Commonwealth of Dominica
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Dominica ( or ;
Kalinago The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language ...
: ; french: Dominique;
Dominican Creole French Dominican Creole French is a French-based creole, which is a widely spoken language in Dominica. It can be considered a distinct dialect of Antillean Creole. History It is a sub-variety of Antillean Creole, which is spoken in other islands of t ...
: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an
island country An island country, island state or an island nation is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. Approximately 25% of all independent countries are island countries. Island countries are historically ...
in the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. The capital,
Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...
, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically situated as part of the
Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...
chain in the
Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
archipelago in the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
. Dominica's closest neighbours are two constituent territories of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, the overseas departments of France,
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
to the northwest and
Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
to the south-southeast. Dominica comprises a land area of , and the highest point is
Morne Diablotins Morne Diablotins is the highest mountain in Dominica, an island-nation in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles. It is the second highest mountain in the Lesser Antilles, after La Grande Soufrière in Guadeloupe. Morne Diablotins is located in the no ...
, at in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census. The island was settled by the
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greater ...
arriving from South America in the fifth century. The
Kalinago The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language ...
displaced the Arawak by the 15th century.
Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...
is said to have passed the island on Sunday, 3 November 1493. It was later colonised by Europeans, predominantly by the French from the 1690s to 1763. The French imported enslaved people from West Africa to Dominica to work on coffee plantations.
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
took possession in 1763 after the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
, and it gradually established English as its official language. The island gained independence as a republic in 1978. Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Island of the Caribbean" for its natural environment. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, and in fact it is still being formed by geothermal-
volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest
hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
, called
Boiling Lake The Boiling Lake is a flooded fumarole located in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a World Heritage Site on the island of Dominica. The lake, located east of Dominica's capital Roseau, is filled with bubbling greyish-blue water that is usually e ...
. The island has lush mountainous
rainforests Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...
, and it is the home of many rare plants, animals, and bird species. There are
xeric Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this h ...
areas in some of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall occurs inland. The
Sisserou parrot The imperial amazon (''Amazona imperialis'') or Dominican amazon, also known as the sisserou, is a parrot found only on the Caribbean island of Dominica. It has been designated as the national bird of Dominica. The species is critically endangere ...
, also known as the Imperial amazon and found only on Dominica, is the island's national bird and featured on the
national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...
, making it one of the only two sovereign nations whose official flag features the color purple. The country is a member of the
Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, the
Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...
, the
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to the Francophonie, french: La Francophonie , but also called International Organisation of in English-language context) is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a ...
, the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...
and the
Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...
.


Etymology

Dominica's name is locally pronounced with emphasis on the third syllable, following the Spanish pronunciation of its name given to it by Christopher Columbus.


History


Geologic history

Dominica first emerged from the sea during the
Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
era approximately 26 million years ago, making it one of the last Caribbean islands to be formed by
volcanic activity Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called a ...
.


Pre-colonial period and early European contact

Dominica's precolonial indigenous inhabitants were the
Island Carib The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...
people, who are thought to have driven out the previous
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greater ...
population. The Caribs called the island ''Wai‘tu kubuli'', which means "Tall is her body."
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
, sailing for Spain, named the island as Dominica, after the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
term ''dies Dominica'' for
Sunday Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week. For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...
, the day on which the Spanish first saw it in November 1493. Some Spanish colonisers settled here. But, as European explorers and settlers entered the region, indigenous refugees from surrounding islands settled Dominica and pushed out the Spanish settlers. The Spanish instead settled other areas that were easier to control.


French colony

Spain had little success in colonising Dominica. In 1632, the French
Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique The Company of the American Islands (french: Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique) was a French chartered company that in 1635 took over the administration of the French portion of ''Saint-Christophe island'' (Saint Kitts) from the Compagnie de Saint- ...
claimed it and other ''"Petites Antilles"'' for
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, but no physical occupation took place. Between 1642 and 1650, French missionary
Raymond Breton Raymond Breton, OP ( Baune, 3 September 1609 – Caen, 8 January 1679) was a French Dominican missionary and linguist among the Caribbean Indians, and in particular the Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are ...
became the first regular European visitor to the island. In 1660, the French and English agreed that Dominica and
St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...
should not be settled, but instead left to the Carib as neutral territory—but its natural resources attracted expeditions of English and French foresters, who began harvesting timber."Background note: Dominica".
U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
(July 2008).
In 1690, the French established their first permanent settlements. French woodcutters from
Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
and
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
began to set up timber camps to supply the French islands with wood, and they gradually became permanent settlers. They brought the first enslaved Africans from West Africa to ''Dominique'', as they called it in French. In 1715, a revolt of "poor white" smallholders in the north of Martinique, known as La Gaoulé, caused settlers to migrate to southern Dominique, where they set up
smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...
s. Meanwhile, French families and others from Guadeloupe settled in the north. In 1727, the first French commander, M. Le Grand, took charge of the island with a basic French government. Dominique formally became a
colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...
of France, and the island was divided into districts or "quarters". The French had already developed plantation agriculture on Martinique and Guadeloupe, where they cultivated
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
with enslaved African workers. In Dominique they gradually developed coffee plantations. Because of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the general population came to consist primarily of black-African slaves. In 1761, during the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
in Europe, a
British expedition against Dominica The Invasion of Dominica was a British military expedition to capture the Caribbean island of Dominica in June 1761, as part of the Seven Years' War. Prelude By the end of 1760, the conquest of Canada was completed and a great number of Briti ...
led by
Andrew Rollo Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...
conquered the island, along with several other Caribbean islands. In 1763, France had lost the war and ceded the island to Great Britain under the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...
. The same year, the British established a legislative assembly, with only European colonists represented. French remained the official language, but
Antillean Creole Antillean Creole (Antillean French Creole, Kreyol, Kwéyòl, Patois) is a French-based creole that is primarily spoken in the Lesser Antilles. Its grammar and vocabulary include elements of Carib, English, and African languages. Antillean Creol ...
, which had developed from it, was spoken by most of the population. In 1778 the French, with the active co-operation of the population, began the re-capture of Dominica. This was ended by the
Treaty of Paris (1783) The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of George III, King George III of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and representatives of the United States, United States of America on September 3, 1783, officially ended the Ame ...
, which returned the island to British control. But the island population, especially the class of
free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
, resisted British restrictions. The British retained control through French invasions in 1795 and 1805, the first taking place during the period of the
Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...
, which gained the independence of Haiti (formerly Saint-Domingue, France's richest Caribbean colony).


British colony

Great Britain established a small colony in 1805. It used Dominica as part of the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
, by which slaves were imported and sold as labour in the islands as part of a trade that included producing and shipping sugar and coffee as commodity crops to Europe. The best documented slave plantation on the island is Hillsborough Estate, which had 71 male and 68 female slaves. The
Greg Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people *Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadi ...
family were notable: Thomas Hodgson, a brother-in-law, owned a slave ship, and Thomas Greg and his son John Greg were part-owners of
sugar plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s on Dominica. In January 1814, 20 slaves absconded from Hillsborough. They were recorded as recaptured and punished with 100 lashes applied to the males and 50 for the females. The slaves reportedly said that one of their people had died in the plantation hospital, and they believed he had been poisoned. In 1831, reflecting a liberalisation of official British racial attitudes, the Brown Privilege Bill conferred political and social rights on free blacks (mostly
free people of colour In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Na ...
, who generally were of
mixed race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
, with African and European ancestry). With the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Britain ended the institution of slavery throughout its empire, except in India. With freedom came enfranchisement. In 1835, the first three men of African descent were elected to the legislative assembly of Dominica. Many slaves from the neighbouring French colonial islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique fled to Dominica. In 1838, Dominica became the first colony of the
British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grena ...
to have an elected legislature controlled by an ethnic African majority. Most of these legislators had been free people of colour and smallholders or merchants before the abolition of slavery. Their economic and social views were different from the interests of the small, wealthy English planter class. Reacting to a perceived threat to their power, the planters lobbied for more direct British rule. In 1865, after much agitation and tension, the colonial office replaced the elective assembly with one made up of one-half members who were elected and one-half who were appointed. Planters, who were allied with colonial administrators, outmanoeuvred the elected legislators on many occasions. In 1871, Dominica became part of the
British Leeward Islands The British Leeward Islands was a British colony from 1671 to 1958, consisting of the English (later British) overseas possessions in the Leeward Islands. It ceased to exist from 1816 to 1833, during which time it was split into two separate c ...
. The political power of the elected assembly progressively eroded.
Crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...
government was re-established in 1896.


