Dominica / History, Population, Politics

History 

Like many other countries in the region, Dominica’s history is embroiled in colonial struggle and strife but in the preceding millennia separate waves of colonising Indians from South America had disputed different islands right through the Antilles. Around 2,500 years ago the Arawak speaking Igneri over-ran the original hunter gatherer settlers from the Orinoco who had been there themselves for about the same period. In 600 AD or thereabouts the Kalinago arrived in Dominica, skilled fishermen, boat builders and worshippers of nature spirits in the form of carved zemi stones which can still be unearthed today. Waitukubuli they called their land, ‘Tall is her Body’ and so it remained till Columbus dropped anchor on November 3rd 1493 and renamed it Dominica, after the day of the week, a Sunday, allegedly lost for words at the splendour of the scenery. The Amerindians hollowed out large gommier trees for canoes, traded and raided in other islands, the womenfolk tending farms, making basket ware and hammocks and looking after the children back home. Three thousand descendants of these people still reside in the Carib Territory in the north-east, leading lives not too dissimilar, the raiding parties notwithstanding (an even smaller relic population of Indians survives in north-east St.Vincent around Owia and Fancy). 

The Spanish soon began to take Amerindians from the Windward Islands to labour on estates in Jamaica and Hispaniola but the Kalinago of Dominica were never entirely subjugated though their numbers were down to 400 by 1730. They resisted the French and British in equal measure, more African slaves were imported and after years of maroon rebellion the British clung onto power into the early 1800s while the culture remained rooted in French creole. In the early 20th century it was administered as a Crown Colony under Hesketh Bell who initiated the first road scheme, the Imperial Highway, and oversaw a limited telephone and electricity service among other advancements before full independence was granted on November 3rd 1978. Barely nine months later the country was ravaged by Hurricane David, a watershed moment, when 5000 were injured, 37 lost their lives and three quarters of the population were made homeless in a catastrophic event. Struggle and adversity have defined the nation, and that spirit survives today in a singular independent outlook on life within subsistence communities in rural areas. The Government and private sector’s commitment to sustainable growth and conservation of renewable resources aims to harness this affinity with agriculture and the land in the challenging decades ahead. 

Population 

The population has remained around 70,000 for several years but has declined slightly due to emigration though that may change now with economic stringencies in North America and Europe. Roseau houses 15,000 people and the country is strongly African in ethnicity, overlain in French Creole heritage and with Roman Catholicism the majority religion. The Church is still an important part of society and other denominations like Baptists, Adventists, Methodists and Pentecostals are all represented. Rastafarianism is an accepted faith now too after the troubles of the 1970s when renegade gangs were ruthlessly tracked down in the hills by the Government. Dominicans may appear reticent at first, but are open and helpful and willing to engage on all matters of substance, especially those pertaining to local politics and perceived injustice. Everyone speaks English but a French Creole patois or kweyol is also in general usage, and around Marigot in the north-east it’s possible to hear a more English Creole dialect, kokoy, emanating from when British plantocracy imported slaves from English speaking Antigua into the area. The people of the Carib Territory have finally gained a voice in Government with the establishment of a Ministry of Carib Affairs. 

Politics 

Dominica embraces parliamentary democracy with a President appointed for a five year period and a 32 member House of Assembly. There are ten administrative parishes, 41 village councils and three main political parties, the UWP (United Workers Party) which had control seven years after its formation from 1995-2000, the conservative leaning DFP (Dominica Freedom Party) whose former leader Dame Eugenia Charles was the Caribbean’s first female Prime Minister 1980-1995, and the centre-left DLP (Dominica Labour Party) led by Roosevelt Skerrit, the current Prime Minister after gaining 19 of the 21 seats at the last election on December 19th 2009.