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From spice plantation to the mountain lakes, from rainforests to pristine beaches, one can never choose to miss out the fantastic range of scenic beauty, which is offered in this destination.
LOCATION OF GRENADA
Grenada is nestled in the southeastern part of the Caribbean Sea which constitutes the southern Grenadines. It is engulfed by Trinidad and Tobago from the northern side, and Saint Vincent along with its inhabited regions of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique in the southern side.The capital city of the region is Saint George's, which is nestled on the southwestern coastal region of the province.
PHYSICAL MAP OF GRENADA
Grenada is recognized as a largest island of the region wherein the smaller Grenadines are constituted with islands like Carriacou, Petit Martinique, Rhonde Island, Caille Island, Diamond Island, Large Island, Saline Island and Frigate Island.
The major towns of this region are St. George's, Grenville and Gouyave. The island is known for possessing rich soil due to volcanic eruptions. The interior regions are mountainous in nature with Mount St. Catherine acknowledged as the highest peak within the region. Innumerable inlets that stream out of this mountain descend to the sea within the region.
There are nearly 600 atolls in the region. The Martinique Channel of Grenada is one among them while St. Vincent and the Grenadines are towards the north end side.
Grenada covers a total land area of about 433 square kilometers. The place is famously popular as Spice Isle as nutmeg and mace are commonly produced in great numbers. The island has an uneven coastline in its southern region that stretches to about 19 kilometers. The volcanic chain in the Lesser Antilles arc varies in size ranging between 300 meters to 600 meters as per location it travels through. The crater lakes are quite dominant in the region while Grand Etang being the largest of them all.
The flag of Grenada was officially accepted in the year of 1974. The flag is designed with seven stars that denote the existence of seven parishes within the country. The centrally placed star is bordered by a red colored disk, which signifies the township of Saint George where the capital city of the same name resides.
CLIMATE OF GRENADA
Grenade is known for its excellent soothing weather condition where this tropical weather is persistently affected with the sea breezes and the winds from the northeastern part of the province.
• January to May is considered as the country's Dry Season.
• June to December is known as the Rainy Season.
The place experiences sufficient amount of down pouring excluding the Point Salines region in the southwestern part. Down pouring may vary in between from 60 inches in (coastal regions) to about 150 in (mountainous area). November receives the maximum amount of rain within the province. The province is even prone to hurricanes that cause severe damage to the place during its arrival.
FLORA AND FAUNA OF GRENADA
There are about 320 hectares of wide expanse of forests where Honduras mahogany, blue mahoe grow primarily. Grenade boasts of innumerable sanctauries of animals and birds. To mention are:
The Grand Etang Lake and Forest Reserve well placed along the crater of the extinct volcano which is suitable for hiking where one can seedifferent species of animal life.
The Levera National Park is famous for Sea turtules that are preserved here especially in their laying season that is between May to September. The mangrove swamp lagoon breeds several birds like Herons, black-necked Stilts, Common Snipes, and waterfowl.
Lake Antoine National Park is an excellent destination to catch up with variet species of birds. One can sight the Snail Kite, the Fulvous Whistling Duck, large-billed Seed Finch, Gray Kingbird, and Limpkin.
La Sagesse is a renowned estuary nestled in the south-western coast attracts travellers to species like Brown Crested Flycatcher, Caribbean Coot, Green Backed Heron, Little Blue Heron, and the Northern Jacuna.
PEOPLE OF GRENADA
The population of Grenada is constituted with:
• Black descendants who made its origin from the African slaves.
• Mulattoes
• East Indians groups
• Laborers that came in place of freed slaves.
• The old French and British settlers.
• Immigrants of North America and Europe group.
English is widely spoken is this area, while one may still come across a type of patois language used by the villagers. The thriving religions of the area are:
• Roman Catholics
• Christian denominations like Anglicans, Methodists, and Seventh-day Adventists.
ARTS, CULTURE AND MUSIC OF GRENADA
Art: Get a cheerful and vibrant art culture in Grenada, which portrays the West Indian people, their vivacity and exuberance, their pets and birds. Fine Arts Gallery offers wide variety of artistic work of several renowned artists like Canute Calliste, Suan Mains, Donald Irvin, Lyndon Bedeau, Richard Buchanan, Christine Matuschek and many others. Camerhogne Art Gallery is famous for exhibiting carvings, sculptures, and wall plaques.
Culture: Participate in the annual drum festival celebrated in the village of Tivoli, which has attracted several visitors. It is only during the months of late July and early August, Grenada and Carriacou, experiences three chief celebrations like:
• The Carriacou Regatta,
• The Rainbow City Festival,
• The Grenada Carnival.
These three festivals harmonize with each other wherein shows, races, competitions, parades, trade fair, pageants, and other exhibits take place. It is during the festival of Play Mas, where one gets to pleasurably interact with the local natives.
Music: The music that is popular in Grenada is calypso and reggae . The Caribbean island of Grenada is known to have shaped quite a number of renowned native musicians like David Emmanuel, the reggae performer and Mighty Sparrow, a calypsonian artist. Carriacou, one of the north islands within the region of Grenada, became prominent for the song statement, which was based on the Big Drum Afro-Caribbean style.
The British and the French greatly influenced the native tunes of Grenada, especially the lullabies and reels, cantique, chanteys and quadrilles.
The population of Carriacou's Afro-Caribbean carries its own distinct rhythm and cadence like: Big Drum that honors the country's ancestors like Manding, Chamba, Temne, Moko, Igbo, Banda, Arada, Kongo and Cromanti.
The Big Drum ritual is observed with a song that is sung in the area of Cromanti, the biggest nation of the province. "Cromanti Cudjo" or "Beg Pardon" is pursued along with the tunes of other nations' song that are short, melodramatic and are chorus in tunes.
Big Drum music is usually played incase a villager expires. The funeral is accompanied with features like music, storytelling and feasting and mainly saraca songs that have its lyrics defined from European and African style. The funeral music that is performed belongs to the folk music. Jazz and Country Music have gained wide acceptance within the region.
The African dances that have evolved here are Heel-and-Toe and Carriacou Big Drum, where famous artist like Willie Redhead, Thelma Phillips, Renalph Gebon and the Beewee Ballet perform.
Grenada is often referred to the "Spice Island," because of the cultivation of different spices within the region. The clove of the nutmeg, which is settled on the left-hand side of the flag, is the chief crop within the region. The country's African characteristics are evoked through the color combinations made which comprises of the color red, gold and green. The color Red signifies courage, yellow denotes wisdom and warmth while green the growth of vegetation in the region.
ECONOMY OF GRENADA
The economy of Grenada is solely dependant on:
- The cultivation of crops like nutmeg, mace, cocoa, and bananas.
- The tourism industry. (Help in the revenue growth in the country)
The merchandise exports is sustained mainly by the agricultural produce in the country where a major portion of the population resort to employment in this sector.
Grenada's banana exports noticed a major fall in its production during the year 1996.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank is solely responsible for the currency circulation, monetary policies, commercial banking, import and export of which Grenada is a member.
- The industries thriving in the region are food and beverages, textiles, light assembly operations, tourism and construction.
- The goods that are exported are bananas, cocoa, nutmeg, fruit and vegetables, clothing and mace.
- The commodities that are imported here are food, manufactured goods, machinery, chemicals and fuel.
