Editing THE GRENADA HANDBOOK AND DIRECTORY 1946
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'''HISTORY''' | '''HISTORY''' | ||
− | '''1498''' | + | '''1498''' |
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+ | The existence of Grenada was brought to the knowledge of the Old world by Christopher Columbus, who sighted the Island on August 15, 1498, but did not touch at it. On his voyage, which began on May 30, 1498, the first land made by the great navigator was Trinidad, on July 31. He entered the Gulf of Paria from the south, and, after cruising about the shores of Trinidad and the mainland, he passed through the Boca del Dragon, the northern outlet of the gulf, on the afternoon of August 14. The next morning , being the feast of assumption of the virgin, while standing to the northward, he saw to the north-east, many leagues distant, two islands, which he called ‘Assumption’ and ‘ Conception’ the former being Tobago and the latter Grenada. He then preceded westward, discovering Margarita and Cubagua while en route for Hispaniola. | ||
For more than 100 years after its discovery by Columbus the aboriginal inhabitants, who were of the Carib race, were left in undisturbed possession of the island, to which they are said to have been attracted in great numbers on account of the superior hunting and fishing obtainable there as compared with the adjacent islands. The Spaniards were, no doubt , fully occupied with their more important conquests on the American continent and the larger islands of the Caribbean Sea , and as yet other European nations had not joined in the race for acquisition of new territory among fertile beautiful lands. | For more than 100 years after its discovery by Columbus the aboriginal inhabitants, who were of the Carib race, were left in undisturbed possession of the island, to which they are said to have been attracted in great numbers on account of the superior hunting and fishing obtainable there as compared with the adjacent islands. The Spaniards were, no doubt , fully occupied with their more important conquests on the American continent and the larger islands of the Caribbean Sea , and as yet other European nations had not joined in the race for acquisition of new territory among fertile beautiful lands. | ||
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− | + | According to a document in the British Museum, written by Major John Scott, historiographer to Charles ii, the first attempt to colonise Grenada was made by a company of London merchant, who equipped three ships and dispatched them with that objective. They reached Grenada on April 1, 1609, and landed 208 colonists, but these were persistently hunted by the Caribs that they were compelled to abandon the settlement and return to England, what was left them arriving in London on December 15, 1609. | |
− | ''' | + | '''1626''' |
− | + | About the year 1626 both the English and French appear to have set covetous eyes on the unappropriated island of Grenada, and we find it included among the theoretical possessions of the French ‘Company of the Islands of America’, founded in that year by Cardinal Richelieu, while in the following year it was included in the general grant of the Caribbees made to the Earl of Carlisle by King Charles I. Neither nation, however, took any further steps until 1638, when a Frenchman named Polney attempted to effect a landing, but was driven off by the Caribs, who thus secured further immunity from attack for twelve years. |