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Climate: Grenada has a tropical climate. The dry season takes place from December until May with an average day temperature of 25 degrees, the water temperature is about 24 degrees in the summer and in the autumn. The temperature regularly rises to over thirty degrees from April until December, alternated with tropical rain.
Most rain falls in the months of August, September and October, the least rain falls in the months of March, May and June. In fact, the amount of rain that falls varies locally: for instance, in the mountains much more rain falls than in the coastal area.
Moreover, the Western part of the island is dryer than the Eastern part. At night the temperature seldom reaches temperatures below twenty degrees, with the exception of the mountain areas, which are generally cooler than the lower-situated areas. If the island is struck by a hurricane, it happens in autumn.

Type of state: parliamentary democracy. The British Queen is the head of the state. She is represented by a governor-general. Currently this is Sir Daniel Williams. The daily, executive power lies with the government leader. This is usually the leader of the party that has most seats in parliament.

History:
Grenada’s historiography starts in 1498, when Christopher Columbus visited the island during one of his journeys to the New World. He called the island Grenada. The Spaniards did not establish a permanent settlement on the island.
Later the English tried to get possession of Grenada, but they failed pitifully, because the population of Grenada, the Caribs, prevented this. The French fought the Caribs and established a colony on Grenada in 1630. Not a single original inhabitant of Grenada survived the French invasion.

In 1763, when the Paris Treaty was signed, the United Kingdom got possession of Grenada. This lasted until its independence was declared in 1974. From 1974 until 1979 Grenada was ruled by a dictatorial government led by Sir Eric Gairy.

In 1979 Maurice Bishop, the leader of the left-wing Jewel Movement,
committed a coup. The fact that Bishop did not succeed in organizing elections, had Marxist-Leninist points of view, and on top of this sympathized with communist Cuba, did not make Grenada particularly popular with its neighbouring countries.

In 1983 a second coup was committed, this time by general Huson Austin, and for the United States it was apparent that Cuba was behind it. With the support of Dominica and several other Caribbean islands the United States undertook military action. After the invasion the United States provided millions of dollars of economical support. The American government also supported a pro-American candidate at the elections of 1984.

In 2004 Grenada was struck by hurricane Ivan. Ninety percent of the habitat was damaged or destroyed.


Demolitions by hurricane Ivan

Production and trade:
Grenada is a member of the following organizations that are involved with production, agriculture and international trade:

• Caricom
• CARIFORUM
• Food and Agriculture Organisation (United Nations)
• International Monetary Fund
• UNCTAD
• World Trade Organisation WTO

Grenada particularly exports goods to the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands. The most important exported products are nutmeg (25% of the world production), bananas, cocoa and foil.

Nutmeg

The country mainly imports goods from the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan. The most important imported products are food, machines, fuels and electronics.

Economy:
You can find agricultural plantations everywhere on the island, but tourism is becoming more and more important for the economy. The little industry there is deals with the production of agricultural products. The official unemployment rate is 15%, but in reality it is much higher. One third of the population is living below the poverty threshold.

After the hurricane Ivan the country was rebuilt, but in order do to so high debts were run up and the economy is suffering from the debt burden.