Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. Dominica's closest neighbours are two constituent territories of the European Union, both overseas departments of France: Guadeloupe to the northwest and Martinique to the south-southeast. Dominica comprises a land area of 750 km2 (290 sq mi), and the highest point is Morne Diablotins, at 1,448 m (4,751 ft) in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census.
The island was settled by the Arawak arriving from South America in the fifth century. The Kalinago displaced the Arawak by the 15th century. Christopher Columbus is said to have passed the island on Sunday, 3 November 1493. It was later colonised by Europeans, predominantly by the French from the 1690s to 1763. The French trafficked slaves from West Africa to Dominica to work on coffee plantations. Great Britain took possession in 1763 after the Seven Years' War, and gradually established English as its official language. The island gained independence as a republic in 1978.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Island of the Caribbean" for its natural environment. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, and is still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest hot spring, called Boiling Lake. The island has lush mountainous rainforests and is the home of many rare plants, animals, and bird species. There are dry shrubland areas in some of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall occurs inland. The sisserou parrot, also known as the imperial amazon, is critically endangered and found only on Dominica. It is the island's national bird and is featured on the national flag, making Dominica one of two sovereign nations whose official flag features the color purple. The country is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and the Non-Aligned Movement.
Etymology
The Kalinago called the island Wai‘tu kubuli, which means "Tall is her body", likely referring to the island personified as a goddess (comparable to Gaia).
Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain, named the island Dominica, an abbreviation of the Latin dies Dominica (meaning "day of the Lord", that is, Sunday), because he first sighted the landmass on a Sunday in November 1493. In keeping with the Spanish pronunciation of its name, Dominica's name is pronounced with emphasis on the second i.
The similar names and the identical demonym with the Dominican Republic have caused some in Dominica to advocate for a name change to Waitukubuli, which they say would contribute to further establishing the local identity and stop mail from being wrongly sent to the Dominican Republic. Others disagree, arguing that the name change would be too expensive.
History
Geologic history
Dominica first emerged from the sea during the Oligocene Epoch approximately 26 million years ago, making it the last Caribbean island to be formed by volcanic activity along the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc.
Pre-colonial period and early European contact
Dominica's precolonial Indigenous inhabitants were the Kalinago people, who are thought to have driven out the previous Arawak population. However, this may be a partial misconception as ancestral Kalinago narratives mention the two groups coexisting and intermarrying. The Arawak were not the primary Indigenous group. It is believed that before them were a group of paleo-Indians who arrived towards the end of the late Pleistocene period.
In 1493, Christopher Columbus first spotted the island during his second voyage to the Americas. Because he saw the island on a Sunday (November 3, 1493), Columbus named the island Dominica (Latin for 'Sunday'). Some Spanish colonisers settled there. But, as European explorers and settlers entered the region, Indigenous refugees from surrounding islands settled in Dominica and pushed out the Spanish settlers. The Spanish instead settled other areas that were easier to control.
French colony
Spain had little success in colonising Dominica. In 1632, the French Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique claimed it and other "Petites Antilles" for France, but no physical occupation took place. Between 1642 and 1650, French missionary Raymond Breton became the first regular European visitor to the island.
In 1660, the French and English agreed that Dominica and St. Vincent should not be settled, but instead left to the Carib people as neutral territory. However, its natural resources attracted expeditions of English and French foresters, who began harvesting timber. In 1690, the French established their first permanent settlements. French woodcutters from Martinique and Guadeloupe began to set up timber camps to supply the French islands with wood, and they gradually became permanent settlers. They brought the first enslaved Africans from West Africa to Dominique, as they called it in French.
In 1715, a revolt of impoverished white smallholders in the north of Martinique, known as La Gaoulé, caused settlers to migrate to southern Dominique, where they set up smallholdings. Meanwhile, French families and others from Guadeloupe settled in the north. In 1727, the first French commander, M. Le Grand, took charge of the island with a basic French government. Dominique formally became a colony of France, and the island was divided into districts or "quarters". The French had already developed plantation agriculture on Martinique and Guadeloupe, where they cultivated sugarcane with enslaved African workers. In Dominique they gradually developed coffee plantations. Because of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the general population came to consist primarily of black-African slaves.
In 1761, during the Seven Years' War in Europe, a British expedition against Dominica, led by Andrew Rollo, conquered the island and several other Caribbean islands. In 1763, France lost the war and ceded the island to Great Britain in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris. The same year, the British established a legislative assembly, with only European colonists represented. French remained the official language, but Antillean Creole, which had developed from it, was spoken by most of the population.
In 1778 the French, with the active co-operation of the population, began the re-capture of Dominica. This was ended in 1783 by the second Treaty of Paris, which returned the island to British control, but the island population, especially those considered gens de couleur libres (lit. 'free people of colour'), resisted British restrictions. The British retained control throughout French invasions in 1795 and 1805, the first taking place during the period of the Haitian Revolution, which gained the independence of Haiti (formerly Saint-Domingue, France's richest Caribbean colony).
