100 Fun Facts About Grenada

Grenada is nicknamed the 'Island of Spice' chiefly for producing which spice, shown on its flag?

The trees arrived in 1843 aboard a merchant ship calling in on its way home from the East Indies; mace is the by-product.

What is the capital of Grenada?

The French founded it as Fort Royal in 1650 around a horseshoe-shaped harbour inside an old volcanic crater.

Grenada gained independence from Britain on 7 February of which year?

Eric Gairy, founder of the Grenada United Labour Party, became the first prime minister.

The 1979 coup that overthrew Eric Gairy was carried out by which Marxist-Leninist group?

It was bloodless, launched while Gairy was abroad, and made Maurice Bishop prime minister of a People's Revolutionary Government.

Who led Grenada's revolutionary government from 1979 until his execution in October 1983?

The country's main airport now bears his name.

The 1983 US-led invasion of Grenada was code-named what?

It began at dawn on 25 October, a date now marked in Grenada as Thanksgiving Day.

Reagan cited workers from which country building a 10,000-foot airstrip on Grenada as a particular worry?

The UN General Assembly condemned the invasion as a 'flagrant violation of international law' by 108 votes to 9.

The 25 October anniversary of the 1983 invasion is now a national holiday in Grenada called what?

It commemorates the freeing of political prisoners who were later elected to office.

Sprinter Kirani James won Grenada's first Olympic gold at London 2012 in which event?

He added silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo, the first man to win all three medals in the event.

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 damaged or destroyed roughly what share of Grenada's homes?

The island had been hurricane-free for 49 years; 39 people died.

Besides the main island, Grenada consists of two smaller ones: Petite Martinique and which other?

They lie to the north among the Grenadines, most of which belong to Saint Vincent.

Columbus sighted Grenada in 1498 on his third voyage and named it what?

Spanish sailors probably later renamed it after the city of Granada; the origin is obscure.

The name Grenada most likely comes from Spanish sailors naming the island after which city?

The French called it La Grenade when they colonised it in 1649.

The 1649 expedition that founded the first permanent European settlement on Grenada was led by whom?

Jacques Dyel du Parquet led 203 men; an English attempt in 1609 had been wiped out by the Kalinago.

Grenada was ceded by France to Britain in 1763 under an agreement signed in which city?

The French briefly retook it from 1779 to 1783.

The 1795-96 revolt against British rule on Grenada, by rebels favouring a return to France, was led by whom?

The British eventually crushed it.

Grenada's national dish, oil down, is what kind of food?

Early recipes combine salted pigtail, trotters, salt beef, dumplings and breadfruit.

Which British sculptor created the world's first underwater sculpture park, off Grenada in 2006?

His concrete figures in Molinere Bay include a ring of children holding hands.

Grenada's highest point, Mount St. Catherine, rises to about what height?

The island is volcanic, with explosion craters at Grand Etang, Lake Antoine and Levera Pond.

The active underwater volcano off Grenada's north coast is called what?

It and some hot springs are the only volcanic activity left on an island that rose from the sea about two million years ago.

Grenada's most famous beach, three kilometres long in the south-west, is called what?

Most conventional beach tourism clusters around it near the capital.

Grenada shares the East Caribbean dollar and a central bank with how many other OECS members?

The minibus fare per segment is EC$2.50, paid to a conductor by the sliding door.

Who became Grenada's head of state on the death of Elizabeth II in 2022?

The King of Grenada is represented locally by a Governor-General.

Grenada is the southernmost of which island chain?

It lies about 100 miles north of Trinidad and the South American mainland.

Grenada's flag features the national spice at the hoist and how many yellow stars in total?

Six stars sit in the red border, three top and three bottom, with a seventh on a red disc at the centre.

Chocolate first arrived on Grenada in which year, with the introduction of cocoa beans?

Cocoa and chocolate remain major exports alongside nutmeg, bananas and fish.

The island's only endemic bird species is what kind of bird?

The rock pigeon is the island's one human-introduced species.

Grenada's carnival, held in August, is known as what?

