Dominica is not the same place as the Dominican Republic. Dominica (dah-mah-nee-kah) is an independent country made up of a single island, located in between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The Dominican Republic (Doh-min-ick-an) shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, several hundred miles northwest of Dominica. Dominica is 290 square miles and has a population of 72,400. It features the highest mountains in the Eastern Caribbean. It has fertile soil and plenty of rainfall, making it the “bread basket” of the Caribbean.

The first inhabitants on the island are believed to be the Ororoid people from South America, and it is thought that they were already established on the island by 3100 BC. They seem to have vanished in 400 BC. In 400 AD the Arawaks arrived, followed by the Caribs around 1300 – 1400 AD. The Caribs are believed to have “eliminated” the Arawaks from Dominica.

Christopher Columbus “discovered” the island on Sunday, November 3, 1493 and named the island Sunday (Domenica is Sunday in Latin). The Spaniards did not find gold on the island, and the Caribs put up a fierce resistance to them, so the Spaniards did not settle the island. As a side bar, in March 1607, a ship pulled in for 2 days to re-provision (stock up on food and water). It was headed to Virginia to establish the first British colony on mainland North American soil at Jamestown.

In 1635, France claimed the island and French Catholic missionaries moved in. The Caribs continued to put up a fight, and in 1660, France agreed to give the land back to the Caribs. England agreed to not try to settle Dominica. Even though they weren’t supposed to, both the British and French started harvesting timber from Dominica in the early 1700’s. Both the French and British took a hard line against the Caribs, sending many fleeing from the island. They also inadvertently killed thousands with their European sicknesses that the Indians had no natural immunities to. However, the Caribs were not wiped out, and Dominica is the only island in the Caribbean that still has a native Carib population. 2200 Caribs live on a 3700 acre reservation on the east side of the island. BTW, “Carib” is the European name for the Amerindian people group, a shortening of the Latin word “caribal”, which means “cannibal”. Their native name is Kalinago, and they prefer to be called by their native name.

The French established a settlement at Roseau, in the southwest part of the island, in 1727. It had 40 50 families that were primarily woodcutters, but did a little farming, too. Dominica was still technically a neutral territory, but the British wanted it all for themselves. In 1761, the British conquered the French. The British victory was cemented by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The British imported slaves (the French may have imported some, too) and set up sugar plantations on the more accessible slopes. They built a new capital city in Portsmouth, on the northwest side of the island. However, everyone kept dying, so they moved the main town to Roseau, where the French were still living. Of course, in addition to the nice, natural harbor, there was also some swampy areas in Portsmouth, and unbeknownst to the British, it was the mosquitoes in the swamp that were spreading diseases. The British also built several forts on the island.

Not everyone was happy with the socio-political structure the British enforced. In 1785 6, well armed escaped slaves, called Maroons, took on the English using guerilla warfare. The Maroons were defeated, but continued on with guerilla attacks until 1815.

In 1778, when the British were busy fighting the American Revolutionary War, the French managed to take control of Dominica. Since most of the residents were still French, the people were happy with the regime change at first. However, the British had a lot of trade connections, and when the British left, so did their connections. The economy stagnated. To make matters worse, Mother Nature created more problems. Dominica was hit by hurricanes in 1779 and 1780. Then, in 1781, Roseau burned down.

In the 1782 the English went to war again over the island and won. The French tried to get it back a couple more times, but the island remained firmly in British hands. In the1800’s, the decline in colonial agriculture hit the island hard. Dominican farmers diversified and added more crops, including vanilla, cocoa, coffee, limes, coconuts and bananas, but they continued to struggle. More natural disasters also hindered economic well being.

Social upheaval resulted, primarily with blacks wanting a non-prejudiced social structure. An elected white only legislative assembly had been established in 1763, and thanks to pressure from the blacks, in 1831, non-whites were allowed into the assembly. In 1838, slavery was abolished, and Dominica became the only British colony to have a black controlled legislature. We are assuming that the drastic change in the racial mix is because the freed slaves were given the right to vote, but we’re not 100% clear on that. The whites were threatened by the sudden black control and lobbied for more direct British rule. During their brief time in power, many blacks pushed for autonomy. In 1865, the British changed the assembly to be half elected, half appointed, diminishing the political influence of the blacks. The British continued to progressively erode the power of the black population. The Crown Colony government was re-established in 1896.

In 1967, Dominica officially became an associated state of the UK and took responsibility for its own internal affairs. In November 1978, the UK made Dominica an independent nation within the commonwealth. These two big accomplishments sound good on paper, but from the 60’s through the mid-80’s, Dominicans struggled with serious political instability as they figured out a new constitution and political system for themselves. In 1979, the country’s first prime minister was forced to resign after a series of corruption schemes surfaced. Later that same year, they were hit by a devastating hurricane that wiped out 75% of the homes on the island. In 1980, they were hit by yet another devastating hurricane. Considering that the fledgling country’s biggest problems were with chronic economic problems caused by underdevelopment, the hurricanes just made the instability worse.

In 1980, Dame Eugenia Charles was elected prime minister first woman in the Caribbean to hold the office. In the mid-80’s things finally stabilized as the economy improved. The country’s primary source of income is still agriculture. They have added even more to their export list, including pineapple, pumpkin, hot peppers, dasheen, mango, breadfruit, avocado, plantains, grapefruit and oranges. They have also been steadily building a tourism industry. Because of the instability, they got into the tourism game much later than all the other islands around them. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Rampant overdevelopment has led to serious ecological problems on the other islands. Learning from the mistakes of their neighbors, they have put their focus on sustainable eco-tourism. The draw for tourists is the pristine rain forest and natural wildlife.

Today, Dominica has a truly “Creole” culture. It is a combination of Kalinago, African, British and French cultures. English is the official language, but a Creole patois is commonly spoken. Interestingly enough, one of Dominica’s “claim to fame” is that they have an unusually high number of people who live to be over 100, including one woman who lived to be 128! Despite this, the average life expectancy is still only 75.