Grenada Facts for Kids

Grenada is a sovereign state that is located in the southeastern sea of the Caribbean, northwest of Trinidad and Tobago; southwest of St. Vincent, southern side of the grenadines island chain and northeast of Venezuela. The origin of the name is most likely gotten from the city of Grenada in Spain, the name means “pomegranate”.

The total land area of Grenada is 344 sq km (135 sq miles) with the largest city and also the capital city being St. Georges.
The official language is English with a small fraction speaking French patois.
Grenada was first conquered by the French soon after the British took over; from 1958 to 1962 the island of Grenada was part of the West Indies Federation, the British saw the potential of the island as a sugar plantation.
Grenada gained independence from Britain in 7 February 1974 and their national day is also on the same day.

Grenada is among the smallest countries to gain independence in the western hemisphere.
The national anthem is called “Hail Grenada”, the national animal is called the Grenada dove and the national flower is the Bougainvillea flower.
The national meal of the island is believe it or not “oildown”; the meal is made by putting it in coconut milk till it is absorbed completely and the most popular drink made from local spices and cocoa on the island is cocoa tea.
The people of Grenada are called Grenadian with the religion of the country being Christianity and the currency being used is the Eastern Caribbean Dollars (XCD).
The major industries are the food and beverages, construction, light assembly operations, textiles and tourism. Grenada’s exportation makes about $43.4 million (est. in 2017) in a year on bananas, fruit and vegetables, mace, clothing and nutmeg.
This is why Grenada is dubbed the “spice isle” as it produces mace crops and nutmeg with some other spice.
Grenada spends roughly $310.2 million (est. in 2017) on food, machinery, manufactured goods and fuel. The united state of America is Granada’s major trade partner so a lot of their spices are exported to US.
The limitation in the budget also means that most of the law enforcement officers in Grenada are trained in other countries to gain military proficiency.
The United Kingdom and Cuba are also known active participants in providing students of Grenada with scholarship and exchange programs.
Christopher Columbus passed through the island of Grenada but never colonized it
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed or damaged 90% of the houses in Grenada, the incident was a nationwide catastrophe
Even though the island is located in the southern edge of the Grenadines, it has been fortunate to only witness three hurricane disasters in the past 50 years.
Half of the island of Grenada is covered in forestation and yet there are no known sightings of any venomous snakes.
Levera Beach is home to the largest living species of reptiles that existed even during the dinosaur’s era, the beach which is the nesting ground for the largest leatherback turtle population. 35,000 female leatherback turtles are what exist in the world and they are endangered species.
People of Grenada were given 411 pairs of shoes by a Grenadian living in the United States of America. The man started the initiative so he could provide help to people in his home country and to encourage people to follow in his path.
Grand Etang is a lake that is said to be bottomless. The lake is a popular tourist attraction and a dormant volcano is said to be under the lake. Sonar was used to try and measure the depth and it hasn’t be formed.

The spice isle was formed when a ship travelling from East Indies to England, stopped and planted some nutmeg tress on the island. This begun a lucrative exportation for the island with over 40% of the world’s annual crop.
Nutmeg is the only tropical fruit that gives two different spices. The mace is gotten from the dried reddish and the nutmeg which is seed of the tree. After planting, the tree is fully grown within 20years.
The first underwater sculpture park in the world is located in Grenada. The sculptures which are made with concrete and rebar are naturally placed without causing disturbance in the lives of the inhabitants and the reef.

The Caribbean oldest known functioning water propelled distillery “the river run distillery” is located in Grenada.