Dominica – from Kalinago homeland to an independent nature island
Dominica was settled long ago by Arawakan-speaking peoples and later by the Kalinago, who called the island Waitukubuli. Christopher Columbus sighted it in 1493 and named it after the day of the week – a Sunday. Its steep, forested mountains made the island hard to conquer, and the Kalinago resisted European settlement longer than on most Caribbean islands.
In the eighteenth century France and Britain competed for Dominica. French settlers established coffee plantations worked by enslaved Africans, which is why a French-based Creole is still widely spoken. After the Seven Years' War the island passed to Britain in 1763, although French forces held it again for several years. Escaped enslaved people, the Maroons, resisted colonial rule from the mountainous interior. Slavery was abolished in the 1830s, and a society of free smallholders developed. In 1903 land was set aside for the Kalinago, today known as the Kalinago Territory.
Dominica became independent in 1978 as a republic within the Commonwealth. Soon afterwards Hurricane David caused severe devastation, and in 2017 Hurricane Maria again brought great destruction, followed by efforts to rebuild in a more resilient way.
Today Dominica is shaped by volcanic landscapes, rainforests and hot springs, by Kalinago heritage and Creole culture – which is why it is called the Nature Isle of the Caribbean.
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