British colony
Great Britain established a small colony in 1805. It used Dominica as part of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, by which slaves were imported and sold as labour in the islands as part of a trade that included producing and shipping sugar and coffee as commodity crops to Europe. The best documented slave plantation on the island is Hillsborough Estate, which had 71 male and 68 female slaves. The Greg family were notable: Thomas Hodgson, a brother-in-law, owned a slave ship, and Thomas Greg and his brother John Greg were part-owners of sugar plantations in Dominica. In January 1814, 20 slaves escaped from Hillsborough. They were recorded as recaptured and punished with 100 lashes applied to the males and 50 for the females. The slaves reportedly said that one of their people had died in the plantation hospital, and they believed he had been poisoned.
In 1831, reflecting a liberalisation of official British racial attitudes, the Brown Privilege Bill conferred political and social rights on free blacks (mostly free people of colour, who generally were of mixed race, with African and European ancestry). With the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, Britain ended the institution of slavery throughout its empire, except in India.
With freedom came enfranchisement. In 1835, the first three men of African descent were elected to the legislative assembly of Dominica. Many slaves from the neighbouring French colonial islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique fled to Dominica. In 1838, Dominica became the first colony of the British West Indies to have an elected legislature controlled by an ethnic African majority. Most of these legislators had been free people of colour and smallholders or merchants before the abolition of slavery. Their economic and social views were different from the interests of the small, wealthy English planter class. Reacting to a perceived threat to their power, the planters lobbied for more direct British rule.
In 1865, after much agitation and tension, the colonial office replaced the elective assembly with one made up of one-half members who were elected and one-half who were appointed. Planters, who were allied with colonial administrators, outmanoeuvred the elected legislators on many occasions. In 1871, Dominica became part of the British Leeward Islands. The political power of the elected assembly progressively eroded. Crown colony government was re-established in 1896.
Early 20th century
In World War I, many Dominicans, mainly the sons of small farmers, volunteered to fight in Europe for the British Empire. After the war, an upsurge of political consciousness throughout the Caribbean led to the formation of the Representative Government Association. Marshalling public frustration with the lack of a voice in the government of Dominica, this group won one-third of the popularly elected seats of the legislative assembly in 1924, and one-half in 1936. In 1940, administration of Dominica was transferred from the British Leeward Islands to the British Windward Islands. During World War II, some Dominicans volunteered in British and Caribbean forces. Thousands of Free French refugees from Martinique and Guadeloupe escaped to Dominica from the Vichy-controlled French islands, staying in Roseau and other villages.
Until 1958, Dominica was governed as part of the British Windward Islands. Caribbean islands sought independence from 1958 to 1962, and Dominica became a province of the short-lived West Indies Federation in 1958. After the federation dissolved in 1962, Dominica became an associated state of the United Kingdom in 1967, and formally took responsibility for its internal affairs. On 3 November 1978, Dominica was granted independence as a republic, led by Prime Minister Patrick John.
Post-independence
In mid-1979, political discontent with founding prime minister Patrick John's administration climaxed in a civilian coup and ended in the passage of a motion of no confidence against John in the House of Assembly, Dominica's legislature, collapsing his administration. An Interim Government was formed under Dominica's second Prime Minister Oliver Seraphin; Seraphin's main task was to prepare the country for fresh general elections constitutionally due in 1980, hence the unofficial title "Interim Prime Minister". Seraphin organised and led a splinter of the Dominica Labour Party—the Democratic Labour Party—into the 1980 general election and lost mainly because his nearly 13 month-long premiership was dominated by the effects of Category Five Hurricane David, which caused 56 deaths and untold damage across the island. Hurricane Allen the following year caused further damage. After the 1980 election, Seraphin's government was replaced by one led by the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) under Prime Minister Eugenia Charles; she was the Caribbean's first female prime minister.
In 1981, Charles's government was threatened with two attempted coups. The first was led by Frederick Newton, commander of the Military of Dominica, who organised an attack on the police headquarters in Roseau which resulted in the death of a police officer. Newton and five other soldiers were found guilty in the attack and sentenced to death in 1983; the sentences of the five accomplices were later commuted to life in prison, but Newton was executed in 1986. A second occurred later in the year when the country was threatened with a takeover by mercenaries, led by Mike Perdue and Wolfgang Droege in Operation Red Dog. They tried to overthrow Charles as prime minister and reinstate ex-prime minister John in exchange for control over the country's development. The FBI was tipped off, and the ship hired to transport the mercenaries never left dock. The mercenaries lacked formal military experience or training, and most of the crew had been misled into joining by the ringleader Mike Perdue. White supremacist Don Black was jailed for his part in the attempted coup, which violated US neutrality laws.
