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Dominica
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Dominica was the name given to 289.8 sq. miles of land, by Christopher Columbus, when he landed on the island on November 3 rd 1493. The island nation of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It lies between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante to the north and Martinique to the south. Dominica should not be confused with the Dominican Republic, another Caribbean nation. Dominica is the home of approximately 2208 Kalinagos, the remaining survivors of the first inhabitants of the island. The people called the island Waitukubuli (tall is her body), and they referred to themselves Kalinagos.
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Dominica was the last of the Caribbean islands to be colonized by Europeans, due chiefly to the fierce resistance of the native Caribs. France ceded possession to Great Britain in 1763, which made the island a colony in 1805. In 1980, two years after independence, Dominica's fortunes improved when a corrupt and tyrannical administration was replaced by that of Mary Eugenia CHARLES, the first female prime minister in the Caribbean, who remained in office for 15 years. Some 3,000 Carib Indians still living on Dominica are the only pre-Columbian population remaining in the eastern Caribbean.
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Dominica, the most northern Windward Island, is mountainous and forest-clad and has a warm year-round tropical climate. Its varied flora and fauna are protected by an extensive national parks system. The island has the highest mountain in the Eastern Caribbean. Its volcanic peaks are cones of lava craters and include Boiling Lake, the second-largest thermally active lake in the world. The mountains act as a magnet for rain and serve as a water source for the hundreds of rivers that run down the lush green valleys, many cascading over steep cliff faces on their way to the coast. The driest months are February to June, the wettest month is August.
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Dominica has a total population of 68,925 (2007 estimate). Despite a high birthrate and a long life expectancy (74 years), the population of Dominica has grown slowly, owing to emigration to other islands of the Caribbean and to Great Britain. More than 90 percent of the inhabitants are black, descendants of people brought from Africa in the 18th century. A small number of Carib Indians ... live on Dominica, descendents of the inhabitants of the island when Europeans first arrived.
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For the next hundred years Dominica remained isolated, and even more Caribs settled there after being driven from surrounding islands as European powers entered the region. France formally ceded possession of Dominica to the United Kingdom in 1763. The United Kingdom then set up a government and made the island a colony in 1805. The emancipation of African slaves occurred throughout the British Empire in 1834, and, in 1838, Dominica became the first British Caribbean colony to have a Black-controlled legislature. In 1896, the United Kingdom reassumed governmental control of Dominica and turning it into a crown colony. Half a century later, from 1958 to 1962, Dominica became a province of the short-lived West Indies Federation.
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Dominica has fertile soils that provide a good basis for farming, the principal economic activity. Agricultural products include bananas, citrus fruit (especially grapefruit and limes), coconuts, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla beans, root crops, and vegetables. (Banana exports... suffered in the early 2000s when the World Trade Organization ended preferential tariffs for producers from former European Union colonies.) Pumice is quarried and exported. Manufacturing is limited to the processing of farm products. The main manufactures are fruit juices, alcoholic beverages, soap, and essential oils. The currency is the East Caribbean dollar (2.67 E Caribbean dollars equal U.S.$1; Sept. 2005).
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Dominica