Early 20th century

In
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, many Dominicans, mainly the sons of small farmers, volunteered to fight in Europe for the British Empire. After the war, an upsurge of political consciousness throughout the Caribbean led to the formation of the Representative Government Association. Marshaling public frustration with the lack of a voice in governing Dominica, this group won one-third of the popularly elected seats of the legislative assembly in 1924, and one-half in 1936. In 1940, administration of Dominica was transferred from the
British Leeward Islands The British Leeward Islands was a British colony from 1671 to 1958, consisting of the English (later British) overseas possessions in the Leeward Islands. It ceased to exist from 1816 to 1833, during which time it was split into two separate c ...
to the
British Windward Islands The British Windward Islands was an administrative grouping of British colonies in the Windward Islands of the West Indies, existing from 1833 until 31 December 1959 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenad ...
. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, some Dominicans volunteered in British and Caribbean forces. Thousands of
Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
refugees from Martinique and Guadeloupe escaped to Dominica from the
Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...
-controlled French islands, staying in
Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...
and other villages. Until 1958, Dominica was governed as part of the
British Windward Islands The British Windward Islands was an administrative grouping of British colonies in the Windward Islands of the West Indies, existing from 1833 until 31 December 1959 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenad ...
. Caribbean islands sought independence from 1958 to 1962, and Dominica became a province of the short-lived
West Indies Federation The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that ...
in 1958. After the federation dissolved in 1962, Dominica became an associated state of the United Kingdom in 1967, and formally took responsibility for its internal affairs. On 3 November 1978, the Commonwealth of Dominica was granted independence as a
republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, led by Prime Minister
Patrick John Patrick Roland John (7 January 1938 – 6 July 2021) was the first Prime Minister of Dominica as well as its last Premier. He led Dominica to independence from the United Kingdom. He was leader of the Waterfront and Allied Workers' Union and may ...
.


Post-independence

In mid-1979, political discontent with Founding Prime Minister Patrick John's administration climaxed in a civilian coup and ended in the passage of a Motion of No Confidence in the House of Assembly, Dominica's legislature, against John, collapsing the John administration. A new, so-called "Interim Government" was formed under Dominica's second Prime Minister
Oliver Seraphin Oliver James "O. J." Seraphin (or Seraphine; born August 2, 1943) is a former Dominican politician. He served as the Minister of communication and works and housing for the Labour Party government from 1975–1979 and acting Prime Minister of Do ...
; Seraphin's main task was to prepare the country for fresh general elections constitutionally due in 1980, hence the unofficial title "Interim" Prime Minister. Seraphin organized and led a splinter of the Dominica Labour Party called the Democratic Labour Party into the 1980 general election and lost mainly because his nearly 13 month-long premiership was dominated by the fallout from Category Five
Hurricane David Hurricane David was an extremely deadly hurricane which caused massive loss of life in the Dominican Republic in August 1979, and was the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the country in recorded history. A Cape Verde hurricane that rea ...
, which caused 56 deaths and untold damage across the island.
Hurricane Allen Hurricane Allen was a rare and extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that affected the Caribbean, eastern and northern Mexico, and southern Texas in August 1980. The first named storm and second tropical cyclone of the 1980 Atlantic hurrican ...
the following year caused further damage. After the 1980 election, Seraphin's government was replaced by one led by the
Dominica Freedom Party The Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) is a conservative political party in Dominica. It shares much of the same socially and economically conservative principles as the Conservative Party in the UK. The party has been led by Bernard Hurtault since 2 ...
(DFP) under Prime Minister
Eugenia Charles Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, (15 May 1919 – 6 September 2005) was a Dominican politician who was Prime Minister of Dominica from 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. The first female lawyer in Dominica, she was Dominica's first, and to date only, fe ...
; she was the Caribbean's first female Prime Minister. In 1981, Charles's government was threatened with two attempted coups. The first was led by
Frederick Newton Frederick Newton (1951 – 8 August 1986) was the head of the Dominica Defence Force (DDF) from its independence in 1978 to 1981. He was executed in 1986 for organising an attempted coup d'état in 1981 that resulted in the death of a police offi ...
, commander of the Military of Dominica, who organised an attack on the police headquarters in Roseau which resulted in the death of a police officer. Newton and five other soldiers were found guilty in the attack and sentenced to death in 1983; the sentences of the five accomplices were later commuted to life in prison, but Newton was executed in 1986. A second occurred later in the year when the country was threatened with a takeover by
mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
in
Operation Red Dog Operation Red Dog was the code name of an April 27, 1981 military filibustering plot by Canadian and American citizens, largely affiliated with white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan groups, to overthrow the government of Dominica, where they planne ...
, led by Mike Perdue and
Wolfgang Droege Wolfgang Walter Droege (or Dröge) (25 September 1949 – 13 April 2005) was a German-born Canadian white supremacist, neo-Nazi and founding leader of the Heritage Front. Biography Early life Droege was born in Forchheim, Germany. His parents ...
. They tried to overthrow Charles as Prime Minister and reinstall ex-Prime Minister John in exchange for control over the country's development. The
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
was tipped off, and the ship hired to transport the mercenaries never left dock. The mercenaries lacked formal military experience or training, and most of the crew had been misled into joining by the ringleader Mike Perdue.
White supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
Don Black was also jailed for his part in the attempted coup, which violated US neutrality laws. The Charles government supported the 1983 American
Invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, ...
, earning Dominica praise from the Reagan administration and an increase in financial aid. By the middle of the 1980s, the economy had begun to recover, before weakening again due to a decrease in
banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
prices. Eugenia Charles won the
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
general election, becoming only the first incumbent Dominica Prime Minister to be popularly re-elected. The continuing downturn in the economy and the tight grip by Eugenia Charles on Dominica politics gave rise to a self-titled "Third Force" political formation in 1988, which disrupted the traditional two-party arrangement of governing DFP and opposition DLP. "Third Force" soon formalized as United Workers Party and selected as its leader Edison James, the former General Manager of the Dominica Banana Marketing Company. This was a strategic selection given James's prestige among banana farmers and his originating from the East or Atlantic Coast that had begun to feel alienated by the West or Caribbean Sea Coast elites in Roseau, Dominica's capital. Eugenia Charles again won the
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
general election, the first incumbent Dominica Prime Minister to win three consecutive general elections. However, Eugenia Charles's DFP had been pushed to within one seat of losing its majority in Parliament by the emergence of the UWP. It was, therefore, no great surprise when Eugenia Charles gave up political leadership of the Dominica Freedom Party in 1993 and did not contest the 1995 general election in any capacity. No longer benefiting from the veteran charismatic leadership of Prime Minister Eugenia Charles, the Dominica Freedom Party lost the 1995 election to the United Workers' Party (UWP), whose leader
Edison James Edison Chenfil James (born October 18, 1943, in Marigot) is a Dominican politician who was the prime minister of Dominica from June 14, 1995, to February 3, 2000, as well as the member of parliament for the Marigot constituency from 1990. He gra ...
became Prime Minister. James, former General Manager of the Dominica Banana Marketing Company attempted to diversify the Dominican economy away from over-reliance on bananas. The crop was largely destroyed by
Hurricane Luis Hurricane Luis was a long lived and powerful Category 4 hurricane. It was the strongest hurricane to make landfall and the third-most intense hurricane recorded during the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm, along with Humberto, Iris, an ...
in 1995. Further James was unable to restore banana to its former selling price and prestige. Moreover, the James administration became embroiled in Opposition charges of official corruption. In the 31 January 2000 general election, the UWP were defeated by a coalition of the DLP, led by left-leaning Roosevelt B. "Rosie" Douglas and the Dominica Freedom Party led by former trade union leader, Charles Savarin. Douglas became Prime Minister. One UWP member of the House of Assembly crossed the floor, joining the DLP-DFP coalition government. However, Douglas died on 1 October 2000 after only a few months. Prime Minister Douglas was replaced by Pierre Charles, who also died in office on 6 January 2004.
Roosevelt Skerrit Roosevelt Skerrit (born 8 June 1972) is a Dominican politician who has been Prime Minister of Dominica since 2004; he has also been the Member of Parliament for the Vieille Case constituency since 2000. Regionally, he has served as the chairman o ...
, also of the DLP, replaced Pierre Charles as Prime Minister, becoming the world's youngest head of government at the age of 31. Under Skerrit's leadership, the DLP won elections in May 2005 that gave the party 12 seats in the 21-seat Parliament, to the UWP's 8 seats. An independent candidate affiliated with the DLP won a seat as well. Later, the independent candidate joined the government. With his 2005 election win, Skerrit became only the second incumbent Prime Minister of seven to be popularly re-elected. In the 2009 election, the DLP won 18 of 21 seats. The UWP claimed campaign improprieties and embarked on a wide range of protest actions, including boycott of Parliament. UWP's boycott lasted at least three unauthorized absences from Parliament for two of their three Elected Representatives in Parliament in violation of Parliamentary procedure, leading to their two seats being declared vacant and by-elections being called to fill them; by-elections were conducted for those two vacant seats in July 2010, and the UWP again won both seats. The DLP under Skerrit went on to win the 2014 Dominican general election.General Election Results - 8 December 2014
Caribbean Elections
On 17 September 2012 Eliud Thaddeus Williams was sworn in as President (a largely ceremonial role), replacing Dr. Nicholas Liverpool who was reportedly removed from office due to ill health. On 30 September 2013 former Trade Union leader and former Dominica Freedom Party leader Charles Savarin was elected president having only days before resigned as a Minister of Government. He is Dominica’s eighth President.
Tropical Storm Erika Tropical Storm Erika was one of the deadliest and most destructive natural disasters in Dominica since Hurricane David in 1979 Atlantic hurricane season, 1979. The fifth Tropical cyclone naming, named storm of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane seaso ...
devastated the island in August 2015, killing 30 and causing severe environmental and economic damage. Dominica was again struck on 18 September 2017, suffering a direct landfall from Category 5
Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...
. Early estimates of damage suggested 90% of the buildings on the island had been destroyed, with infrastructure left in ruins. The UK, France and the Netherlands set up shipping and air lifts to take aid to the island; the scale of destruction having left most people homeless. Dominica won its first two Commonwealth Games medals in silver and bronze in the
2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...
on the
Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
. President Charles Angelo Savarin was re-elected in 2018 for a new five-year term. In December 2019, incumbent Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit won his fourth consecutive general
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
eighteen seats to three, becoming the first Dominica Prime Minister ever to do so.


