

[79] Beryl gained international attention, in part, because of its rapid intensification from a tropical storm to Category 4 hurricane within just a 48 hour period.

[81] Approximately 2 million years ago, in the Pliocene era, the area of what is nowadays Grenada emerged from a shallow sea as a submarine volcano.

[82] Mitchell subsequently led NNP to win all 15 seats in the House of Representatives again in 2018, marking three separate occasions on which he had achieved this feat.

[87] On 6 July 1994 at Sherbourne Conference Centre in St. Michael, Barbados, George Brizan signed the Double Taxation Relief (CARICOM) Treaty on behalf of the Government of Grenada.

[citation needed] On 30 June 2014, Grenada formally signed a Model 1 agreement with the United States of America to enable the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

[8] According to a case study released in November 2003,[98] the nutmeg industry in Grenada provided a major source of foreign exchange earnings to the country and acted as a livelihood for a significant portion of the population.

[8] Conventional beach and water-sports tourism is largely focused in the southwest region around St George, the airport, and the coastal strip.

[citation needed] Island culture is heavily influenced by the African roots of most of the Grenadians, coupled with the country's long experience of colonial rule under the British.

[citation needed] An important aspect of the Grenadian culture is the tradition of storytelling, with folk tales bearing both African and French influences.

[114][115] Anderson Peters and Lindon Victor also won bronze medals in the men's javelin throw and decathlon respectively at the 2024 Summer Olympics in France.

Devon Smith, record holder for top runs scored in regional first class cricket competitions, was born in the small town of Hermitage.

After Hurricane Ivan, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) paid for the new $40 million national stadium and provided the aid of over 300 labourers to build and repair it.