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Dominica |
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From
Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
The Commonwealth of Dominica, commonly known as Dominica (French:
Dominique), is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. The name is
pronounced (dom-in-EE-cuh). In Latin, its name means "Sunday",
which was the day on which it was discovered by Columbus.
Dominica's pre-Columbian name was Wai'tu kubuli, which means "Tall
is her body". The indigenous people of the island, the Caribs,
have a territory similar to the Indian reserves of North America.
The island lies between two French overseas departments, Guadeloupe
to the north and Martinique to the south. Its official language
is English, though a French creole is commonly spoken.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean"
for its seemingly unspoiled natural beauty. It is one of the youngest
islands in the Lesser Antilles, still being formed by geothermal-volcanic
activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest boiling lake.
The island features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many very
rare plant, animal, and bird species. There are xeric areas in some
of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall can be expected
inland. The Sisserou parrot, the island's national bird, is featured
on the national flag. |
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Quick
Facts: |
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Capital
(and largest city): Roseau - 15°18_N, 61°23_W |
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Official
languages: English |
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Demonym:
Dominican |
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Government:
Parliamentary Republic |
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Independence:
From the United Kingdom November 3, 1978 |
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Total
Area: 751 km / 290 sq mi |
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Population:
71,727 |
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GDP:
$468 million |
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Per
Capita: $6,520 |
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Currency:
East Caribbean dollar (XCD) |
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Time
Zone : (UTC–4) |
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Internet
TLD: .dm |
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Country
Dialing Code: 1-767 |
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Electricity:
240V/50Hz
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Electric
Plug Details: United Kingdom plug (This is what it looks like!) |
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Culture: |
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Dominica
is home to a wide range of people. Although it was historically
occupied by several native tribes, only a Carib tribe remained by
the time European settlers reached the island. French and British
settlers each claimed the island and imported slaves from Africa.
The remaining Caribs now live on a 3,700-acre (15 km_) territory
on the east coast of the island. They elect their own chief. This
mix of cultures is important to Dominica.
The famed novelist Jean Rhys was born and raised in Dominica. The
island is obliquely depicted in her best-known book, Wide Sargasso
Sea. Recently, Caribbean writer Marie-Elena John's debut novel Unburnable
has evoked much of the same spirit of Dominica captured by Rhys,
prompting comparisons between the two novels[8] in spite of the
hundred-year difference, and suggesting that Dominica has remained
one of the Caribbean's most pristine islands. Rhys's friend, the
political activist and writer Phyllis Shand Allfrey, set her 1954
novel, The Orchid House (ISBN 0-8135-2332-X), in Dominica. |
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Media
and Communication: |
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Currently,
Dominica has three major newspapers, The Sun, The Times, and The
Chronicle. There are two national television stations and a few
radio stations, including Q95 FM, the Dominica Broadcasting Corporation,
and Kairi FM.
Before 2004, there was only one telecommunication company called
Cable and Wireless. Shortly after that, Digicel and a UK-based company
called Orange started to offer service to the island. There are
a number of mobile networks operating on the island. |
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Film
and TV: |
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In
2004, Dominica was selected for the film Pirates of the Caribbean.
In spring of 2007, CBS filmed its first pirate-related TV show called
Pirate Master in Dominica. |
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Demographics: |
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Almost all nationals of Dominica today are descendants of African
slaves, brought in by colonial planters in the eighteenth century.
However there is a significant mixed minority along with a Indo-Caribbean
or East Indian groups, a small European origin minority (descendants
of French, British, and Irish colonists) and there are small numbers
of Lebanese, Syrians and Asians. Dominica is also the only Eastern
Caribbean island that still has a population of pre-Columbian native
Caribs, who were exterminated or driven from neighboring islands.
There are only about 3,000 Caribs remaining. They live in eight
villages on the east coast of Dominica. This special Carib Territory
was granted by the British Queen in 1903. There are also about 1,000
medical students from the United States and Canada who study at
the Ross University School of Medicine in Portsmouth.
The population growth rate of Dominica is very low, due primarily
to emigration to other Caribbean islands, the United Kingdom, the
United States, France, and Canada.
It has recently been noted that Dominica has an incredibly high
proportion of centenarians. As of March 2007, there are 22 centenarians
out of the island's almost 70,000 inhabitants—three times
the average incidence of centenarianism in developed countries.
The reasons for this are the subject of current research being undertaken
at Ross University School of Medicine.
About 80% of the population is Roman Catholic, though in recent
years a number of Protestant churches have been established. |
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Economy: |
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The
Dominican economy is dependent on both tourism and agriculture.
Twenty percent of Dominican workers are in the agricultural sector,
and Dominica's primary agricultural exports include tobacco, bananas,
vegetables, citrus, copra, coconut oil, and essential oils such
as bay oil. The country's industries, other than tourism, include
soap, furniture, cement blocks, and shoes. Dominica is further benefited
by the presence of an offshore Devry-owned medical school, Ross
University, in the northern town of Portsmouth. Over 1,000 students
mainly from USA and Canada live and study in Portsmouth.
The Dominican economy has high poverty (30%), high unemployment
(23%), and a low per capita income (US$5,400). The Dominican economy
has been hurt by problems in the banana industry. The entire economy
suffers when weather conditions damage the banana crop or when the
price of bananas falls. The European Union has phased out preferred
access of Dominican bananas to its markets, causing banana demand
to fall. In response, the Dominican government privatized the banana
industry. The government has also moved to diversify the economy
and has lifted price controls in an attempt to improve the lagging
economy. The government is also trying to develop tourism, especially
ecotourism. The lack of a large international airport or sandy beaches
limit opportunities for standard tourism, but the island's heavily
rainforested landscape and beautifully preserved environment could
lure those looking for unparalleled ecotourism experiences. Indeed,
it is remarked that of all the islands of the Caribbean, Dominica
is the only one Christopher Columbus might still recognize. |
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Agriculture: |
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Bananas
have traditionally formed the backbone of the island's economy.
