Thursday, March 24, 2016

Grenada Flag History

By Max Rodgers


Grenada is the most southerly of the Windward Islands. The Arawak Indians were the first to inhabit Grenada, but they were all eventually massacred by the Carib Indians. When Columbus arrived in 1498, he encountered the Caribs, who continued to rule over the island for another 150 years. The French gained control of the island in 1672 and held on to it until 1762 when the British invaded. Black slaves were granted freedom in 1833. After more than 200 years of British rule, most recently as part of the West Indies Associated States, Grenada became independent on Feb. 7, 1974, with Eric M. Gairy as prime minister.

Grenada was administrative headquarters of the British Windward Islands from 1885 to 1958, and from 1958 to 1962, it was part of the Federation of the West Indies. From 1784 until its independence in 1974, Grenada remained a member of the British Empire, passing through various stages of colonial status and multiple associations with other regional states.

Grenada became a British associated state in 1967 when it adopted a tricolor flag with horizontal stripes of blue, yellow, and green from top to bottom. In the center was the emblem of the nutmeg. This flag was replaced with the current flag upon independence.

The flag of Grenada is divided diagonally into four triangles. The top and bottom triangles are golden, and the triangles on the hoist and fly side are green. At the point where the four triangles meet in the center, a large gold star is positioned over a red circle. Centered along the hoist side is a symbol representing a nutmeg in gold and red over the green triangle. The triangles are surrounded by a red border, with three gold stars along the top and another three along the bottom.

The shades of the banner of Grenada are the commonplace African hues, mirroring the nation's ties with Africa and its African character. The red is typical of the fearlessness and imperativeness of the general population of Grenada, and their mission for freedom. The red fringe speaks of the safeguarding of their solidarity. The gold speaks of the daylight and warmth of the general population and symbolizes knowledge.

Green customarily speaks of the fruitful grounds. There is one star for each of the six areas and the huge star for the capital of Grenada. The nutmeg is an image of Grenada, as it was once in the past called the Isle of Spice for its numerous nutmeg trees and today it supplies around 40 percent of the world's yearly nutmeg supply. Flag Company Inc decided to assist with the history development by providing special decals and banners to make it easy to build a bit of history of Grenada Flag right at home.




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