Timeline Grenada
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St. George is the capital. The Grand Etang
National Park rain forest is here.
(Hem., Nov.'95, p.104)
20 Mil BC Grenada was formed as
an underwater volcano.
(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.F4)
1498 Columbus sailed by Grenada
and named the island Concepcion.
(www.geographia.com/grenada/gdhis01.htm)
1609 The British attempted to
settle Grenada.
(http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/caribb/gd.htm)
1651 As the French attempted to
tame Grenada the last 4 dozen native Caribs flung themselves off a
cliff at the island’s northern tip.
(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.F4)
1705 The French began the
construction of Fort George on Grenada. It was completed by the
British.
(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.F5)
1779 Jul 4, French fleet
occupied Grenada.
(Maggio)
1895 On Grenada the 340-foot
Sendall Tunnel was built through Fort George Point for horse
carriages.
(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.F4)
1955 Sep 22, Hurricane Janet
hit Grenada (British West Indies). 500 people were killed in the
Caribbean area. 75% of the nutmeg trees of Grenada were destroyed.
(PCh, 1992, p.952)(MC, 9/22/01)
1967 Mar 3, Grenada became an
associated state of Britain. Full independence came on Feb 7, 1974.
(http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/bgnotes/wha/grenada9011.html)
1967-1981 The West Indies Associated State were
group of territorial islands in the West Indies in association with
the United Kingdom. The original members included Antigua, Dominica,
Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and
adjacent islands. All the member islands became independent except
Anguilla.
(WUD, 1994, p.1623)
1974 Feb 7, The island nation
of Grenada won independence from Britain. This included the northern
islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 2/7/97)(SSFC, 12/11/05,
p.F4)
1979 In Grenada the New Jewel
Movement of Maurice Bishop overthrew a corrupt government led by
Eric Gairy and allied itself with Cuba. Cuba then gave Grenada
millions of dollars for the construction of the Point Saline
International Airport. US strategists feared the airport would
project Cuban air power into South America.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A10)(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.F5)
1983 Oct 19, In Grenada an
extremist Marxist faction executed PM Maurice Bishop and 4 Cabinet
ministers. 17 men were later convicted of the killings during the
coup that prompted a US invasion. Their death sentences were later
commuted to life in prison. In 2005 they were allowed to appeal to
the London-based Privy Council. In 2009 Bernard Coard and the six
others — Dave Bartholomew, Callistus Bernard, Leon Cornwall, Liam
James, Ewart Layne and Selwyn Strachan — were released. Ten others
convicted in the killings, including Coard's wife, were previously
released. The bodies of Bishop and 10 men killed with him had not
been found.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A10)(Econ, 10/18/03, p.38)(AP,
6/29/05)(AP, 6/28/06)(AP, 9/5/09)
1983 Oct 21, US Pres. Ronald
Reagan sent a ten-ship task force to Grenada.
(HN, 10/21/98)
1983 Oct 25, Some 1,800 US
Marines and Rangers, assisted by 300 soldiers from six Caribbean
nations, invaded Grenada at the order of President Reagan, who said
the action was needed to protect US citizens there. Protection for
the American students at St. George’s Medical School was a pretext
for the invasion. 45 Grenadians were killed along with 29 Cubans and
19 Americans. This day later became celebrated as Grenada’s
Thanksgiving Day.
(AP, 10/25/97)(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A10)(SFC,
8/3/98, p.A8)(HN, 10/25/98)(SFC, 3/12/07, p.B4)
1983 Oct 28, US forces led by
Vice Adm. Joseph Metcalf III took control of Grenada 3 days after
invading the island. Deputy PM Bernard Coard, leader of the
rebellion, was captured. The fighting left 19 Americans dead along
with 45 Grenadans.
(SFC, 3/12/07, p.B4)
1984 In Grenada after a gradual
withdrawal of peacekeeping forces, a centrist coalition led by
Herbert A. Blaize won a parliamentary majority.
(www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107592.html)
1995 In Grenada the New
National Party (NNP), led by Keith C. Mitchell, won a majority in
the parliamentary elections. He won reelection again in 1999 and
2003.
(www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107592.html)
1997 Jun 18, It was reported
that Japan was paying 5 Caribbean nations extensive aid and
investment in order to gain support to block protections for
endangered species. Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, St.
Lucia and Dominica were all reported to have been bribed.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.A8)
1998 Aug 2, Fidel Castro
visited Grenada following an invitation from Prime Minister Keith
Mitchell.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A10)(SFC, 8/3/98, p.A8)
1999 Jan 18, Keith Mitchell's
New National party won all 15 parliamentary seats. His government
had collapsed 7 weeks previous under allegations of corruption.
(SFC, 1/20/99, p.A10)
2002 Aug 8, Ralph Bhola (80),
who served as Grenada's acting prime minister in the 1960s and
played a key role in the Caribbean country's development, died after
a lengthy illness.
(AP, 8/9/02)
2003 May 13, George
Louison, a leftist who helped overthrow Grenada's government in
1979, died of a heart attack in Trinidad.
(AP, 5/14/03)
2003 Nov 27, In Grenada a
record 64 candidates from six parties, including 2 independents,
competed for the chamber's 15 seats. PM Keith Mitchell's governing
New National Party won parliamentary balloting by a slim margin.
