Dominica became independent in 1978 after being ruled by Britain since the 1700's. Its official name is Commonwealth of Dominica. Roseau, which has a population of about 11,000, is the capital and largest city. Dominica's basic unit of money is the East Caribbean dollar.
Government. Dominica is a republic. A president is officially the country's chief executive. But a prime minister is the most powerful official. The prime minister is a member of an eight-member Cabinet, which conducts the operations of the government. A legislature called the House of Assembly makes the nation's laws. It consists of 21 members elected by the people and 3 appointed by the government. The legislature elects the president. The prime minister is the leader of the political party with the most seats in the legislature.
People. Most Dominicans have African or mixed African, British, and French ancestry. A small percentage of Dominicans have mostly Carib Indian ancestry. About four-fifths of the people live in rural villages, and the rest live in urban areas. Most of the people of Dominica live in Western-style houses or in thatch-roofed huts. They wear Western-style clothing. Their main foods include bananas, crabs, crayfish, frog legs, lobsters, and sweet potatoes.
Land and climate. Dominica is a mountainous, tree-covered island formed by volcanic eruptions. Some mountains in the north and south rise over 4,000 feet (1,200 meters). Flatland lies on parts of the coast. The country has many rivers, but most are too rough to be used by boats other than canoes. Temperatures in Dominica seldom rise above 90 ?F (32 ?C) or fall below 65 ?F (18 ?C). Annual rainfall ranges from 79 inches (201 centimeters) in Roseau, on the southwest coast, to 400 inches (1,000 centimeters) in the mountains.
History. Arawak Indians, Dominica's first inhabitants, settled there about 2,000 years ago. Carib Indians took over the island about 1,000 years later. On Nov. 3, 1493--a Sunday--Christopher Columbus became the first European to sight the island. He named it Dominica, the Latin word for Sunday.
French and British settlers began to arrive in Dominica in the 1600's. For many years, the Carib, British, and French fought for control of the island. The British gained possession of it in 1763 and shipped African slaves to Dominica as farmworkers. The slaves were freed in 1834, the year after Britain abolished slavery throughout its empire. From the 1930's to the 1970's, Britain increased Dominica's control over its own affairs. Dominica became independent on Nov. 3, 1978.
In 1979, a major hurricane struck Dominica. It killed over 50 people and caused much damage. In 1983, Dominica and several other Caribbean nations joined the United States in an invasion of Grenada, another West Indian country, to overthrow a Marxist government there. See GRENADA (History and government).
Contributor: Gustavo A. Antonini, Ph.D., Prof. of Latin American Studies and Geography, Univ. of Florida. |