Dominica
Almost all Dominicans are descendants of enslaved Africans brought
in by colonial planters in the 18th century. Dominica is the only
island in the eastern Caribbean to retain some of its pre-Columbian
population--the Carib Indians--about 3,000 of whom live on the
island's east coast. The population growth rate is very low, due
primarily to emigration to more prosperous Caribbean Islands, the
United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
English is the official language; however, because of historic
French domination, the most widely spoken dialect is a French
patois. Nearly 80% of the population is Catholic. In recent years, a
number of Protestant churches have been established. |
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The island's indigenous Arawak people were expelled or exterminated
by Caribs in the 14th century. Columbus landed there in November
1493. Spanish ships frequently landed on Dominica during the 16th
century, but fierce resistance by the Caribs discouraged Spain's
efforts at settlement.
In 1635, France claimed Dominica. Shortly thereafter, French
missionaries became the first European inhabitants of the island.
Carib incursions continued, though, and in 1660, the French and
British agreed that both Dominica and St. Vincent should be
abandoned. Dominica was officially neutral for the next century, but
the attraction of its resources remained; rival expeditions of
British and French foresters were harvesting timber by the start of
the 18th century.
Largely due to Dominica's position between Martinique and
Guadeloupe, France eventually became predominant, and a French
settlement was established and grew. As part of the 1763 Treaty of
Paris that ended the Seven Years' War, the island became a British
possession. In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, the
French mounted a successful invasion with the active cooperation of
the population. The 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the war,
returned the island to Britain. French invasions in 1795 and 1805
ended in failure.
In 1763, the British established a legislative assembly,
representing only the white population. In 1831, reflecting a
liberalization of official British racial attitudes, the Brown
Privilege Bill conferred political and social rights on free
nonwhites. Three Blacks were elected to the legislative assembly the
following year. Following the abolition of slavery, in 1838 Dominica
became the first and only British Caribbean colony to have a
Black-controlled legislature in the 19th century. Most Black
legislators were smallholders or merchants who held economic and
social views diametrically opposed to the interests of the small,
wealthy English planter class. Reacting to a perceived threat, the
planters lobbied for more direct British rule.
In 1865, after much agitation and tension, the colonial office
replaced the elective assembly with one comprised of one-half
elected members and one-half appointed. Planters allied with
colonial administrators outmaneuvered the elected legislators on
numerous occasions. In 1871, Dominica became part of the Leeward
Island Federation. The power of the Black population progressively
eroded. Crown Colony government was re-established in 1896. All
political rights for the vast majority of the population were
effectively curtailed. Development aid, offered as compensation for
disenfranchisement, proved to have a negligible effect.
Following World War I, 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 the governing of Dominica, this group won one-third of
the popularly elected seats of the legislative assembly in 1924 and
one-half in 1936. Shortly thereafter, Dominica was transferred from
the Leeward Island Administration and was governed as part of the
Windwards until 1958, when it joined the short-lived West Indies
Federation.
After the federation dissolved, Dominica became an associated state
of the United Kingdom in 1967 and formally took responsibility for
its internal affairs. On November 3, 1978, the Commonwealth of
Dominica was granted independence by the United Kingdom.
Independence did little to solve problems stemming from centuries of
economic underdevelopment, and in mid-1979, political discontent led
to the formation of an interim government. It was replaced after the
1980 elections by a government led by the Dominica Freedom Party
under Prime Minister Eugenia Charles, the Caribbean's first female
prime minister. Chronic economic problems were compounded by the
severe impact of hurricanes in 1979 and in 1980. By the end of the
1980s, the economy recovered, but weakened again in the 1990s due to
a decrease in banana prices.
In the January 2000 elections, the Edison James United Workers Party
(UWP) was defeated by the Dominican Labour Party (DLP), led by
Roosevelt P. "Rosie" Douglas. Douglas died after only a few months
in office and was replaced by Pierre Charles, who died in office in
January 2004. Roosevelt Skerrit, also of the DLP, replaced Charles
as Prime Minister. Under Prime Minister Skerrit's leadership, the
DLP won elections in May 2005 that gave the party 12 seats in the
21-member Parliament to the UWP's 8 seats. An independent candidate
affiliated with the DLP won a seat as well. Since that time, the
independent candidate joined the government and one UWP member
crossed the aisle, making the current total 14 seats for the DLP and
7 for the UWP. |
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