Geography and climate

Dominica is an
island nation An island country, island state or an island nation is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. Approximately 25% of all independent countries are island countries. Island countries are historically ...
in the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
, the northernmost of the
Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...
(though it is sometimes considered the southernmost of the
Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...
). The size of the country is about and it is about 29 miles (47 km) long and 16 miles (26 km) 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 Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
and is home to the world's second-largest
hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
,
Boiling Lake The Boiling Lake is a flooded fumarole located in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a World Heritage Site on the island of Dominica. The lake, located east of Dominica's capital Roseau, is filled with bubbling greyish-blue water that is usually e ...
. Within its borders lie two ecoregions: Windward Islands moist forests and Windward Islands xeric scrub. The most mountainous of the Lesser Antilles, its volcanic peaks are cones of lava craters, the largest of these being (north-to-south) Morne aux Diables,
Morne Diablotins Morne Diablotins is the highest mountain in Dominica, an island-nation in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles. It is the second highest mountain in the Lesser Antilles, after La Grande Soufrière in Guadeloupe. Morne Diablotins is located in the no ...
(the highest on the island at 1,447 m),
Morne Trois Pitons Morne is an Old-French word for a small mountain. It may refer to: * Morne a Chandelle, a village in the Sud-Est department of Haiti * Morne-à-l'Eau, a commune in Guadeloupe * Morne Bois-Pin, the fourth highest mountain in Haiti * Morne la Vigie ...
and
Morne Anglais Morne is an Old-French word for a small mountain. It may refer to: * Morne a Chandelle, a village in the Sud-Est department of Haiti * Morne-à-l'Eau, a commune in Guadeloupe * Morne Bois-Pin, the fourth highest mountain in Haiti * Morne la Vigie, ...
.
Morne Trois Pitons National Park Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a national park in Dominica established in July 1975, the first to be legally established in the country. It became a World Heritage Site in 1997. The park is named after its highest mountain, Morne Trois Pito ...
is a tropical forest blended with volcanic features; it was recognised as a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
on 4 April 1995, a distinction it shares with four other Caribbean islands. The
Calibishie Calibishie is a village in Dominica, located on the north-east coast of the island, immediately to the east of the village of Hampstead, Dominica, Hampstead. The Calibishie Coast Travel Area is thought by many to be the most scenic and unspoiled r ...
area in the country's northeast has sandy beaches. Some plants and animals thought to be extinct on surrounding islands can still be found in Dominica's forests. The island has several
protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
s, including
Cabrits National Park Cabrits National Park is on a peninsula at the north end of the Caribbean island of Dominica, north of Portsmouth. The park protects tropical forest, coral reefs and wetlands. There are hiking trails and an English garrison called Fort Shirley ( ...
, as well as 365 rivers. For a few years the government sought to encourage the island as an
ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
destination, although the hurricane of 2017 has since changed these plans. The country had a 2018
Forest Landscape Integrity Index The Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) is an annual global index of forest condition measured by degree of anthropogenic modification. Created by a team of 48 scientists, the FLII, in its measurement of 300m pixels of forest across the globe ...
mean score of 1.06/10, ranking it 166th globally out of 172 countries. There are two primary population centres: the capital
Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...
(with 14,725 inhabitants in 2011) and
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...
(with 4,167 inhabitants in 2011). The main centres tend to be located around the coast, with the mountainous interior sparsely populated. Dominica is especially vulnerable to
hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
s as the island is located in what is referred to as the hurricane region. In 1979,
Hurricane David Hurricane David was an extremely deadly hurricane which caused massive loss of life in the Dominican Republic in August 1979, and was the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the country in recorded history. A Cape Verde hurricane that rea ...
struck the island as a Category 4 hurricane, causing widespread and extreme damage. On 17 August 2007,
Hurricane Dean Hurricane Dean was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the most intense North Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Wilma of 2005, tying for eighth overall. Additionally, it made the fourth most intense A ...
, a Category 1 hurricane at the time, hit the island. A mother and her seven-year-old son died when a
landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...
caused by the heavy rains crushed their house. In another incident two people were injured when a tree fell on their house.
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Roosevelt Skerrit Roosevelt Skerrit (born 8 June 1972) is a Dominican politician who has been Prime Minister of Dominica since 2004; he has also been the Member of Parliament for the Vieille Case constituency since 2000. Regionally, he has served as the chairman o ...
estimated that 100 to 125 homes were damaged, and that the agricultural sector was extensively damaged, in particular the banana crop. In August 2015,
Tropical Storm Erika Tropical Storm Erika was one of the deadliest and most destructive natural disasters in Dominica since Hurricane David in 1979 Atlantic hurricane season, 1979. The fifth Tropical cyclone naming, named storm of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane seaso ...
caused extensive flooding and landslides across the island. Multiple communities were evacuated and upwards of 30 people were killed. According to a Rapid Damage and Impact Assessment prepared for Dominica by the World Bank, the total damage and losses from the storm were US$484.82 million or 90% of Dominica's yearly GDP. Category 5
Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...
struck the island in 2017 and caused losses of approximately US$930 million or 226% of GDP.


