An Introduction to Dominica
The Commonwealth of Dominica is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles and one of unspoiled natural beauty - it's largely covered by rainforest with no fewer then 365 rivers, and steep mountains deterred early settlement, while recently the population have taken steps to avoid the rise of 'high-impact tourism'. Named by Christopher Columbus after the day of the week on which he spotted it, it lies between the Windward and Leeward islands and which it belongs to is a matter of some dispute. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Latin America
GOVERNMENT: parliamentary democracy
AREA: 751 sq km
POPULATION: 72,969 (1 person for every 125 in the Dominican Republic!) (2011 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Language: English. French patois also spoken
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Dominica
That said, visiting Dominica itself as a tourist is relatively rare: cruise ship stopovers have increased following the development of modern docking and waterfront facilities in Roseau, but stats for tourism in 2008 to 22 Caribbean islands suggest that Dominica had the fewest visitors with 55,800 (0.3% of the total).
Go to next country
The Commonwealth of Dominica is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles and one of unspoiled natural beauty - it's largely covered by rainforest with no fewer then 365 rivers, and steep mountains deterred early settlement, while recently the population have taken steps to avoid the rise of 'high-impact tourism'. Named by Christopher Columbus after the day of the week on which he spotted it, it lies between the Windward and Leeward islands and which it belongs to is a matter of some dispute.
Dominica was settled by the French from 1715 to 1763. In 1838, it became the first British Caribbean colony to have a legislature controlled by a black majority, and two years after independence in 1978 it voted in Eugenia Charles, the Caribbean's first female prime minister.
GDP: $981m (2011 est.) - $13,222 per capita
Religions c.80% Roman Catholic.
Currency: East Caribbean dollar. 2.7 XCD = $US 1
Telephone Code: +1 767
Dominica's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, agriculture and heavy taxation, but recovered after 2005 from a near-crisis in 2003-4. Per capita GDP is low for the region, and the vulnerable banana industry employs more than one third of the workforce.
2006 exports totalled $94m of which bananas were half, with soap, bay oil, fruit and vegetables also important. Key partners were the UK (24.8%), Jamacia (12.3%), Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana and China. The same year far more was imported - $296m - consisting largely of manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, food and chemicals, and sourced from countries including the USA (25.3%), China (22.7%) and Trinidad and Tobago (13.8%).
In 2007 a cricket stadium big enough to hold 1 in 9 of the island's population was completed with a donation of $US 17m from the government of the People's Republic of China.
Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com