Soca, calypso, kaiso and reggae fill the streets; Carriacou hosts a Maroon and string band festival in April.

Between 1669 and 1808 roughly how many enslaved Africans were brought to Grenada by its European rulers?

Grenada was made a Crown colony in 1877, decades after emancipation.

Grenada's estimated population in 2024 was roughly how many?

They live on 344 square kilometres of land.

Which prime minister served a then-record 13 years from 1995 to 2008 and later returned to power?

He led the New National Party to victory in 1995, 1999 and 2003.

In which year did Grenada become an Associated State of the UK with control of internal affairs?

It followed the collapse of the West Indies Federation.

The October 1983 coup against Grenada's revolutionary prime minister was led by his deputy, who was?

Hardliners thought Bishop insufficiently revolutionary and placed him under house arrest on 16 October.

The four-day curfew after Bishop's execution ordered what for anyone leaving home unapproved?

The chaos was used to justify the invasion days later.

France's navy favoured Grenada's capital as a hurricane refuge because of what?

No nearby French island had a harbour to compare with Fort Royal's.

The failed 1609 attempt to settle Grenada, wiped out by the Kalinago, was made by which nation?

The Kalinago, from South America, had lived on the island before Europeans arrived.

Hurricane Emily, which struck Grenada in July 2005, later peaked at what strength?

It hit the north of the island as a Category 1 storm, killing one person and causing about US$110 million in damage.

Grenada has competed at every Summer Olympics since which Games?

Its medals have all come from the 400 metres.

The Grenadian folklore werewolf called Loogaroo takes its name from a word in which language?

Loogaroo comes from the French loup-garou.

According to 2011 estimates, roughly what share of Grenadians are Roman Catholic?

Protestants of various denominations make up about 49%.

Grenada's government debt service consumed roughly what share of revenues in 2017?

The country ranked ninth from bottom in a study of 126 developing nations' debt.

Grenada's main airport, which connects it to the US, Canada and Europe, is named after whom?

It stands at Point Salines, the site of the runway whose Cuban builders so alarmed Washington in 1983.

Which political newcomer became Grenada's prime minister after the June 2022 election?

He had led the National Democratic Congress for less than a year and never held elected office; the NDC won 9 seats to 6.

Which Category 4 storm hit Grenada on 1 July 2024, its eye passing over Carriacou?

Beryl went on to become the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane on record.

Into how many parishes is Grenada divided?

Its total land area is only about 344 square kilometres.

Grand Etang and Lake Antoine, two of Grenada's lakes, occupy what kind of geological feature?

Both are extinct volcanoes; the island's soil and mountainous interior betray its volcanic origin.

In which two events did Anderson Peters and Lindon Victor win 2024 Olympic bronze?

Kirani James had earlier completed a full set of 400 m medals across London, Rio and Tokyo.

By what vote did the UN General Assembly condemn the 1983 invasion?

There were 27 abstentions; a similar Security Council resolution drew support from 11 countries.

Which Grenada-based school specialises in medicine and veterinary medicine?

Grenada's own SGU also teaches public health and other health sciences.

Which introduced primate is common in Grenada's forests?

Native opossums and armadillos share the island with introduced mona monkeys and mongooses.

Maurice Bishop was born in 1944 on which island, then a Dutch colony?

His father had moved there in 1930 to work in the oil refinery; the family returned to Grenada when Maurice was six.

Eric Gairy was addressing the UN on what subject when he was overthrown in March 1979?

Gairy had first taken a delegation of scientists and an astronaut to the UN to discuss flying saucers in November 1978.

Which Grenadian became the first Black woman crowned Miss World, in 1970?

Premier Eric Gairy sat on the judging panel, and the crowd outside the Royal Albert Hall chanted 'Swe-den' in protest.

Gairy's private militia that terrorised his opponents in the 1970s was known as what?

Members of the gang shot and killed Maurice Bishop's father Rupert during a demonstration in January 1974.

Who chaired the military council that ruled Grenada for six days after Bishop's execution?

