Grenada, Saint George's

Although not native to Grenada but introduced by the English, nutmeg is a huge export product for this small Caribbean Island. Actually the English and French fought over this green spec fiercely, also because of the natural harbor Grenada, which could provide shelter during tropical storms. The English won and Grenada became a British colony for almost 200 years.

In the 1980’s, after a military coup, Grenada moved more and more into a communistic direction and was strengthening the relation with Cuba. This was of course to the dismay of the USA. The Americans therefore sent an invasion force, which restored things to how they wanted them.

Hurricane Ivan

On September 7th, 2004 Grenada was hit by hurricane Ivan. Ivan left the island with 90% of its homes destroyed. The nutmeg industry, vital for the country, sustained heavy damage too. Slowly Grenada is returning to its formal status of one of the world’s biggest nutmeg suppliers as the new nutmeg trees grow.

I’ve strolled along the seashore the last couple of days. Things seem quite relaxed. I bumped into this ferry on which people were loading all sorts of things for neighbor islands. The old trade still continues on small scale.