Between 1988 and 1999, banana production declined 63% with a 62%
decline in export value, mainly due to the performance of the banana
industry. |
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Tourism: |
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Compared
to many other Caribbean islands, Dominica's tourism industry may
be considered to be underdeveloped (65,000 visitors per year). It
does not have any world-famous chains of hotels.
However, Dominica has a few famous tourist spots, such as the Indian
River in Portsmouth, Emerald Pool, Trafalgar Falls, Scotts Head
(where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea), and the world's
second-largest boiling lake, which is inside Morne Trois Pitons
National Park. The national park, itself, has been designated a
World Heritage Site. This island country also has many excellent
diving spots due to its steep drop-offs, healthy marine environment,
and reefs. |
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Geography: |
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Dominica
is an island nation and borderless country in the Caribbean Sea,
the northernmost of the Windward Islands. The size of the country
is about 289.5 square miles (754 km). The capital is Roseau.
Dominica is largely covered by rainforest and is home to the world's
second-largest boiling lake. Dominica has many waterfalls, springs,
and rivers. Some plants and animals thought to be extinct on surrounding
islands can still be found in Dominica's forests. Dominica is home
to several protected areas, including Cabrits National Park. Dominica
has 365 rivers.
It is said that when his royal sponsors asked Christopher Columbus
to describe this island in the "New World", he crumpled
a piece of parchment roughly and threw it on the table. This, Columbus
explained, is what Dominica looks like—completely covered
with mountains with nary a flat spot.
Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a tropical forest blended with
scenic volcanic features. It was recognized as a World Heritage
Site on April 4, 1995. Within the Caribbean, it shares this distinction
with historic World Heritage sites in San Juan (Puerto Rico), Willemstad
(Curacao), Saint Kitts, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic/Haiti) and
Cuba, and another natural World Heritage site in St. Lucia.
The only two major cities are Roseau and Portsmouth. |
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History: |
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The
former indigenous people of Dominica, the Arawak people, were expelled
or exterminated by Caribs in the fourteenth century. The Arawaks
had been guided from the waters of the Orinoco River to Dominica
and other islands of the Caribbean by the South Equatorial Current.
These descendants of the early Tainos were overthrown by the Kalinago
tribe of the Caribs.
The Caribs arrived on the island in special boats which they are
still making at their own territory on the island. Christopher Columbus
arrived at this island on Sunday, November 3, 1493. He and his crew
soon left the island, having been defeated by the Caribs. In 1627
England tried and failed to capture Dominica. In 1635 the French
claimed the island and sent missionaries, but they were unable to
wrest Dominica from the Caribs. The French abandoned the island,
along with the island of Saint Vincent, in the 1660s.
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. In
1978 Dominica finally became an independent nation. |
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Language: |
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English
is the official language of Dominica and is universally understood.
However, because of historic French domination, and the island's
location between the two French-speaking territories of Martinique
and Guadeloupe, Antillean Creole Patois, a French-based creole language,
is the mother tongue of 80% of the Dominican people. Dominica is
therefore a member of the Francophonie organization.
The dialect of Dominica also includes Cocoy, or Kockoy, is a mix
of Leeward Island English-Creole and Dominican Creole. It is mainly
spoken in the northeastern villages of Marigot and Wesley. |
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Nature: |
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Dominica
possesses the most pristine wilderness in the Caribbean. Originally,
it was protected by sheer mountains which led the European powers
to build ports and agricultural settlements on other islands. More
recently, the citizens of this island have sought to preserve its
spectacular natural beauty by discouraging the type of high-impact
tourism which has damaged nature in most of the Caribbean. Visitors
can find large tropical forests, hundreds of streams, spectacular
coastlines and coral reefs.The Sisserou parrot is Dominica's national
bird and is indigenous to its mountain forests.
The Caribbean Sea offshore of the island of Dominica is home to
many cetaceans. Most notably a group of sperm whales lives in this
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 Dominca a popular destination for tourists interested
in whale-watching. |
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Politics: |
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Dominica
is a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The president is head of state, while executive power rests with
the cabinet, headed by the prime minister. The unicameral parliament
consists of the thirty-member House of Assembly, which consists
of twenty-one directly elected members and nine 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 was
never a Commonwealth realm with the British monarch as head of state,
as it instead became a republic on independence. Dominica is a full
and participating member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and
the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Dominica is
also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral
Immunity Agreement of protection for the U.S. military, as covered
under Article 98. In January 2008 Dominica joined the Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas. |
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Transportation: |
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There
are two small airports on the island: the main one is Melville Hall
Airport (DOM), about one hour away from Roseau; the second one is
Canefield (DCF) which is about fifteen minutes' travel from Roseau.
Neither of them is big enough for typical commercial-size airplanes,
although Melville Hall is under expansion. As of 2007, American
Airlines and LIAT (who recently merged with Caribbean Star, a former
competitor in that market) are the major airlines that service the
Melville Hall airport, and Carib Aviation operates service from
Canefield. There is no nighttime service, because the runways do
not have lights.
There is no major highway on the island. Before the road was built
between Portsmouth and Roseau, people had to take boats, which took
several hours. Now, it takes about one hour to drive from Portsmouth
to Roseau. Minibus services form the major public transport
system. |
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