I | INTRODUCTION |
Dominica, island country in the West Indies,
surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. Dominica is a mountainous island with rugged
terrain, much of it covered by thick tropical rain forests. Its capital, major
town, and port is Roseau.
Agriculture, chiefly growing bananas, is the
mainstay of Dominica’s economy. Most of the people are descended from Africans
brought to the island to work on banana plantations. Dominica has a rainy
climate and its few beaches are small, so it attracts fewer tourists than other
Caribbean islands. However its unspoiled rain forests, hot springs, and
waterfalls offer many pleasures for hikers and nature-lovers. The coral reefs
off the coast provide good opportunities for snorkeling and scuba diving.
Christopher Columbus sighted the island in
1493 and named it after the day of the week, Sunday, or Dominicus in
Latin. England and France later competed for control of the island. Although
England won out, French influence remains and most of the people speak a
French-based creole language. A few thousand Carib Indians still live on the
island.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
One of the Windward Islands, Dominica is 47 km
(29 mi) long and has an area of 750 sq km (289 sq mi). It lies approximately
halfway between the islands of Guadeloupe (on the north) and Martinique (on the
south).
Dominica is volcanic in origin and has a
mountainous terrain. Several peaks rise above 1,220 m (4,000 ft). The mountains
are still covered in virgin rain forest, much of which is protected as forest
reserves or national parks. However, agricultural expansion and the timber
industry threaten much of the country’s rain forest. The island’s highest point
is Morne Diablotins (1,447 m/4,747 ft).
A | Rivers and Lakes |
Many rivers plunge down the steep
mountainsides, creating many waterfalls. The highest lake is Boeri. Freshwater
Lake provides a drinking water reservoir for Roseau, and a hydroelectric project
is nearby. In the southern part of the island is Boiling Lake, an intermittently
active geyser with a temperature of 92°C (198°C). Sulfurous gases that rise from
Boiling Lake have destroyed the trees in a valley beyond, which is known as the
Valley of Desolation because of the devastation to its forest.
B | Climate |
The island has a tropical climate with an
average annual temperature of about 27°C (about 80°F). The annual rainfall is
considerable, ranging from about 1,780 mm (about 70 in) on the coast to more
than three times that figure in the mountains. August is the wettest month, and
the driest season occurs from February to June. The high annual rainfall
contributes to the lushness of the forests.
Dominica is vulnerable to hurricanes and
tropical storms, especially during the late summer months. According to the
United Nations (UN) index that compares national income with the cost of damage
caused by environmental disasters, Dominica is one of the most disaster-prone
countries in the world.
C | Natural Resources |
Dominica is known as the Nature Island of
the Caribbean and is a fine example of what volcanic islands in the east
Caribbean looked like before the arrival of Europeans and plantation
agriculture. The main resources of the island are timber, water (for
hydropower), and fertile soil. Dominica has three national parks. The Morne
Trois Pitons National Park was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in
1997.
III | PEOPLE AND CULTURE |
Dominica has a total population of 72,514
(2008 estimate). Despite a high birthrate and a long life expectancy (74 years),
the population of Dominica has grown slowly, owing to emigration to other
islands of the Caribbean and to Great Britain. More than 90 percent of the
inhabitants are black, descendants of people brought from Africa in the 18th
century. A small number of Carib Indians also live on Dominica, descendents of
the inhabitants of the island when Europeans first arrived.
English is the official language and is used
mainly in government and commerce. Most of the people speak a French-based
creole. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, but there are also
several large Protestant communities, including Seventh-day Adventists,
Pentecostals, and Methodists. Roseau (population, 2003 estimate, 27,000) is the
capital and chief port.
Education is free and compulsory in Dominica
from the ages of 5 to 15. The literacy rate for adults is 94 percent. The
best-known writers to come from the island are Jean Rhys and Phyllis Shand
Allfrey. Rhys spent most of her life in Europe and wrote little about Dominica.
However, in the novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), Rhys used her knowledge
of the West Indies to imagine the early life of Antoinette Cosway, the first
wife of Mr. Rochester from Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre. Allfrey
devoted most of her time to the Dominica Labor Party and was a newspaper editor;
her only published novel was The Orchid House (1953). See also
Caribbean Literature.
The main festival on Dominica is Carnival,
which takes place on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It features
street bands and masked and costumed dancers. A typical costume consists of
layers of banana leaves or cloth, topped with a frightening mask with horns.
IV | ECONOMY |
Dominica had a gross domestic product (GDP) of
$248 million in 2002, or $3,440 per person. GDP is a measure of all the goods
and services a country produces. The island’s fertile volcanic soils provide a
good basis for farming, and Dominica continued to have an economy based on
agriculture into the 1990s. The main export product is bananas, the quantity and
value of which fluctuate according to the weather. Hurricanes periodically wipe
out much of the crop.
Banana producers suffered with the opening of
the European Union (EU) market in 1992, which has forced them to compete with
U.S. producers that have large plantations on mainland Latin America. Banana
prices fell on the world market, and farmers in the Windward Islands found it
impossible to match the economies of scale of multinational corporations on the
mainland. The EU in 1993 imposed quotas on banana imports that were favorable to
Caribbean producers, but the United States challenged the quotas through the
World Trade Organization (WTO). In 1999 the WTO ordered the EU to end
preferential quotas.