(AP, 11/27/03)
2004 Sep 8, Hurricane Ivan made
a direct hit on Grenada, killing at least three people. The most
powerful storm to hit the Caribbean in 10 years also damaged homes
in Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent, just days after Hurricane
Frances rampaged through.
(AP, 9/8/04)
2004 Sep 9, Hurricane Ivan grew
into the deadliest of storms overnight, packing winds of 160 mph as
it made a beeline for Jamaica after pummeling Grenada, Barbados and
other islands, causing at least 20 deaths. Police in Grenada battled
looters.
(AP, 9/9/04)(WSJ, 9/9/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/10/04,
p.A1)
2004 Sep 12, Hurricane Ivan
skirted Grand Cayman with winds near 155 mph as it churned toward
Cuba. The storm has been blamed for 56 deaths across the Caribbean
so far, including 34 in Grenada and 11 in Jamaica.
(AP, 9/12/04)
2004 Sep 13, In Grenada at
least 39 people were killed from Hurricane Ivan. Roughly 90 percent
of the country's homes were damaged or destroyed. The country's
nutmeg industry was severely damaged. The airport was damaged but
soon reopened for some commercial flights.
(AP, 9/14/04)
2004 Oct 15, Former President
Jimmy Carter urged the US and other international lenders to forgive
part of Grenada's debt, saying the Caribbean country needs the money
to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Ivan.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2005 Jan 27, Taiwan formally
severed ties with Grenada after accusing the tiny Caribbean island
of trying to exploit the rivalry between China and Taiwan to get
more financial aid.
(AP, 1/27/05)
2005 Feb 28, In Grenada Alister
Hughes (86), respected journalists known for his coverage of
Grenada's political woes and the US invasion in 1983, died of a
stroke.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Jul 15, Hurricane Emily
blew over Grenada and gathered force in the eastern Caribbean with
winds of 135 mph. At least one person was killed.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 18, In a program to be
screened on ABC TV, the fisheries chief of the Solomon Islands in
the South Pacific says Japan poured money into the country in
exchange for its support over whaling and cheap access to tuna.
Similar charges were made by former officials from the tiny
Caribbean nations of Dominica and Grenada.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Sep 6, Nine countries:
Antigua, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Dominica, Suriname, St. Kitts, St.
Vincent and the Dominican Republic, signed oil deals with Venezuela
in Jamaica. Cuba and Jamaica had previously signed. Chavez urged
Caribbean governments to consider Cuba-style socialism as an
alternative to capitalism.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2008 Jul 8, Tillman Thomas,
former political detainee, returned his party to power in Grenada
after 13 years in opposition. The apparent win by the National
Democratic Congress was a stunning setback for PM Keith Mitchell's
conservative New National Party, which was seeking an unprecedented
4th consecutive term in legislative elections.
(AP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 9, In Grenada Tillman
Thomas, former political detainee, was sworn in as the new prime
minister.
(AP, 7/9/08)
2009 Sep 9, Grenada’s PM
Tillman Thomas said Grenada has sold some 100 Venezuelan-built
houses at a deep discount to people left homeless by Hurricane Ivan
in 2004. Venezuela financed the construction of 120 homes. They were
finished three years ago, but electrical inspections delayed their
sale. Valued at $92,000 each, the structures were sold for only
$2,000, to help cover the cost of the land title transfer. The
government selected mostly single mothers who were renting or living
with relatives. The unsold structures were planned to be used as
shelters for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2010 May 3, In Grenada Steve
Gorrie (36) walked into a precinct station with two severed human
heads in a bucket and presented his haul to horrified police. Police
later found two hacked-up, headless bodies in a rural field,
including the owner of a local tavern.
(AP, 5/4/10)(AP, 5/7/10)
2010 Aug 25, In Grenada
businessman Michael Raeburn-Delfish was reported missing. His
severed head and limbs were found in three shallow pits on Sep 5,
2010. Suspect Ronald Michael Phillip (55), had been deported in 2000
from the United States to Granada the day after leaving a state
prison in Uncasville, Connecticut, where he had spent more than six
years. Phillip had been arrested in December 1993 on assault and
drug charges.
(www.grenadabroadcast.com/content/view/9046/1/)(AP, 9/25/10)
2011 May 25, Grenada's director
of public prosecution said a 41-year-old man was charged with having
sex with an unidentified 17-year-old man. The Caribbean island had a
law against homosexual acts on the books but was rarely enforced. A
2010 United Nations report said the penalty on most Caribbean
islands, including Grenada, is up to 10 years in prison, although
Barbados and Guyana have life imprisonment.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 Dec 26, In Grenada Oscar
Bartholomew (39) of Toronto, was beaten into a coma after he mistook
a plainclothes female police officer for a friend and lifted her for
a hug in front of a police station. Bartholomew was visiting family
on the island and died the next day. Officers Kenton Hazzard and
Wendell Sylvester were detained on Dec 29. On Jan 1, 2012, police
officers Edward Gibson, Shaun Ganness and Ruddy Felix were also
arrested and charged in the beating death.
(AP, 1/1/12)
2013 Mar, The government of
Grenada defaulted on its dollar bonds.
(Econ, 11/9/13, p.78)
2013 Jun 28, Legislators in
Grenada approved a bill that makes it a crime to offend people
through websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
(AP, 6/29/13)
2013 The population of Grenada
was about 100,000.
(Econ, 11/9/13, p.78)
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