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Dominica: Lesser Antilles
built 606 days ago
Dominica is the largest and northernmost of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. Only 29 miles long and 16 miles wide, the island contains numerous mountains, waterfalls and arguably the world’s largest boiling lake, cradled in the rim of a volcano.
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LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY: Dominica is an island located at the northern end of the windward chain of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It is situated between the French island groups of Guadeloupe to the north and Martinique to the south. The island is almost rectangular in shape and has a deeply indented coast line. It is of volcanic origin with many fumaroles and sulfur springs. The interior of the island is dominated by a series of high peaks and deeply incised valleys which are carpeted by deep forest. The Clyde, Pagua, Rosalie, Roseau and the Layou Rivers flow from the central ridge of mountain peaks to the coast.
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Columbus was the first European to set eyes on Dominica on 3rd November, 1493 - it was a Sunday - so he named it after the day. Dominica's history from this point in many ways mirrors that of other Caribbean islands but differs in a few very significant ways. The Spanish were the first to try to colonise islands in the Lesser Antilles and they were met with stiff resistance. Spanish attempts to colonise Dominica and surrounding islands with their Christian missionaries failed miserably - the Caribs either killed or held the missionaries hostage and the Spanish were not willing to pit their fighting skills against a skilled enemy and the rugged terrain of Dominica. In fact, this attitude pretty much summed up how the next wave of European colonists, the English and the French, were to feel when they arrived in Dominica at the start of the 1600's.
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Looking to catch images of Dominica and its beauty? Then keep watching the thumbballs to your right! Dominica lies almost in the centre of the arc of islands known as the Lesser Antilles. This arc extends from the Trinidad-Grenada Passage in the south up to the Anegada Passage between the Virgin islands and Anguilla. These islands of the Lesser Antilles are of volcanic origin.
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The last survivors of the once-powerful Carib people, the original inhabitants of most of the Lesser Antilles, now live on the two eastern Caribbean islands of Dominica and St. Vincent, and in Belize, Guyana, and Suriname. The Caribs' existence today, five centuries after the voyages of Christopher Columbus, is living testimony to their bold resolve to survive and to resist European colonial onslaught. The rugged terrain of both Dominica and St. Vincent provided the ideal conditions for protracted warfare against British and French incursions into what used to be their peaceful domain.
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The quadrille is an important symbol of French Antillean culture, and is, on Dominica, typically accompanied by a kind of ensemble called a jing ping band. In addition, Dominica's folk tradition includes folk songs called bélé, traditional storytelling called kont, masquerade, children's and work songs, and Carnival music.
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Lesser Antilles