Island Hopping Dominica History

ISLAND HPPING

The first inhabitants of Dominica, known as Ortoiroids, arrived some 5,000 years ago and left few traces of their existence. They were followed by the Arawaks, who arrived on Dominica around the time of Christ over 2,000 years ago. As you probably know by now, the Arawaks, who were primarily artists and craftsmen, were followed by the Caribs, who were primarily warriors, about 1,000 years ago. The Caribs, some of whose descendants still live on Dominica, called the island Wai’tukubuli, meaning Tall Is Her Body which referred to Dominica’s towering mountains.

The first European visitor was Christopher Columbus who circled Wai’tukubuliwith a 17-ship armada one Sunday in 1493 and named the island Dominica (Latin for Sunday). Although he did not land on Dominica, some of the Admiral’s vessels anchored on the leeward side of the island where, they reported, they found people and huts. At the same time Columbus was naming Dominica, his brother Deigo gave the same name to part of Hispaniola, which still causes confusion to this day.

Over the next two centuries, more Europeans, sailors, explorers, and adventurers, passed the island by, nearly all testifying to the great beauty of Dominica. In the channel between Guadeloupe and Dominica an entire Spanish treasure fleet laden with gold and silver went down in 1567. It is estimated that over 200 wrecks lie off the shores of Dominica.

It was not until 1632 that a true attempt at colonization was made when the French began settling on Dominica as well as nearby Guadeloupe and Martinique. As was the case in so many islands in the eastern Caribbean, the British wanted the island as well and the two groups of settlers quarreled over Dominica for many years, battling not only each other, but the fierce Caribs as well. Besides the indigenous Caribs that already inhabited Dominica, many Caribs fled to Dominica from Martinique where they had been all but wiped out. In 1686, the French declared Dominica to be a neutral territory left forever to the Caribs. Later the French agreed to leave the Martinician Caribs alone if they would leave Martinique for Dominica or St. Vincent. After years of battles with the Europeans, the Caribs found that they were fighting larger and larger forces and the Amerindians wound up being driven inland, their aggressive nature subdued. Today the descendants of these same Caribs inhabit a reservation known as the Carib Territory, some 3,700 acres on the eastern coast of Dominica, but their influence is still seen and felt all over the island.

With the French and British free to confront each other, decades of back and forth control ensued, and the topography of Dominica contributed to the unsuccessful campaigns waged. The rugged island made it difficult to wage a successful land war as the mountains and cliffs prevented conventional invasions. Usually an invading army was forced to work its way across the extremely rugged land to launch a sneak attack, and it has been said that two armies have passed within a mile of each other without meeting or even knowing of the other’s presence. All this ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris, which gave the British control of Dominica. The British did not hesitate to assert their influence on the island and within a decade of the signing of the Treaty of Paris had surveyed the island, established several small towns, opened a free port, elected officials, and began importing slaves to work the plantations.

While the British were busy establishing an infrastructure, the French were not idle and they vied for political power at every opportunity. One shining moment for the French came when the American Revolution distracted the British, making it easier for French soldiers to take control of Dominica. This shining moment ended with the Treaty of Versailles, which returned Dominica to British rule in 1783. Even so, today you’ll find that towns and even streets are a mixture of French and English names.

Within two decades the French again cast their eye on Dominica when Napoleon invaded the island in 1805, burning the capital city and holding officials hostage while trying to wrest control from the British. Unable to make headway, the French accepted a large monetary compensation (can you say BRIBE?) to leave Dominica. The British returned to running the island and dealing with more mundane problems such as civil unrest and slave revolts.

For many years, Dominica had been a haven for escaped slaves called Maroons, who not only came from the plantations of Dominica herself, but from neighboring islands as well. The dense, mountainous rainforests of Dominica were a perfect refuge for escaped slaves who soon formed into groups of guerillas for their own protection. When the French and British battled for control of Dominica, they often found themselves battling groups of Maroons who quickly escaped into the rainforest when the tide of battle turned against them. When the French declared a brief end to slavery from 1794 to 1802, many Maroons joined French forces while local French planters aided bands of Maroons in coordinated attacks against British plantations and the British military. In 1814, the Maroons were finally defeated by a superior British military force and the Maroon leaders publicly executed. However the damage had already been done to the Dominican economy as coffee and sugar production was at an all time low and when emancipation came in 1834, Dominica found itself in a deep recession with all her plantations struggling.

The latter part of the 1800s saw new crops introduced to Dominica; limes and cocoa first and then a banana boom, all of this bringing in new foreign investors, which bolstered Dominica’s economy. The middle of the 20th century found Dominica taking steps towards independence when the island became a self-governing British possession in 1967, and finally an independent republic in 1978. Today Dominica’s government (with elections every 5 years) consists of a President, who is elected by the House of Assembly, and a Prime Minister, who heads the Cabinet of Ministers. Dominica was the first nation in this part of the world to have a woman to head the government. Dame Eugenia Charles, the Iron Lady of the Caribbean, led the country for over 15 years.