Grenada

The spice island, and the only Caribbean state where a revolution was ended by an American invasion. The French bought the island from a Kalinago community in 1649 in a transaction neither side understood the same way, and the war that followed ended with the last defenders leaping from a cliff at Sauteurs rather than surrender. Britain took Grenada in 1763, and the French-descended free coloured planter class it inherited produced Julien Fedon, who led a serious rebellion in 1795 inspired by the French republic's abolition of slavery and held most of the island for over a year. Nutmeg arrived from the East Indies in 1843 and made the island one of the world's two main producers, a crop that unusually favoured small farmers rather than estates. Independence came on 7 February 1974 under Eric Gairy, whose rule was erratic and violent enough that the New Jewel Movement overthrew him in a nearly bloodless coup in 1979. Maurice Bishop's government built schools, clinics and an airport with Cuban help, and was then destroyed from inside: Bishop was arrested and executed by his own party's hardliners in October 1983. The United States invaded six days later. Democratic government returned in 1984. The island is volcanic and mountainous. Hurricane Ivan destroyed most of the nutmeg trees in 2004. Saint George's is the capital and its horseshoe harbour is a drowned volcanic crater. The country includes Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Nutmeg appears on the national flag. Grenada still supplies a large share of the world's mace.

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