Fauna

The
Sisserou parrot The imperial amazon (''Amazona imperialis'') or Dominican amazon, also known as the sisserou, is a parrot found only on the Caribbean island of Dominica. It has been designated as the national bird of Dominica. The species is critically endangere ...
(''Amazona imperialis'') is Dominica's national bird and is
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to its mountain forests. A related species, the Jaco or red-necked parrot (''A. arausiaca''), is also a Dominican endemic. Both birds are rare and protected, though some forest is still threatened by logging in addition to the long-standing threat of hurricanes. Dominica has recorded at least four species of snakes and 11 species of lizards. Dominica is the last major stronghold of the critically endangered
Lesser Antillean iguana The Lesser Antillean iguana (''Iguana delicatissima'') is a large arboreal lizard endemic to the Lesser Antilles. It is one of three species of lizard of the genus ''Iguana'' and is in severe decline due to habitat destruction, introduced feral ...
(''Iguana delicatissima''). Dominica is home to 195 species of birds, because of the isolated location of Dominica this is a lesser number compared to
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
which is located closer to mainland
South-America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the south ...
with 472 bird species. The Caribbean Sea offshore of the island of Dominica is home to many
cetacean Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...
s. Most notably a group of
sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...
s live in this area year-round. Other cetaceans commonly seen in the area include
spinner dolphin The spinner dolphin (''Stenella longirostris'') is a small dolphin found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. It is famous for its acrobatic displays in which it rotates around its longitudinal axis as it leaps through the air. It is a ...
s,
pantropical spotted dolphin The pantropical spotted dolphin (''Stenella attenuata'') is a species of dolphin found in all the world's temperate and tropical oceans. The species was beginning to come under threat due to the killing of millions of individuals in tuna purse s ...
s and
bottlenose dolphin Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...
s. Less commonly seen animals include
killer whales The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pa ...
,
false killer whale The false killer whale (''Pseudorca crassidens'') is a species of oceanic dolphin that is the only extant representative of the genus ''Pseudorca''. It is found in oceans worldwide but mainly in tropical regions. It was first described in 1846 ...
s,
pygmy sperm whale The pygmy sperm whale (''Kogia breviceps'') is one of two extant species in the family Kogiidae in the sperm whale superfamily. They are not often sighted at sea, and most of what is known about them comes from the examination of stranded spec ...
s,
dwarf sperm whale The dwarf sperm whale (''Kogia sima'') is a sperm whale that inhabits temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, in particular continental shelves and slopes. It was first described by biologist Richard Owen in 1866, based on illustrations by n ...
s,
Risso's dolphin Risso's dolphin (''Grampus griseus'') is a dolphin, the only species of the genus ''Grampus''. Some of the closest related species to these dolphins include: pilot whales (''Globicephala'' spp.), pygmy killer whales (''Feresa attenuata''), melon ...
s,
common dolphin The common dolphin (''Delphinus delphis'') is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with ...
s,
Atlantic spotted dolphin The Atlantic spotted dolphin (''Stenella frontalis'') is a dolphin found in warm temperate and tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Older members of the species have a very distinctive spotted coloration all over their bodies. Taxonomy The Atl ...
s,
humpback whales The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...
and
Bryde's whale Bryde's whale ( Brooder's), or the Bryde's whale complex, putatively comprises three species of rorqual and maybe four. The "complex" means the number and classification remains unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research ...
s. This makes Dominica a destination for tourists interested in
whale-watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 20 ...
.


Territorial disputes

The Commonwealth of Dominica is engaged in a long-running dispute with
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
over Venezuela's territorial claims to the sea surrounding
Isla de Aves Isla de Aves (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Island of Birds" or "Birds Island"), or Aves Island, is a Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, Federal Dependency of Venezuela. It has been the subject of numerous territorial disputes (now resolved) ...
(literally Bird Island, but in fact called 'Bird Rock' by Dominican authorities), a tiny islet located west of the island of Dominica.


Government

Dominica is a
parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
within the
Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
. The capital is
Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...
. The Commonwealth of Dominica is one of the Caribbean's few
republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
s. The president is the
head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
, while executive power rests with the
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
, headed by the
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
. The
unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...
parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
consists of the 30-member
House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...
, which consists of 21 directly elected members and nine senators, who may either be appointed by the president or elected by the other members of the House of Assembly. Unlike other former British colonies in the region, Dominica was never a
Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealt ...
, instead becoming a republic on independence. Dominica is a full and participating member of the
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organisation that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives to promote eco ...
and the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...
(OECS). Dominica is also a member of the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...
, with a
Bilateral Immunity Agreement The United States is not a State Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute), which founded the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002 as a permanent international criminal court to "bring to justice the perp ...
of protection with the US military, as covered under Article 98. In January 2008, Dominica joined the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas Bolivarianism is a mix of panhispanic, socialist and national-patriotic ideals named after Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century Venezuelan general and liberator from the Spanish monarchy then in abeyance, who led the struggle for independence thr ...
.


Human rights

Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Dominica.


Administrative divisions

Dominica is divided into 10
parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
, given below with their 2011 Census populations: * Saint Andrew Parish (9,471) * Saint David Parish (6,043) * Saint George Parish (21,241) * Saint John Parish (6,561) * Saint Joseph Parish (5,637) * Saint Luke Parish (1,668) * Saint Mark Parish (1,834) * Saint Patrick Parish (7,622) * Saint Paul Parish (9,786) * Saint Peter Parish (1,430)


Economy

Dominica's currency is the
East Caribbean Dollar The Eastern Caribbean dollar (symbol: EC$; code: XCD) is the currency of all seven full members and one associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The successor to the British West Indies dollar, it has existed sinc ...
. In 2008, Dominica had one of the lowest
per capita ''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person". The term is used in a wide variety of social sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistic ...
gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...
(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. Around this time the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF) praised the Government of Dominica for its successful macroeconomic reforms, but also pointed out remaining challenges, including the need for further reductions in public debt, increased financial sector regulation, and market diversification. Agriculture and especially bananas once dominated Dominica's economy, and nearly one-third of the labour force worked in agriculture in the early 2000s. This sector, however, is highly vulnerable to weather conditions and to external events affecting commodity prices. In 2007,
Hurricane Dean Hurricane Dean was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the most intense North Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Wilma of 2005, tying for eighth overall. Additionally, it made the fourth most intense A ...
caused significant damage to the agricultural sector as well as the country's infrastructure, especially roads. In response to reduced
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU)
trade preference A trade preference is a preference by one country for buying goods from some other country more than from other countries. It grants special support to one country over another. It is the opposite of a trade prohibition. For example, the Agreemen ...
s for bananas from the former European colonies after the 2009
WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
decision, the government has diversified the agricultural sector by promoting the production of coffee,
patchouli PatchouliAlso spelled ''patchouly'' or ''pachouli''. (; ''Pogostemon cablin'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, commonly called the mint or deadnettle family. The plant grows as a bushy perennial herb, with erect stems r ...
,
aloe vera ''Aloe vera'' () is a succulent plant species of the genus ''Aloe''. It is widely distributed, and is considered an invasive species in many world regions. An evergreen perennial, it originates from the Arabian Peninsula, but grows wild in tro ...
, cut flowers, and exotic fruits such as mango, guava and papaya, while the economy has become increasingly dependent on tourism. The expected increase of Dominica's Citizenship by Investment (CBI) fees has been suspended with no implementation date in sight, as announced by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, in the 2016 budget speech.