Austin was among the fourteen sentenced to death in 1986; he was freed in December 2008 after the sentences were commuted.

Who was Grenada's governor-general through both the 1979 revolution and the 1983 invasion?

Scoon played tennis with Bishop, and two of the coup leaders, Coard and Austin, had been his pupils at Grenada Boys' Secondary School.

US troops flew into Grenada in 1983 from Grantley Adams airport on which island?

The Regional Security System that joined the operation was also based there; Barbadian brigadier Rudyard Lewis commanded the Caribbean troops.

Reagan said he felt compelled to invade partly over how many US medical students on the island?

Lawrence Eagleburger later admitted the students were a pretext; the real aim was to get rid of coup leader Hudson Austin.

The 1983 invasion of Grenada was the largest US military action since which war?

Reagan used it to declare the end of 'Vietnam Syndrome', telling Americans that December that 'our days of weakness are over'.

Which world leader privately opposed the invasion after learning of it only three hours beforehand?

Grenada was a Commonwealth realm with the Queen as head of state, yet London was barely consulted; Reagan phoned mid-battle to apologise.

The Grenada 17, jailed for the 1983 killings, were all finally released in which year?

Amnesty International had called them 'the last of the Cold War prisoners' and said their 1986 trial was grossly unfair.

Which Grenadian journalist and politician is called the Father of the Federation?

He lobbied London at his own expense in 1921 and won the first elected seats on the Legislative Council; 7 November is now Marryshow Day.

The 1951 general strike, when so many buildings burned, became known by what name?

British authorities shipped in military reinforcements to restore order, and Gairy himself was taken into custody.

Which group swept all 15 seats in Grenada's House of Representatives in 1999, 2013 and 2018?

With no elected opposition, the governor-general had to appoint senators to act as one.

Grenada's final court of appeal is which body?

The revolutionary government abolished Privy Council appeals in 1979; they were restored in 1991.

Grenada joined ALBA in 2014, an alliance built around Cuba and which other country?

Keith Mitchell called membership a natural extension of cooperation with both countries; he had also re-established ties with Havana in the 1990s.

Bernard Coard's 1971 booklet attacked British schools for labelling West Indian children what?

Fifty years on, the scandal became the Steve McQueen-produced BBC documentary Subnormal and the film Education.

Whose privateers briefly seized Grenada in 1675 before a French warship retook it?

A decade earlier Louis XIV had bought out the island's private owners and folded it into the French West India Company.

The 1650 mass leap by Kalinago people fleeing the French is commemorated near which town?

About forty survivors, including chief Kaïrouane, jumped from the cliff; the town's French name means 'leapers'.

The wooden town of St. George's burnt to the ground in 1771 and again in which year?

It was then rebuilt in stone and brick; the 1771 fire also pushed most of Granby Street's boarding houses to Gouyave.

In 1885 St. George's replaced Bridgetown as capital of which colonial grouping?

Grenada had been administered as part of the grouping since 1833 and stayed in it until 1958.

The first indentured labourers from India reached Grenada in 1857 aboard which ship?

Some 3,206 Indians arrived by 1885 and only 380 went home; their descendants gave Grenada its aloo pie, doubles and dal puri.

In 1720 pirate Bartholomew Roberts seized a French ship near Carriacou and renamed it what?

Carriacou's first census thirty years later counted just 199 people on the island.

Hurricane Janet in 1955 destroyed roughly what share of Grenada's nutmeg plantations?

Janet killed around 500 Grenadians and flattened nearly all the banana and cocoa crops as well.

Before Ivan struck in 2004, Grenada had gone how many years without a direct hurricane hit?

That long lull may explain why residents largely ignored the warnings; only about 1,000 people went to shelters.

Hurricane Ivan damaged a 17th-century prison, letting roughly how many inmates escape?

Bernard Coard, then serving life there, said he chose to stay put because he would not leave until his name was cleared.

Which liner exploded and sank off St. George's in 1961, leaving its anchors at the harbour mouth?

