Q: Who was the first woman Governor of a British Commonwealth country?
A: Dame Hilda Bynoe. In 1968 she became Governor of Grenada, Cariacou and Petit Martinique. Born in Grenada in the small Grenadian village of Crochu, she spent most of her adult life as a teacher and medical doctor in Trinidad and Tobago.
Q: His father’s name and the name of the "fort" at which he was executed were the same. Who was he?
A: Former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. His father was Rupert Bishop. He was executed at Fort Rupert.
Q: Where is Grenada's largest nutmeg processing factory located?
A: At Gouyave, a town on the West Coast of Grenada. To see how Grenada’s spice is processed, one can take a tour of the facilities there.
Q: Where in Grenada is the oldest working rum distillery in the Caribbean?
A: At River Antoine. You may see there a giant ancient water wheel which drives the sugar can mill.
Q: What is the highest point in Grenada?
A: The peak of Mt St Catherine, 2757 feet high.
Q: Who published the novel Angel, which deals with the life of a young woman whose life was impacted by the political tensions in Grenada, especially those which resulted in and were generated by the United States invasion of the country?
A: Merle Collins, in 1987. A Grenadian herself, she was educated in the West Indies and in Britain and is now a professor in the United States.
Q: What was the origin of the name Grenada?
A: The Spaniards named the island after the Spanish city of Granada. The Amerindians who first lived there had called it Camerhogue. Columbus renamed it Concepcion, and it was later shown on maps as Mayo.
Q: Which Grenadian head of government was ousted in a coup in 1979?
A: Sir Eric Gairy. He had become increasingly unpopular because of his authoritarian style of government and his regime was widely viewed as corrupt. His political base was GULP (the Grenada United Labour Party).
Q: Which Grenadian Prime Minister was murdered as a result of a power struggle within his own government?
A: Maurice Bishop. His New Jewel (Joint Endeavour for Welfare, Education and Liberation) Movement had ousted Sir Eric Gairy from power and had formed a government with him as the new Prime Minister. The murder of Bishop in 1883 and the ensuing chaos was followed by the intervention of a US-Caribbean force which invaded the island to restore order.
Q: How was Maurice Bishop killed?
A: He and seven others were lined up against a wall and executed by soldiers.
Q: Where in Grenada did the island's last 40 Caribs jump off a cliff to their death rather than surrender to the French?
A: La Morne des Sauteurs (Leapers Hill) or just Sauteurs
See "The
Leap at Sauteurs" by Lennox Honychurch
Q: Why is Grenada called The Isle of Spices?
A: Because it is famous for its production of nutmeg, mace and other condiments.
Q: Who was the first president of the Caribbean Labour Congress?
A: T. A. Marryshow of Grenada
Q: Josephine's bathtub is an exhibit at the Grenada National Museum. Who was Josephine.
A: The wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Q: Who gave Grenada the name Mayo?
A: Amerigo Vespucci, the famous map-maker, from whose name America was derived. Columbus had already visited the island before he did and had named it Concepcion. However, maps of the early 1500s named the island Granada. Later, under the British, it became Grenada.
Q: Name the Haitian
president and king who was born on the island of Grenada.
Q: Henri Christophe, born October 6, 1967. A West African slave, he became president (1807-1811) and king (1811-1820). His parents were slaves brought to Grenada, then British, with thousands of other West Africans to work in the sugar industry.
Q: Which Grenadian returned home from a clerical job at an oil refinery in nearby Aruba to influence political life in Grenada for decades?
A: Eric Gairy
Q: What was the Mongoose Gang of Grenada?
A: It was Eric Gairy's gang of thugs with whom he terrorized Grenadians who were unwilling to cooperate with him.
Q: What was Prime Minister Gairy doing when his government was toppled?
A: He was in New York, preparing to address a United Nations session on the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).
Q. Why did /do some people fear a tree at Hermitage (Mt. Moritz)?
A: It is a silk cotton (silkcotton) tree. All over the Caribbean silk cotton trees are feared by some of the older people of African ancestry.
Q: Name the Grenadian who wrote the novel Under the Silk Cotton Tree.
A: Jean Buffong. She also wrote Snowflakes in the Sun and Jump-up-and-kiss-Me. Born in Grenada, she emigrated to England in 1962. She is also noted for her storytelling and community activism. She was a founding member of the Ananse Society, an organization intended to perpetuate the tradition of storytelling in Africa and the Caribbean.