St. George's, Grenada
| St. George's | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
Town of St. George's
|
|
 St.George within Grenada |
|
| Coordinates: 12°3′N 61°45′W / 12.050°N 61.750°WCoordinates: 12°3′N 61°45′W / 12.050°N 61.750°W | |
| Country |
 Grenada
|
| Parish | Saint George |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Total | 33,734 |
| Time zone | UTC-4 |
St. George's is the capital of Grenada. The town is surrounded by a hillside of an old volcano crater and is on a horseshoe-shaped harbor.
St. George's is a popular Caribbean tourist destination. The town has significantly developed in recent years, while preserving its history, culture, and natural beauty. The town is home of St. George’s University School of Medicine and it is also where the country's international airport is located, Maurice Bishop International Airport. The main exports are cocoa bean cacao, nutmeg, and mace spice.
It has a moderate tropical climate that ensures the success of spice production. Nutmegs are the most plentiful crop, followed by an array of such spices as cocoa, mace, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger.
St. George's was founded by the French in 1650 when "La Grenade" (Grenada) was purchased by Jacques Dyel du Parquet, the governor of Martinique. The French began their colonization with a series of skirmishes that virtually exterminated the island's native Carib population.
In 1666, a wooden fortification was constructed by French colonists on a promontory overlooking Grenada's natural harbour and named Fort Royale. In 1705, work started on a new star fort on the same site, with four stone-built bastions, to the design of Jean de Giou de Caylus, the Chief Engineer of the "Islands of America" the French West Indies. It was completed in 1710.
Meanwhile, the original colonial settlement at the eastern edge of the harbour called Saint Louis after King Louis IX of France, later known as Port Louis, was found to be subject to flooding and malaria, so a new town was constructed called Ville de Fort Royale ("Fort Royal Town"). When the island was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the new administration renamed it Saint George's Town, after the patron saint of England and Fort Royale was renamed Fort George, after King George III. On the 1 November 1775 there was a fire in the town of St. George's known as the great fire of St George's. After the great fire of 1771, most of the boarding houses on Granby Street were moved to Gouyave.
...
Wikipedia