Coconuts are also grown on Dominica and used
primarily to make soap and cooking oil. Coconut-based toiletries now account for
over 20 percent of the island’s exports. Other crops are being promoted to
diversify the economy away from reliance on bananas. They include coffee, cacao,
mangoes, citrus fruit, and root vegetables.
Pumice is quarried and exported on Dominica.
Manufacturing is on a small scale and largely limited to the processing of farm
products. The main manufactured goods are fruit juices, alcoholic beverages,
soap, and essential oils. The island also has electronic assembly plants,
data-processing companies, and garment manufacturers.
The government promotes Dominica’s “nature
island” image to attract tourists. Beaches are few, but the island’s wildlife
and natural beauty bring ecotourists. Increasing numbers of visitors come for
the rain forest, birding, hiking, scuba diving, and whale watching.
The currency is the East Caribbean
dollar (2.70 East Caribbean dollars equal U.S.$1; 2006 average).
V | GOVERNMENT |
Dominica is governed by a president, prime
minister, and cabinet, who are responsible to the country’s legislature, the
House of Assembly. The president is the head of state, a largely ceremonial
role, and the prime minister, as the head of government, is in charge of
governing. The president is elected by the House of Assembly for a term of five
years and may not serve more than two terms. The president is obliged to choose
the head of the majority party in the House of Assembly as prime minister.
Elections must be held at least once every five years, but the prime minister
may call elections at any time.
There are 30 members of the House of Assembly,
21 elected representatives and 9 appointed senators. The senators are usually
nominated by the president, five on the advice of the prime minister and four on
the advice of the leader of the opposition. However, the senators can also be
elected, according to Dominica’s constitution. Every Dominican citizen over age
18 is entitled to vote.
VI | HISTORY |
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Arawak
and Carib people inhabited Dominica. The Arawak, a peaceful people who lived in
agricultural communities, were nearly eliminated by the Europeans, chiefly as a
result of disease and enslavement. The more warlike Carib resisted the European
settlers, and many more of them survived.
A | A Contested Colony |
Dominica was sighted and named by
Christopher Columbus on November 3, 1493. The island was soon contested by
Spain, France, England, and the Caribs. In 1547 the king of Spain gave
permission to the inhabitants of Puerto Rico to enslave the Caribs. By 1633 the
French held part of Dominica, but in 1640 the Caribs pillaged every village on
the island. For more than a century afterward the European powers gave up their
attempts at settling Dominica.
In 1748 the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
reserved Dominica for the sole benefit of the Caribs, but French traders, with
Caribs as their allies, began to establish small trading stations and
plantations using African slaves on the leeward coast. Then the Caribs attacked
the French and were repulsed, and the British attacked the French under pretense
of protecting the Caribs.
Britain gained control of the island under
the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The British divided Dominica into blocks and gave a
reservation in one block of poor land to the Caribs. The other blocks were sold
in London, but purchasers could not assume ownership because Caribs fought them,
with the aid of runaway slaves.
In 1778 the French successfully invaded
Dominica while the British were fighting the American Revolutionary War. The
Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the war, returned the island to British
control. The French were unable to reconquer it despite attempts at invasion in
1795 and 1805. England abolished slavery in 1834, and Dominica subsequently
became the only British Caribbean colony in the 19th century to elect a black
majority to its legislature. The local government’s policies, however, hurt the
interests of the British landowners who successfully lobbied the British
government in 1865 to replace the legislature with an assembly dominated by
appointed members.
Under British rule, Dominica became part
of the Leeward Islands dependency in 1833 and was attached to the Windward
Islands group in 1940. In 1967 it became an internally self-governing state
associated with Britain.
B | Independence |
Dominica attained full independence on
November 3, 1978, and subsequently joined the Commonwealth of Nations and the
United Nations. The republic’s first prime minister was Patrick R. John of the
Democratic Labour Party (DLP). This party had led Dominica to independence, but
its government was not popular and was forced to resign in 1979. Also that year
a severe hurricane struck the island nation, causing widespread damage.
In 1980 the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP)
and its leader, Mary Eugenia Charles, won a decisive victory. Charles, the first
woman prime minister in the Caribbean, remained in office for 15 years and led
the DFP to election victories in 1985 and 1990. During her terms in office she
distributed land to small farmers and spurred diversification of the economy.
She resisted several coup attempts, cooperated closely with the United States on
policies such as the invasion of Grenada in 1983, and sought closer economic and
political ties with Dominica’s island neighbors. Charles retired in 1995.
C | Recent Events |
The United Workers’ Party (UWP), formed in
1988, won the 1995 elections, and its leader, Edison James, became prime
minister. The James administration stated its commitment to a proposal that
Dominica and three other Windward Islands form a political and economic union.
But hurricane damage and trouble in the banana industry weakened support for the
UWP.
Following elections in 2000 the DLP and
the DFP formed a governing coalition. Roosevelt “Rosie” Douglas of the DLP
became prime minister. His stated aims were to diversify the country’s economy
further and to gain an associate membership in the EU for Dominica. But Douglas
died after several months in office. Pierre Charles, minister for communications
and works, succeeded Douglas. In 2004 Charles died and was replaced by Roosevelt
Skerrit, the 31-year-old minister of education. Skerrit faced the challenge of
improving Dominica’s struggling economy. Skerrit and his party won the 2005
elections.
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