International trade

Dominica is a beneficiary of the
Caribbean Basin Initiative The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), a trade initiative initiated by the 1983 Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), is a United States program. The CBI came into effect on January 1, 1984, and aimed to provide several tariff and trade ben ...
(CBI) that grants duty-free entry into the United States for many goods. Dominica also belongs to the predominantly English-speaking
Caribbean Community The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives to promote econom ...
(CARICOM), the
CARICOM Single Market and Economy The CARICOM Single Market and Economy, also known as the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), is an integrated development strategy envisioned at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM ...
(CSME), and the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...
(OECS).


Financial services industry

The Commonwealth of Dominica is becoming in recent years a major international financial centre. The largest sectors are "
offshore banking An offshore bank is a bank regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and ...
,
payment processing A payment processor is a system that enables financial transactions, commonly employed by a merchant, to handle transactions with customers from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards or bank accounts. They are usually broken do ...
companies, and general corporate activities". Regulation and supervision of the
financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
industry is the responsibility of the
Financial Service Unit of the Commonwealth of Dominica The Financial Service Unit of the Commonwealth of Dominica or (FSU) is the main financial regulatory authority in the Island of Dominica, it is one of the most stringent financial authorities in the Caribbean and is a major participant in the ...
(FSU) under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance. There are a number of service providers. These include global financial institutions including
Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...
,
Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...
,
Cathedral Investment Bank Cathedral also known as Cathedral Investment Bank, is an Investment Banking and financial services group that provides services to a number of clients mostly associated with the Catholic Church and other religious entities. The groups consists o ...
,
First Caribbean International Bank CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB) is a financial services company based in Barbados and the Caribbean subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The bank was founded in 2002 as FirstCaribbean International Bank th ...
, and The Interoceanic Bank of the Caribbean. Starting in the mid-late 1990s,
offshore financial centres An offshore financial centre (OFC) is defined as a "country or jurisdiction that provides financial services to nonresidents on a scale that is incommensurate with the size and the financing of its domestic economy." "Offshore" does not refer ...
, such as the Commonwealth of Dominica, came under increasing pressure from the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
for their allegedly harmful tax regimes, where the OECD wished to prevent low-tax regimes from having an advantage in the global marketplace. The OECD threatened to place the Commonwealth of Dominica and other
financial centres A financial centre ( BE), financial center ( AE), or financial hub, is a location with a concentration of participants in banking, asset management, insurance or financial markets with venues and supporting services for these activities to ta ...
on a "black list" and impose sanctions against them. However, the Commonwealth of Dominica successfully avoided being placed on the OECD black list by committing to regulatory reform to improve transparency and begin information exchange with OECD member countries about their citizens. Dominica supposedly offers tax-free status to companies relocating from abroad. It is not known how many companies benefit from the tax-free status because of the strict confidentiality the government enforces, although it is known many
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
businesses and
hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...
s utilise Dominica for this reason. However, on 12 July 2012 Dominica signed an agreement with Poland to exchange tax information.


Economic immigrants

The Commonwealth of Dominica offers an official and legally mandated economic citizenship to those seeking a valid second citizenship. The nationality law of Dominica authorises the government to waive the normal requirement of seven years of legal residence to acquire citizenship in exchange for an investment into their country's economy. The required contribution for a main applicant starts at US$100,000 through the Economic Diversification Fund. Alternatively, since 2014, applicants can make a US$200,000 minimum investment in pre-approved real estate from island exclusive resorts or global brands like Marriott, Kempinski or Hilton. According to officials, the citizenship by investment (CBI) programme was an economic and fiscal "lifeline" in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Erika in 2015 and Hurricane Maria in 2017, and its new investment option had become the main source of
Foreign Direct Investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
into Dominica by early 2016. Dominican citizens can travel without a visa, or obtain a visa upon entry, to nearly 140 countries and territories, including the United Kingdom and the Schengen Zone. Applying for Dominica citizenship requires interacting with official Government Approved Economic Citizenship Agents as the first step in the application process. This programme is currently valued at 16% of the government's total revenue. The government's management of the economic citizenship programme and an initial perceived lack of transparency in the use of the revenues generated are a frequent topic of heated domestic political controversy. Referring to the opposition, Prime Minister Skerrit in 2016 stated that "If they can discredit the Citizenship by Investment Program and make Dominica an unattractive place to obtain citizenship, then revenues would fall and the government would not be able to rebuild the country. Or, the government would then have to increase taxes on the people; making itself unpopular in their sight." Since then, the Government of Dominica has improved transparency of CBI funds. According to Prime Minister Skerrit's 2018–2019 Budget Address, the island's CBI Programme has helped develop a National Health Insurance pilot that provides Dominican children in critical medical conditions with overseas treatment. Because many residents were displaced by Hurricane Maria's impact on the small Caribbean island, the government pledged to build 5,000 hurricane-proof homes, of which the first batch of 125 houses were scheduled for occupancy in February 2019. The CBI Programme has also significantly helped to develop and create jobs in the island's ecotourism sector. Furthermore, the Skerrit administration set aside EC$5m every month for the construction of a new airport. The ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' Professional Wealth Management publication ranked Dominica as the world's best citizenship by investment programme in its annual CBI Index. According to the report, investors choose Dominica's citizenship because it has the most affordable investment threshold, the application process is straightforward and streamlined, while the security checks each applicant is subjected to remain very strict.


Tourism

Dominica is mostly volcanic and has few beaches; therefore,
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
has developed more slowly than on neighbouring islands. Nevertheless, Dominica's mountains, rainforests, freshwater lakes, hot springs, waterfalls, and diving spots make it an attractive
ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
destination. Cruise ship stopovers have increased following the development of modern docking and waterfront facilities in Roseau, the capital. Out of 22 Caribbean islands tracked, Dominica had the fewest visitors in 2008 (55,800 or 0.3% of the total). This was about half as many as visited Haiti. The volcanic nature of the island has attracted
scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...
.


Infrastructure


Air

There are two airports on the island. The primary airport, Douglas-Charles Airport (DOM), now has direct flights from Miami on American Eagle. It is on the northeast coast and is about a 45-minute drive from Portsmouth (1 hour from Roseau). The second is
Canefield Airport The Canefield Airport is an airport on the west coast of the island nation of Dominica. It is north of Roseau, the capital. Construction began in early 1979 with British funding, shortly after Dominica's independence. The airport was officially ...
(DCF), about 15 minutes from Roseau on the southwest coast. Douglas-Charles Airport is suitable for limited use of commercial jets because of runway length. Douglas-Charles currently has regular service by
Air Sunshine Air Sunshine is an airline based in the United States and in Puerto Rico. It operates scheduled service to and from San Juan and Vieques, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Dominica, Sint Maarten, Nevis, St. Kitts, Tortola and Virgin Gorda in ...
,
Winair Winair, an abbreviation of Windward Islands Airways International NV, is a government-owned Dutch airline based in Sint Maarten. Founded in 1961 by Georges Greaux and Hippolyte Ledee, It has a fleet of seven aircraft serving ten destinations, ...
and
Seaborne Airlines Seaborne Virgin Island Inc, operating as Seaborne Airlines, is a FAR Part 121 airline headquartered in Carolina, Puerto Rico, near the territory's capital of San Juan. It operates a seaplane shuttle service between St. Croix and St. Thomas. O ...
using twin turboprop aircraft like the
ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...
and
Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different o ...
, as well as
Conviasa Línea Aérea Conviasa (legally ''Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos'') is a Venezuelan airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela, near Carac ...
and
Amerijet Amerijet International Airlines, Inc. is an American cargo airline headquartered in Miami, United States. The airline delivers air freight with its fleet of Boeing 757s and Boeing 767s from its main hub at the Miami International Airport to 48 d ...
, which, using Boeing 727 Freighters, is the only airline with jet service to the republic. A runway extension and service upgrade project began at Douglas-Charles Airport around 2006 and was finished in 2010. In March 2013, airline American Eagle halted flights to the island citing high labour costs.