The Charles government supported the 1983 American invasion of Grenada, earning Dominica praise from the US government of Ronald Reagan, and an increase in financial aid.
By the middle of the 1980s, the economy had begun to recover, before weakening again due to a decrease in banana prices. Eugenia Charles won the 1985 general election, becoming the first incumbent Dominica Prime Minister to be popularly re-elected. The continuing downturn in the economy and the tight grip by Eugenia Charles on Dominica politics gave rise to a self-titled "Third Force" political formation in 1988, which disrupted the traditional two-party arrangement of governing DFP and opposition DLP. The formation soon formalised as the United Workers' Party (UWP) and selected as its leader Edison James, the former general manager of the Dominica Banana Marketing Company. This was a strategic selection: he had prestige among banana farmers, and support from his origins in the East Coast, which had begun to feel alienated by the West Coast elites in Roseau, Dominica's capital. Eugenia Charles again won the 1990 general election, the first incumbent Dominica prime minister to win three consecutive general elections, but the UWP's emergence had reduced her party's majority in Parliament to one. It was, therefore, no great surprise when Eugenia Charles gave up political leadership of the Dominica Freedom Party in 1993 and did not contest the 1995 general election in any capacity. No longer benefitting from her leadership, the Dominica Freedom Party lost the 1995 election to the UWP, and James became prime minister. He attempted to diversify the Dominican economy away from over-reliance on bananas. The crop was largely destroyed by Hurricane Luis in 1995, and James was unable to restore the banana industry to its former selling price and prestige. Moreover, his administration became embroiled in opposition charges of official corruption.
In the 31 January 2000 general election, the UWP were defeated by a coalition of the DLP, led by left-leaning Roosevelt B. "Rosie" Douglas, and the DFP led by former trade union leader Charles Savarin; Douglas became prime minister. One UWP member of the House of Assembly crossed the floor, joining the DLP–DFP coalition government. Douglas died on 1 October 2000 after only a few months in office, and was replaced by Pierre Charles, who died in office on 6 January 2004. Roosevelt Skerrit, also of the DLP, replaced Pierre Charles as prime minister, becoming the world's youngest head of government at the age of 31. Under Skerrit's leadership, the DLP won elections in May 2005 that gave the party 12 seats in the 21-seat Parliament. The UWP won 8 seats and Ronald Toulon, who was an independent candidate at that time, won the remaining seat. Later, Toulon joined the government. With his 2005 election win, Skerrit became only the second incumbent prime minister to be popularly re-elected.
In the 2009 election, the DLP won 18 of 21 seats. The UWP claimed campaign improprieties and embarked on a wide range of protest actions, including boycott of Parliament. UWP's boycott caused at least three unauthorised absences from Parliament for two of their three elected representatives in violation of Parliamentary procedure, leading to their two seats being declared vacant and by-elections called to fill them in July 2010 The UWP held both seats. The DLP under Skerrit went on to win the 2014 Dominican general election.
On 17 September 2012 Eliud Thaddeus Williams was sworn in as president (a largely ceremonial role), replacing Dr. Nicholas Liverpool who was reportedly removed from office due to ill health. On 30 September 2013 former trade union leader and former DFP leader Charles Savarin was elected president, having only days before resigned as a minister of government. He is Dominica's eighth president.
Tropical Storm Erika devastated the island in August 2015, killing 30 and causing severe environmental and economic damage. Dominica was again struck on 18 September 2017, suffering a direct landfall from Category 5 Hurricane Maria. Early estimates of damage suggested 90% of the buildings on the island had been destroyed, with infrastructure left in ruins. The UK, France and the Netherlands set up shipping and air lifts to take aid to the island, the scale of destruction having left most people homeless.
President Charles Angelo Savarin was re-elected in 2018 for a new five-year term. In December 2019, incumbent prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit won his fourth consecutive general election 18 seats to 3, becoming the first prime minister of Dominica to do so.
Dominica won its first two Commonwealth Games medals in silver (men's triple jump) and bronze (women's triple jump) in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Dominica received its first Olympic gold medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris when Thea LaFond won the women's triple jump with a length of 15.02 metres.
Geography and climate
Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea, the northernmost of the Windward Islands (though it is sometimes considered the southernmost of the Leeward Islands). The size of the country is about 750 km2 (289.5 sq mi) and it is about 47 km (29 mi) long and 26 km (16 mi) wide.
