First settled by the indigenous Amerindians, it was then colonized by the French in 1650, before being ceded to the British in 1783. From 1795 to 1796 Julien Fedon, a planter of mixed African and French heritage, led around 100 freed men and slaves in an unsuccessful rebellion against British rule. This rebellion came the year after France had abolished slavery in all of its colonies and grew considerably as 1795 passed. Having held most of the Island for a year, Fedon was defeated but never captured. Grenada's slaves were freed in 1834, without the four years of apprenticeship experienced elsewhere. The Grenada United Labour Party was founded in 1951 by Eric Gairy, Gairy would then serve as Prime Minister once Grenada became independent in 1974. These Blue Books commence after the emancipation of Grenada's slaves and cover British Colonial rule until the year before the First World War.