Roads

Dominica's road network runs primarily along the coastline and along river valleys. Major roads are two-lane highways which connect the capital, Roseau, with Portsmouth ( Edward Oliver Leblanc Highway) and the Douglas Charles Airport (Dr. Nicholas Liverpool Highway). It takes about 45 minutes to drive from Portsmouth to Roseau. Private minibuses form the major public transport system. These major roads were reconstructed from the early 2010s to 2015 with assistance from the People's Republic of China and the European Union. Due to Tropical Storm Erika of 2015 several road surfaces and bridges were damaged by flooding and landslides, including on the just completed E.O. LeBlanc Highway (Roseau to Portsmouth) and Dr. Nicholas Liverpool Highway (Pont Cassé to Douglas Charles Airport). To alleviate this, the government announced that it intended to install emergency bridges in Roseau Valley near the Trafalgar Falls to Wotten Waven and in Emshall. Hurricane Maria of 2017 also damaged the road network.


Green energy

Dominica's electricity sector includes power from hydroelectricity, solar energy, and geothermal energy. Following on from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017, the Dominican government claimed it would invest in geothermal energy. In early March 2018 Dominica signed an
International Solar Alliance The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of 123 signatory countries, most being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The primary objective of the allia ...
Framework Agreement, in an attempt to exploit solar energy to power the country with a source of renewable energy.


Demographics

The vast majority of Dominicans are of African descent. There is a growing mixed population along with a small European origin minority (descendants of French and British colonists along with some people of Irish descent from indentured servants) and there are small numbers of Lebanese, Syrians and East Asians. Dominica is also the only Eastern Caribbean island that still has a population of pre-Columbian native
Kalinago The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language ...
(previously called Caribs), who were exterminated or driven from neighbouring islands. there are more than 3,000 Kalinago remaining. They live in eight villages on the east coast of Dominica. This special
Kalinago Territory The Kalinago Territory, previously known as the Carib Reserve or Carib Territory, is a district in the Caribbean island-nation of Dominica. It was established for the indigenous Kalinago people who inhabited the region prior to European coloni ...
(previously Carib Reserve) was granted by the British Crown in 1903. The population growth rate of Dominica is very low, due primarily to emigration to other countries. In the early 21st century, emigrant numbers for the most popular countries are as follows: the United States (8,560), the United Kingdom (6,739), Canada (605), and France (394). Dominica had a relatively large number of
centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living cente ...
s. In March 2007, there were 22 centenarians out of the island's 70,000 inhabitants —three times the average incidence of centenarianism in developed countries. The reasons for this were once the subject of a study that formerly had been undertaken at
Ross University School of Medicine Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) is a private for-profit medical school. Its main campus is located in Barbados, and separate administrative offices are located in Iselin, New Jersey, and Miramar, Florida, in the United States. Prior t ...
.Pickford, John, ''
From Our Own Correspondent ''From Our Own Correspondent'' is a weekly BBC radio programme in which BBC foreign correspondents deliver a sequence of short talks reflecting on current events and topical themes in the countries outside the UK in which they are based. The pro ...
'',
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
. First broadcast 31 March 2007. Dominica report 17'49" – 22'55".
Dominica was partially integrated into the federal colony of the
Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...
in 1832. Later, in 1871, it became a full part of the Federation of the Leeward Islands. From the start it was a peculiar relationship for previously Dominica had played no part in the political or cultural traditions of the other more Anglophone islands of the federation. Now, as a Leeward Island, this much larger territory, with thousands of acres of forested unclaimed land, was open to the people of
Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
and
Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Rose's Company, which produced
Rose's lime juice Rose's lime juice, often known simply as Rose's, is a sweetened concentrated fruit juice patented in 1867. This was the world's first commercially produced fruit concentrate. Background In 1753, James Lind discovered that consuming citrus fruits ...
, saw demand for its product outgrow its ability to supply the product from Montserrat. Their response to the situation was to buy land on Dominica and encourage Montserrat farm labourers to relocate. As a result, there came to be two linguistic communities in Dominica, Wesley and Marigot. In 1902, on 8 May, the
Mount Pelée Mount Pelée or Mont Pelée ( ; french: Montagne Pelée, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Montann Pèlé, meaning "bald mountain" or "peeled mountain") is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas departm ...
volcano on Martinique erupted destroying the city of Saint-Pierre. Refugees from Martinique arrived in boats to the southern villages of Dominica and some remained permanently on the island.


Languages

English is the official language of Dominica and is universally spoken and understood. In addition,
Dominican Creole Dominican Creole may refer to: * Dominican Creoles, an ethnic group native to Saint-Domingue * Dominican Creole French, a French-based creole languages, Creole language of Dominica {{disambiguation, geo Language and nationality disambiguation page ...
, an
Antillean Creole Antillean Creole (Antillean French Creole, Kreyol, Kwéyòl, Patois) is a French-based creole that is primarily spoken in the Lesser Antilles. Its grammar and vocabulary include elements of Carib, English, and African languages. Antillean Creol ...
based on French, is widely spoken. This is due to French migration to the island starting in 1690, a majority French Creole-speaking population that resided on the island, and its location between the two French-speaking departments of
Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
and
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
. Since 1979, Dominica has been a member of
La Francophonie LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
. Dominican Creole is particularly used among the older generation, which also speaks a
patois ''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or ...
language. Because of a decline in the use of Creole by the younger generation, initiatives have been set up in an effort to increase usage and promote this unique part of the nation's history and culture. Along with Creole, a dialect known as Kokoy (or Cockoy) is spoken. It is a type of
pidgin English Pidgin English is a non-specific name used to refer to any of the many pidgin languages derived from English. Pidgins that are spoken as first languages become creoles. English-based pidgins that became stable contact languages, and which have ...
which is a mix of Leeward Island
English Creole An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the ''lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the creo ...
and Dominican Creole, and is mainly spoken in the north-eastern villages of Marigot and Wesley, by the descendants of immigrants from
Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
and
Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
. Over time there has been much intermarrying, but there are still traces of difference in origin. As a result of this mixture of languages and heritage, Dominica is a member of both the French-speaking Francophonie and the English-speaking
Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
.
Island Carib The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...
, also known as Igneri (Iñeri, Igñeri, Inyeri), was an
Arawakan language Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...
historically spoken by the
Island Caribs The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...
of the
Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
in the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. The Island Caribs lived throughout the southern Lesser Antilles such as Dominica, St Vincent and
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
, supposedly having conquered them from their previous inhabitants, the
Igneri The Igneri were an indigenous Arawak people of the southern Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Historically, it was believed that the Igneri were conquered and displaced by the Island Caribs in an invasion some time before European contact. Howev ...
. Island Carib became extinct about 1920, but an offshoot survives as
Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian ...
, primarily in Central America.