Known as "The Nature Island of the Caribbean" due to its lush scenery and varied flora and fauna, Dominica is largely covered by rainforest and is home to the world's second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake. Within its borders lie two ecoregions: Windward Islands' moist forests and Windward Islands' xeric scrub. The most mountainous of the Lesser Antilles, its volcanic peaks are cones of lava craters, the largest of these being (north-to-south) Morne aux Diables, Morne Diablotins (the highest on the island at 1,447 m (4,747 ft)), Morne Trois Pitons and Morne Anglais. Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a tropical forest blended with volcanic features; it was recognised as a World Heritage Site on 4 April 1995, a distinction it shares with four other Caribbean islands. The Calibishie area in the country's northeast has sandy beaches. Some plants and animals thought to be extinct on surrounding islands can still be found in Dominica's forests. The island has several protected areas, including Cabrits National Park, as well as 365 rivers. For a few years the government sought to encourage the island as an ecotourism destination, although the hurricane of 2017 has since changed these plans. The country had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 1.06/10, ranking it 166th globally out of 172 countries.
There are two primary population centres: the capital Roseau (with 14,725 inhabitants in 2011) and Portsmouth (with 4,167 inhabitants in 2011). The main centres tend to be located around the coast, with the mountainous interior sparsely populated.
Dominica is especially vulnerable to hurricanes as the island is located in what is referred to as the hurricane region. In 1979, Hurricane David struck the island as a Category 4 hurricane, causing widespread and extreme damage. On 17 August 2007, Hurricane Dean, a Category 1 hurricane at the time, hit the island. A mother and her seven-year-old son died when a landslide caused by the heavy rains crushed their house. In another incident two people were injured when a tree fell on their house. Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit estimated that 100 to 125 homes were damaged, and that the agricultural sector was extensively damaged, in particular the banana crop. In August 2015, Tropical Storm Erika caused extensive flooding and landslides across the island. Multiple communities were evacuated and upwards of 30 people were killed. According to a Rapid Damage and Impact Assessment prepared for Dominica by the World Bank, the total damage and losses from the storm were US$484.82 million or 90% of Dominica's yearly GDP. Category 5 Hurricane Maria struck the island in 2017 and caused losses of approximately US$930 million or 226% of GDP.
Fauna
Dominica is home to 200 bird species, including two species endemic to the island. The sisserou parrot (Amazona imperialis) is Dominica's national bird and is endemic to its mountain forests. A related species, the jaco or red-necked parrot (A. arausiaca), is also endemic to the island. Both birds are rare and protected, though some forests are still threatened by logging in addition to the long-standing threat of hurricanes.
Dominica has recorded four species of snakes, including two endemic species: the Dominican blind snake and the Dominican boa. The island is home to eleven species of lizards, including two endemic species: the Dominican anole and the Dominican ground lizard. Dominica is the last major stronghold of the critically endangered Lesser Antillean iguana (Iguana delicatissima).
The Caribbean Sea around the island of Dominica is home to many cetaceans. A group of sperm whales live in the area year-round. Other cetaceans commonly seen in the area include spinner dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins and bottlenose dolphins.
Less commonly seen animals include killer whales, false killer whales, pygmy sperm whales, dwarf sperm whales, Risso's dolphins, common dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins, humpback whales and Bryde's whales. This makes Dominica a destination for tourists interested in whale-watching.
Government
Dominica is a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth of Nations. The capital is Roseau. Dominica is one of the Caribbean's few republics. The head of state is an indirectly elected president, while executive power rests with the cabinet, headed by the prime minister. The unicameral parliament consists of the 30-member House of Assembly, which consists of 21 directly elected members, and 9 senators who may either be appointed by the president or elected by the other members of the House of Assembly.
Unlike other former British colonies in the region, Dominica has never been a Commonwealth realm, having become a republic upon gaining its independence. Dominica is a full and participating member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Dominica is also a member of the International Criminal Court, with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection with the US military, as covered under Article 98. In January 2008, Dominica joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas.
In 2025 the government of Dominica signed a free movement cooperation agreement along with Barbados, Belize, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines allowing each other's nationals to have free movement between their nations just by presenting their passport and indicating the intention to become a full national with intention to work at time of entry.
Military
There has been no standing army in Dominica since 1981 when the Dominican Defence Force was disbanded following two violent coup attempts against Eugenia Charles.
The civil Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force includes a Special Service Unit and Coast Guard. In the event of war or other emergency, if proclaimed by the authorities, the Police Force shall be a military force which may be employed for State defence (Police Act, Chapter 14:01).
Dominica is a member of the Regional Security System (RSS).
Human rights
Both male and female same-sex sexual activity were criminalised in Dominica in the 19th century during the colonial era. In April 2024, Dominican attorney-at-law Cara Shillingford persuaded the High Court of Justice to overturn the laws banning same-sex activity since they violated LGBT individuals' constitutional rights.
Territorial disputes
Dominica is engaged in a long-running dispute with Venezuela over Venezuela's territorial claims to the sea surrounding Isla de Aves (literally Bird Island, but in fact called 'Bird Rock' by Dominican authorities), a tiny islet located 140 mi (225 km) west of the island of Dominica.