HISTORY

Despite the enchantment and tranquility of today’s Grenada, the island has a tumultuous past, fraught with battles and upheavals.

The first inhabitants were the peaceful Arawaks who fled the island when the Caribs supplanted them on the island.

With the arrival of European explorers over the course of several centuries, the island changed hands and names several times.

Christopher Columbus first named the island Conception in 1498 but passing Spanish sailors fondly referred to the isle as Granada as it reminded them of the mountainous Andalusia region in Spain. However, it was the British who gave this island the current spelling and pronunciation (Gre-NAY-da).