Dominica
Capital: Roseau · Caribbean
Dominica officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean.
Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Batalie Bay , Dominica ; view south.
Photo: Postdlf, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Did you know?
The island was settled by the Arawak arriving from South America in the fifth century. The Kalinago displaced the Arawak by the 15th century. Christopher Columbus is said to have passed the island on Sunday, 3rd November 1493. It was later colonised by Europeans, predominantly by the French from 1690 to 1763. The French enslaved West Africans and transported them to Dominica to work on coffee plantations. Great Britain took possession in 1763 after the Seven Years' War and continued the legacy of forced labor to gain wealth, and gradually established English as its official language. The island gained independence as a republic in 1978.
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Photographs taken by my Communications Team following the passage of Hurricane Maria. These photos only show the route between Castle Comfort (lower) to Roseau.
Photo: Roosevelt Skerrit from Vieille Case, Dominica, Public domain · source
Volcanic rock at Pagua Bay, Dominica, W.I.
Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Etymology
The Kalinago called the island Wai'tu kubuli, which means "Tall is her body", likely referring to the island personified as a goddess (comparable to Gaia).
Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain, named the island Dominica, an abbreviation of the Latin dies Dominica (meaning "day of the Lord", that is, Sunday), because he first sighted the landmass on a Sunday in November 1493. In keeping with the Spanish pronunciation of its name, Dominica's name is pronounced with emphasis on the second i.
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Tropical house gecko at Palm Tree House, Woodfordhill, Dominica, West Indies
Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
History
Dominica first emerged from the sea during the Oligocene Epoch approximately 26 million years ago, making it the last Caribbean island to be formed by volcanic activity along the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc. The island remains volcanically active, with geothermal features reflecting ongoing magmatic processes beneath its surface.
Dominica's precolonial Indigenous inhabitants were the Kalinago people, who are thought to have driven out the previous Arawak population.
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Geography
Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea, the northernmost of the Windward Islands (though it is sometimes considered the southernmost of the Leeward Islands). The size of the country is about 750 km2 (289.5 sq mi) and it is about 47 km (29 mi) long and 26 km (16 mi) wide.
Known as "The Nature Island of the Caribbean" due to its lush scenery and varied flora and fauna, Dominica is largely covered by rainforest and is home to the world's second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake. Within its borders lie two ecoregions: Windward Islands' moist forests and Windward Islands' xeric scrub.
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Government and politics
Dominica is a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth of Nations. The capital is Roseau. Dominica is one of the Caribbean's few republics. The head of state is an indirectly elected president, while executive power rests with the cabinet, headed by the prime minister. The unicameral parliament consists of the 30-member House of Assembly, which consists of 21 directly elected members, and 9 senators who may either be appointed by the president or elected by the other members of the House of Assembly.
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Economy
Dominica's currency is the East Caribbean Dollar. In 2008, Dominica had one of the lowest per capita gross domestic product (GDP) rates of Eastern Caribbean states. The country nearly had a financial crisis in 2003 and 2004, but Dominica's economy grew by 3.5% in 2005 and 4.0% in 2006, following a decade of poor performance. Growth in 2006 was attributed to gains in tourism, construction, offshore and other services, and some sub-sectors of the banana industry.
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Demographics
The population of Dominica recorded in its census of June 1844 was 22,649.
Most Dominicans are of African descent. There is a growing mixed population along with a small European-origin minority who are mostly descendants of French and British colonists and some people of Irish descent who were indentured servants. A small number of Lebanese, Syrians and East Asians also reside on the island. Dominica is the only eastern Caribbean island that still has a population of pre-Columbian native Kalinago (previously called Caribs), who were exterminated or driven from neighbouring islands.
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Culture
Dominica was historically occupied by the Arawaks (Tainos) and Carib (Kalinago) tribes at the time European settlers reached the island. "Massacre" is a name of a river dedicated to the mass murder of the native villagers by English settlers on St. Kitts. The survivors were forced into exile on Dominica. Both the French and British claimed the island and imported slaves from Africa for labour. The remaining Kalinago live on a 3,700-acre (15 km2) territory on the east coast of the island. They elect their own chief. This has produced the modern cultural mix.
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Notable people
Phyllis Shand Allfrey, writer, newspaper editor, activist, and politician
Chelsea Connor, biologist, activist and birdwatcher
Exile One, musicians
Jerelle Joseph, scientist and academic
Wikipedia: Dominica – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0