Religion

61.4% of the population is
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, though in recent years a number of
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
churches have been established. About 10–12% of the population belongs to one of the Seventh-Day (Saturday) denominations, which includes Yahweh Congregation,
Church of God (Seventh-Day) The Churches of God (Seventh-Day) is composed of a number of sabbath-keeping churches, among which the General Conference of the Church of God, or simply CoG7, is the best-known organization. The Churches of God (Seventh Day) observe Sabbath on ...
, and the
Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
. According to the
Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making th ...
, in 2010 the World Christian Database reported that the largest non-Christian religious groups included:
spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...
followed by 2.6% of the population; Baháʼí followed by 1.7%;
Agnosticism Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...
followed by 0.5%;
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
,
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, and
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, each followed by 0.1%; and
Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...
, Neoreligions, and
Atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
each followed by non-negligible proportions (i.e., <0.1%) of the population. The second largest town on the island, Portsmouth, is home to Al-Ansaar Masjid, the first mosque to be built in Dominica. The mosque was constructed with the help of Muslim students from the since relocated
Ross University School of Medicine Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) is a private for-profit medical school. Its main campus is located in Barbados, and separate administrative offices are located in Iselin, New Jersey, and Miramar, Florida, in the United States. Prior t ...
.


Education

School in Dominica is mandatory up to secondary school. After pre-school, students attend primary school for six or seven years, and are admitted into secondary school on the basis of a Common Entrance Exam. After five years the students take the General Certificate of Education (GCE), widely replaced by the current Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate administered by the Caribbean Examination Council (a 15-member confederation of the Caribbean community (CARICOM)). The more advanced version of this examination,
CAPE A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
, can be taken upon completion of two years of community college. The island has its own
Dominica State College Dominica State College (DSC) is a National university, national college in Stock Farm, Stockfarm, Dominica. It is an Amalgamation (business), amalgamation of The Technical College, The Dominica Teachers Training College, The Sixth Form College, an ...
, formerly named Clifton Dupigny Community College. Some Dominicans attend universities in Cuba on scholarships offered by its government; others go to the
University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...
or to universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, or other countries. Archbold Tropical Research and Education Center, a biological field station owned by
Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...
, is located at Springfield Estate between
Canefield Canefield is a town located on the west coast of Dominica, north of Roseau and south of Massacre, overlooking Pringle's Bay. The largest settlement in St. Paul Parish, it has a population of 2,803.Commonwealth of Dominica, ''Population and Housi ...
and
Pont Cassé Pont Cassé is situated in the Saint Paul Parish in Dominica. It is located almost in the middle of Dominica, close to Belles Village northeast of the national capital, Roseau, and close to Morne Trois Pitons Morne is an Old-French word for a sma ...
. In 200
All Saints University School of Medicine
opened in temporary facilities in Loubière, it was later located in
Roseau, Dominica Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...
. A
marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...
institute in Mahaut, the Institute for Tropical Marine Ecology, closed in 2009.
Ross University School of Medicine Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) is a private for-profit medical school. Its main campus is located in Barbados, and separate administrative offices are located in Iselin, New Jersey, and Miramar, Florida, in the United States. Prior t ...
was located at
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. Ross had been operating in Dominica since the 1980s. There used to be a thousand medical students arriving annually from the United States and Canada who studied at Ross University, but the campus was permanently relocated to
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
at the beginning of the 2019 Spring semester due to extensive hurricane damage suffered at the Dominican campus. Th
Dominica Library and Information Service
serves an integral role in the education of the citizens of the country. The Dominica Library and Information Service (DLIS) is the island's main public sector responsible for library services, information service, and management. Today, it provides service for the population of Dominica through three components, public library services, documentation and research services, and archival services. Under the management of the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, the responsibilities of the institution were established in 1843 with the opening of reading rooms, or the first public library in Dominica, Victoria Memorial. Dominica Library and Information Service serves an integral role in the education of the citizens of the country. The creation of a public library in Dominica did not come easily though the impetus was a noble one that would help "the coloured people... mprovetheir lot as they moved along the path to complete freedom...” (Boromé, 203). The Dominican library began as a reading room that would evolve into a free and public library that wasn't fully free: patrons were required to pay a subscription fee. Surviving religious and political discord, the great depression, and two world wars, the library finally came under the care of the government where funds were set aside for its upkeep. Ironically, the early stages of the library's history were dedicated to remove the "uncouth", and "barbarous patois", which today is being preserved. However, it did achieve its goal of "diminishing the island’s very high percentage of illiteracy" (pg. 225). However, the historical library was demolished in the wake of hurricane Maria in 2018, and slated to be rebuilt with a more modern outlook.


Culture

Dominica is home to a wide range of people. Although it was historically occupied by several native tribes, the
Arawaks The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, wh ...
(Tainos) and Carib (Kalinago) tribes occupied it at the time European settlers reached the island. "
Massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
" 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 tried to claim the island and imported
slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
from Africa for labour. The remaining Caribs now live on a territory on the east coast of the island. They elect their own chief. This mix of cultures has produced the current culture. Music and dance are important facets of Dominica's culture. The annual independence celebrations display a variety of traditional song and dance. Since 1997, there have also been weeks of Creole festivals, such as "Creole in the Park" and the "
World Creole Music Festival The World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) is an annual three-day music festival hosted on the island of Dominica during the final weekend in October, as a conclusion to Creole heritage month. WCMF is a noted festival of Dominica, and it provides ent ...
". Dominica gained prominence on the international music stage when in 1973, Gordon Henderson founded the group
Exile One Exile One is a cadence musical group founded by Gordon Henderson in the 1970s with musicians invited over from Dominica, to be based in Guadeloupe. The band was influential in the development of Caribbean music. It became famous throughout the C ...
and an original musical genre, which he coined "
Cadence-lypso Cadence-lypso is a fusion of cadence rampa from Haiti and calypso from Trinidad and Tobago that has also spread to other English speaking countries of the Caribbean. Originated in the 1970s by the Dominican band Exile One on the island of Guad ...
". This paved the way for modern Creole music. Other musical genres include "
Jing ping Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadr ...
" and "
Cadence In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (1999) ...
". Jing ping features the accordion and is native to the island. Dominica's music is a mélange of Haitian, Afro-Cuban, African and European traditions. Popular artists over the years include Chubby and the Midnight Groovers, Bells Combo,
the Gaylords (Dominican band) The Gaylords Power Union of Dominica were a popular Carnival band from Dominica from 1966 to 1974. Members Members (during the lifetime of the group) included founder members Greg 'Breaker' Bannis who was the lead vocalist with Hot Chocolate, now ...
, WCK, and Triple Kay. The 11th annual World
Creole Music The term Creole music (french: musique créole) is used to describe both the early folk or roots music traditions of rural Creoles of Louisiana. Examples One possible definition of Creole folk music is this: melodies, sometimes including dance-re ...
Festival was held in 2007, part of the island's celebration of independence from Great Britain on 3 November. A year-long reunion celebration began in January 2008, marking 30 years of independence. Dominica is often seen as a society that is migrating from
collectivism Collectivism may refer to: * Bureaucratic collectivism, a theory of class society whichto describe the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin * Collectivist anarchism, a socialist doctrine in which the workers own and manage the production * Collectivis ...
to that of individualism. The economy is a developing one that previously depended on agriculture. Signs of collectivism are evident in the small towns and villages which are spread across the island. The novelist
Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she mainly resided in England, where she was sent for her ...
was born and raised in Dominica. The island is obliquely depicted in her best-known book, ''
Wide Sargasso Sea ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' is a 1966 novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys. The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel ''Jane Eyre'' (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from t ...
''. Rhys's friend, the political activist and writer
Phyllis Shand Allfrey Phyllis Byam Shand Allfrey (24 October 1908 – 4 February 1986) was a West Indian writer, socialist activist, newspaper editor and politician of the island of Dominica in the Caribbean. She is best known for her first novel, '' The Orchid Hou ...
, set her 1954 novel, '' The Orchid House'', in Dominica. Much of the
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
film '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' (the second in the series, released in 2006), was shot on location on Dominica (though in the film it was known as "Pelegosto", a fictional island), along with some shooting for the third film in the series, '' At World's End'' (2007).