Local fishermen rescued some 700 people; at 180 metres the wreck is still the region's largest shipwreck.

A Christ of the Abyss statue on the Carenage was a thank-you gift from which shipping company?

The company's ship had burned and sunk off the capital in 1961, and Grenadians had turned out in small boats to save those aboard.

The volcano off Grenada's north coast was first recorded erupting in which year?

That eruption threw steam 275 metres into the air and sent two-metre tsunamis onto Grenada's northern shore.

Local fable says the depths of Grand Etang crater lake are home to what creature?

The lake sits 530 metres up in a volcano dormant for 12,000 years and appears on the national coat of arms.

Grenada's endemic national bird was originally known by what name?

Designated the national bird in 1991, it survives mostly in scrubby dry forest in the island's south-west and is critically endangered.

Which animal stands beside a corn stalk as a supporter on Grenada's coat of arms?

Armadillos and opossums are native to the island; the mongoose and mona monkey were introduced.

Columbus's flagship sits at the centre of Grenada's coat of arms; which ship is it?

Columbus only sighted Grenada, in 1498, and never landed; the name he gave it was never used.

Grenada's national flower, worn as a garland on the coat of arms, is what?

Seven red roses nest inside the garland, one for each of the six parishes plus the Southern Grenadines.

Grenada's temporary 1967 flag was a horizontal tricolour of blue, yellow and which colour?

The nutmeg in its centre was the only element kept when Anthony C. George's design was hoisted at midnight on independence day.

Grenada is the world's second-largest nutmeg producer behind which country?

The trees arrived almost by accident in 1843, left behind by a merchant ship calling in on its way home from the East Indies.

Oil down, the national dish, gets its name from being cooked in which liquid until absorbed?

Breadfruit, salted meat, dumplings and callaloo leaves go into the pot, often with turmeric that locals call saffron.

The fishing town of Gouyave holds a weekly street food festival on which day?

Gouyave also throws Fisherman's Birthday every 29 June, and its nutmeg processing plant is reputedly the largest building in Grenada.

Petite Martinique's largest village, named after its first settler's wife, is called what?

Settler Pierre Philip reputedly named the island because its shape reminded him of his home island of Martinique.

Which country funded Grenada's $40 million National Cricket Stadium after Hurricane Ivan?

Beijing also sent more than 300 labourers to build it in time for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Officials were fired after the stadium's opening ceremony played which country's anthem by mistake?

The stadium had been paid for by the People's Republic of China, whose own anthem was supposed to be played.

In 2012 Kirani James became the first non-American to run his event in under how many seconds?

His 43.94 was a national record; Michael Johnson said he could threaten the world record once his technique was tidied up.

Which Grenadian beat India's Neeraj Chopra to defend his world title in 2022?

Weeks later he was badly beaten by five crew members on a party boat and missed the 2023 final while recovering.

Lindon Victor broke a Grenadian record held by Kurt Felix, who is his what?

Victor's 8,539 points in 2017 also set a US collegiate record, erasing Trey Hardee's mark from 2006.

Grenada's national football team plays under which nickname?

They reached the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2009 and 2011 and managed a single goal across both tournaments.

In a 1994 Caribbean Cup qualifier, which team scored a deliberate own goal to knock Grenada out?

Barbados needed extra time to advance, so it deliberately levelled the score against itself and went through.

The East Caribbean dollar has been pegged to the US dollar since 1976 at what rate?

The peg is run by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, and inflation has averaged about 2% over the following decades.

Vicissitudes, in Grenada's underwater sculpture park, is a ring of how many children?

Cast from local children of different backgrounds, the 15-tonne ring faces into the current and is slowly being colonised by coral.

Grenada's old colonial motto Clarior e Tenebris is still used in the emblem of which body?

The 1903 badge showed a sailboat; the earlier 1783 arms had depicted enslaved workers driving an ox-powered sugar mill.

Point Salines airport was finished after the 1983 invasion with $19 million from which country?

The same runway Reagan had branded a Soviet waypoint landed its first commercial flight in October 1984.