Flags of Grenada

Independent Grenada

Who & why: Grenada gains independence from Britain on 7 February 1974 under Premier Eric Gairy, who becomes its first Prime Minister. This same flag flies through the major political upheaval that follows without ever changing: the 13 March 1979 Grenada Revolution, in which Maurice Bishop's Marxist-Leninist New Jewel Movement overthrows Gairy in a coup and installs the People's Revolutionary Government; Bishop's arrest and execution amid internal party conflict in October 1983; and the US-led “Operation Urgent Fury” invasion days later, on 25 October 1983, which ends the revolutionary government and restores parliamentary rule. Every one of these is a change of government, not of flag.

What it represents: a rectangle split into yellow triangles (top and bottom) and green triangles (hoist and fly), framed by a red border with six yellow stars (three along the top, three along the bottom), and a central yellow star on a red disc, with a nutmeg at the hoist. Wikipedia dates adoption to 7 February 1974 (independence day) and Flags of the World to 6 December 1973; both credit Anthony C. George. Wikipedia says the nutmeg was the one feature kept from the previous flag.

British Grenada (final and lasting British rule)

Who & why: the 1783 Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolutionary War, confirms Grenada as British again after France's wartime recapture of the island. Britain then holds it continuously from here through independence — a long span of sugar-then-nutmeg-and-cocoa plantation agriculture built on enslaved labor, with emancipation arriving in 1834 (full freedom by 1838), followed by indentured labor from India and elsewhere, and membership in the short-lived West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.

What it represents: Wikipedia and Flags of the World both list a Blue Ensign with a colonial badge for 1875-1903 and a second badge for 1903-1967, then a temporary blue, yellow and green flag with a nutmeg for 1967-1974 (as an Associated State from 3 March 1967); Flags of the World describes the first badge as a sugar mill and the second as a ship with the motto 'clarior e tenebris', not a harbour scene. The sources read give no flag for 1783-1875.

Britain's first possession, and the French recapture

Who & why: a bridging span. France cedes Grenada to Britain in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which closes the Seven Years' War, after nearly a century and a quarter of French control (see the next entry). Britain's hold does not last: French forces recapture the island in 1779, during the American Revolutionary War, and hold it until the 1783 Treaty of Paris restores it to Britain for good. Rather than split this short, contested stretch into separate cards, it is shown here honestly as one bridging entry, with the French interlude explained in the prose.

What it represents: Wikipedia says sovereignty alternated between France and Britain through the 18th century and that the 1783 Peace of Paris left Britain with the island, but names no flags and gives no 1763 dates. The sources read do not confirm the Red Ensign.

French Grenada

Who & why: French colonists from Martinique, led by Jacques Dyel du Parquet, purchase Grenada's claim from the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique and establish a permanent settlement in 1650, after a period of fierce Kalinago resistance that ends brutally. A 1651 massacre at what is still called Le Morne des Sauteurs (“Leapers' Hill”) — where the last Kalinago defenders are said to have jumped to their deaths rather than surrender — effectively ends organized indigenous resistance on the island.

What it represents: neither Wikipedia nor Flags of the World names any flag used during French rule of Grenada. A Canadian Military Heritage page says Louis XIV made a plain white flag the French navy's flag in 1661 and that fleurs-de-lis were added only when the king was present, so the white ensign shown here, with its gold fleur-de-lis, is not documented for Grenada by the sources read.

Kalinago Grenada

Who & why: Columbus sights the island in 1498 but does not land. Grenada, which the Kalinago called “Camerhogne,” remains under Kalinago control, with repeated Spanish and other European attempts at settlement resisted, until the French finally establish a permanent, violently imposed foothold in 1650.

What it represents: no securely documented flag survives from this era; the Kalinago did not use heraldic banners in the European sense, and inventing one would misrepresent them. Shown here honestly as a “no flag documented” placeholder.

Saladoid and Igneri Settlement of Grenada

Who & why: Grenada's first known inhabitants arrive from the South American mainland around the 3rd century BCE as part of the broader Saladoid migration up the Lesser Antilles island chain, bringing distinctive painted pottery and settled village life; archaeological sites such as Pearls, on the island's northeastern coast, preserve this occupation. Their Igneri (Arawakan-speaking) descendants continue to inhabit Grenada for well over a thousand years, until Kalinago (Island Carib) peoples, migrating up the same island chain in turn, arrive and establish the dominance that Columbus's ships find in 1498, the point at which this page's next entry begins.

What it represents: no flag or comparable political symbol survives, or is documented, from this era; shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

World context: the Saladoid migration up the Caribbean island chain runs alongside the height of Classic Maya civilization in Mesoamerica, the flourishing of the Nazca culture and its enigmatic desert lines in Peru (c. 500 BCE–500 CE), and, much later, the rise of the Aztec Empire in the 14th century — a reminder that Grenada's earliest history belongs to the pre-Columbian Americas' own timeline, entirely apart from the Old World civilizations referenced elsewhere in this atlas.