Cuisine

Dominica's cuisine is similar to that of other Caribbean islands, particularly Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. Like other
Commonwealth Caribbean The Commonwealth Caribbean is the region of the Caribbean with English-speaking countries and territories, which once constituted the Caribbean portion of the British Empire and are now part of the Commonwealth of Nations. The term includes ma ...
islands, Dominicans have developed a distinct twist to their cuisine. Breakfast is an important daily meal, typically including saltfish, dried and salted
codfish Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not calle ...
, and "bakes" (fried dough). Saltfish and bakes are combined for a fast food snack that can be eaten throughout the day; vendors on Dominica's streets sell these snacks to passersby, together with fried chicken, fish and fruit and yogurt "smoothies". Other breakfast meals include cornmeal
porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...
, which is made with fine cornmeal or ''polenta'', milk or condensed milk, and sugar to sweeten. Traditional British-influenced dishes, such as eggs and toast, are also popular, as are fried fish and
plantains Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...
. Common vegetables include
plantains Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...
, tannias (a root vegetable),
sweet potatoes The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young sho ...
,
potatoes The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
,
rice and peas Rice and peas (or peas and rice) is a traditional food within the West Indian Caribbean islands. The 'peas' are traditionally pigeon peas, but more often substituted with kidney beans, and the dish is frequently served with curry goat. In 1961, ...
. Meat and poultry typically eaten include chicken, beef and fish. These are often prepared in stews with onions, carrots, garlic, ginger and herbs. The vegetables and meat are browned to create a rich dark sauce. Popular meals include rice and peas,
brown stew chicken Brown stew chicken, also referred to as stew chicken, is a dish typically eaten for dinner throughout the English-speaking Caribbean islands. The dish is popular in Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Belize, ...
, stew beef, fried and stewed fish, and many different types of hearty fish broths and soups. These are filled with dumplings, carrots and ground provisions.


Sports

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
is a popular sport on the island, and Dominica competes in
test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...
as part of the
West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West I ...
. In West Indies domestic first-class cricket, Dominica participates as part of the
Windward Islands cricket team The Windward Islands cricket team is a cricket team representing the member countries of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control. The team plays in the West Indies Professional Cricket League (including the NAGICO Regional Super50) under ...
, although they are often considered a part of the
Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...
geographically. This is due to being part of the
British Windward Islands The British Windward Islands was an administrative grouping of British colonies in the Windward Islands of the West Indies, existing from 1833 until 31 December 1959 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenad ...
colony from 1940 until independence; its cricket federation remains a part of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control. On 24 October 2007, the 8,000-seat Windsor cricket stadium was completed with a donation of
EC$ The Eastern Caribbean dollar ( symbol: EC$; code: XCD) is the currency of all seven full members and one associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The successor to the British West Indies dollar, it has existed si ...
33 million (
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
17 million,
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
12 million) from the
government of the People's Republic of China The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...
.
Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
,
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
and
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
are gaining popularity as well. International footballer Julian Wade, Dominica's all-time top goal scorer (as of 2021), currently plays for
Brechin City F.C. Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...
in Scotland. During the
2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
, a husband and wife team of Gary di Silvestri and Angela Morrone di Silvestri spent
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
175,000 to register as Dominican citizens and enter the 15 km men's and 10 km women's
cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...
events, respectively. Angela did not start her race, and Gary pulled out several hundred meters into his race. To date, they are Dominica's only Winter Olympic athletes. Athlete
Jérôme Romain Jérôme Romain (born June 12, 1971 in Saint-Martin, France) is a former world-class track and field athlete who competed mainly in the triple jump. Born on Saint-Martin, a French overseas territory in the Caribbean, Romain represente ...
won the bronze medal at the
1995 World Championships in Athletics The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 5–13 August 1995. This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nat ...
triple jump competition. He also qualified for the finals at the
1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
; even though he had to pull out due to injury, his 12th position is the best performance of a Dominican ever at the
Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. Sprinter Olympian
Chris Lloyd Chris Lloyd (born October 10, 1980) is a sprinter from Dominica who specializes in the 400 metres.2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...
over
400m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...
.
Triple Jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
Olympian
Thea LaFond Thea Noeliva LaFond (born April 5, 1994) is a triple jumper from Dominica. Career She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's triple jump; her result of 12.82 meters in the qualifying round did not qualify her for the final. She ...
became the first athlete to ever win a medal at the
2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...
.


Media

Dominica has two major newspapers, ''The Sun'' and '' The Chronicle''. There are two national television stations and a few radio stations, including Stations include: ZBC-AM 590, the first private local radio station is called Radio En Ba Mango 93.5/96.9FM in the Village of Berricoa Grand Bay and is owned by Urban Dangleben, ZGBC-AM 740, ZGBC-FM 90.7 (Portsmouth), ZGBC-FM 102.1 (Roseau) and ZGBC-FM 106.1 (Marigot), Q95 FM, the
Dominica Broadcasting Corporation Dominica Broadcasting Corporation (also known on-air as DBS or DBS Radio) is the national radio station of the Commonwealth of Dominica. The service, owned by the local government, is headquartered on Victoria Street in the island's capital, Rosea ...
, and Kairi FM. Before 2004, there were two telecommunication companies Cable and Wireless and Marpin TV founded by Dominican, Ronald Bernard Maroni Abraham. In 2005,
Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Ja ...
and a UK-based company
Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...
started to offer service to the island. There are a number of mobile networks operating on the island; LIME and Digicel compete for most of Dominica's wireless customers. Orange shut down in 2010 and is no longer operating on the island of Dominica. Historical newspapers includ
''The Dominican''

''The Dominica Guardian''
, and th
''Dominica Colonist''
available for free in the
Digital Library of the Caribbean The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is an international digital library operated collaboratively by the contributing partners. Partners Current partners continue to grow on a regular basis and are listed on thdLOC Partner Page Partners in ...
.


Notable people

*
David Jno Baptiste aka Ras Jumbo David Jno Baptiste aka Ras Jumbo is a Caribbean bass guitar player based in Paris, France. Background Baptiste learned to play guitar as a boy in Dominica where he was born. In the 1970s, he was involved in bands on the island playing French-bas ...
, bass guitar player * Jerelle Joseph, scientist and academic * Rebecca Theodore, International Journalist


See also

* Index of Dominica-related articles *
List of people from Dominica This is a list of notable people from the Commonwealth of Dominica. The list include also individuals with Dominican ancestry and citizenship. Politics Presidents *Nicholas Liverpool * Charles Savarin * Clarence Seignoret * Vernon Shaw *Crisp ...
*
Outline of Dominica The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Dominica: Dominica – sovereign island nation located in the Caribbean Sea. In Latin, its name means "Sunday", which was the day on which it was discovered by ...


References


External links

Reference
Country profile
Government portal
Commonwealth of Dominica
''
The World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...
''.
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
.
Dominica
entry at ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
''
Dominica
at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''
Dominican creole or Kwéyòl
(presentation, vocabulary and conversation guide)} *
Country Profile
from
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
Government * Commonwealth of Dominica Government portal
Discover Dominica: Nature Island of the Caribbean
official government tourism website by the Discover Dominica Authority.
Statistics Commonwealth of Dominica

Invest Dominica Authority
Geography * *
WikiSatellite view of Dominica at WikiMapia
{{Coord, 15, 25, N, 61, 20, W, display=title 1690 establishments in North America 1690 establishments in the French colonial empire 1690s establishments in the Caribbean 1800s establishments in the Caribbean 1805 establishments in North America 1805 establishments in the British Empire 1970s establishments in the Caribbean 1978 establishments in North America City-states Colonial government in the West Indies Countries in North America Countries in the Caribbean English-speaking countries and territories Former French colonies French Caribbean French-speaking countries and territories Hotspot volcanoes Island countries Islands of Dominica Member states of the Caribbean Community Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations Member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Member states of the United Nations Republics in the Commonwealth of Nations Small Island Developing States States and territories established in 1978 Volcanic islands Windward Islands