Nickname: The Spice Isle | |
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Map of Grenada
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Geography | |
Location | Caribbean Sea |
Coordinates | 12°07′N 61°40′W / 12.117°N 61.667°WCoordinates: 12°07′N 61°40′W / 12.117°N 61.667°W |
Archipelago | Grenadines |
Area | 348.5 km2 (134.6 sq mi) |
Length | 19 km (11.8 mi) |
Width | 34 km (21.1 mi) |
Coastline | 121 km (75.2 mi) |
Highest elevation | 840 m (2,760 ft) |
Highest point | Mount St. Catherine |
Administration | |
Grenada
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Largest settlement | St. George's (pop. 7,500) |
Demographics | |
Population | 109,100 (2012) |
Pop. density | 313 /km2 (811 /sq mi) |
Ethnic groups | Blacks 82% Mulatto 12% South Asians (Indo-Grenadians) 3% and whites 2.9%, trace Arawak/Carib Amerindian |
This article describes the geography of Grenada.
Grenada is a Caribbean island (one of the Grenadines) between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, north of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located at 12°07′N 61°40′W / 12.117°N 61.667°W. There are no large inland bodies of water on the island, which consists entirely of the state of Grenada. The coastline is 121 km long.
The island has 15 constituencies and speaks English. It is volcanic in origin and its topography/landscape is mountainous.
Natural resources include timber, tropical fruit and deepwater harbors.
Grenada and its largely uninhabited outlying territories are the most southerly of the Windward Islands. The Grenadine Islands chain consists of some 600 islets; those south of the Martinique Channel belong to Grenada, while those north of the channel are part of the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Located about 160 kilometers north of Venezuela, at approximately 12° north latitude and 61° west longitude, Grenada and its territories occupy a small area of 433 square kilometers. Grenada, known as the Spice Isle because of its production of nutmeg and mace, is the largest at 310 square kilometers, or about the size of Detroit. The island is oval shaped and framed by a jagged southern coastline; its maximum width is thirty-four kilometers, and its maximum length is nineteen kilometers. St. George's, the capital and the nation's most important harbor, is favorably situated near a lagoon on the southwestern coast. Of all the islands belonging to Grenada, only two are of consequence: Carriacou, with a population of a few thousand, and its neighbor Petit Martinique, roughly 40 kilometers northeast of Grenada and populated by some 700 inhabitants.