The first written records in the history of Dominica began in November 1493, when Christopher Columbus spotted the island. Prior to European contact, Dominica was inhabited by the Arawak. Dominica was a French colony from 1715 until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, and then became a British colony from 1763 to 1978. It became an independent nation in 1978.
Saint Lucia was inhabited by the Arawak and Kalinago Caribs before European contact in the early 16th century. It was colonized by the British and French in the 17th century and was the subject of several possession changes until 1814, when it was ceded to the British by France for the final time. In 1958, St. Lucia joined the short-lived semi-autonomous West Indies Federation. Saint Lucia was an associated state of the United Kingdom from 1967 to 1979 and then gained full independence on February 22, 1979.
Roseau is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau River and Morne Bruce. Built on the site of the ancient Island Carib village of Sairi, it is the oldest and most important urban settlement on the island of Dominica.
The Kalinago, formerly known as Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an Indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language known as Island Carib. They also spoke a pidgin language associated with the Mainland Caribs.
The Garifuna people are a people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creole.
Mary Eugenia Charles was a Dominican politician who was Prime Minister of Dominica from 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. The first female lawyer in Dominica, she was Dominica's first, and to date only, female prime minister. She was the second female prime minister in the Caribbean after Lucina da Costa of the Netherlands Antilles. She was the first female in the Americas to be elected in her own right as head of government. She served for the second longest period of any Dominican prime minister, and was the world's fourth longest-serving female prime minister, behind Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka and Indira Gandhi of India.
Lennox Honychurch is a Dominican historian and politician. He wrote 1975's The Dominica Story: A History of the Island, the 1980s textbook series The Caribbean People, and the 1991 travel book Dominica: Isle of Adventure. Also an artist and a curator, he was largely responsible for compiling the exhibit information for The Dominica Museum in Roseau. Honychurch is the grandson of writer and politician Elma Napier.
Scotts Head is a village on the southwest coast of Dominica, in Saint Mark Parish. In 2001, its population was 721. Predominantly a fishing village, Scotts Head overlooks Soufrière Bay, which is protected as the Soufrière Scotts Head Marine Reserve. It is also a popular snorkelling and diving site for tourists.
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, the 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 1,447 m (4,747 ft) in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census.
The Fullerton Hotel Singapore is a five-star luxury hotel located near the mouth of the Singapore River, in the Downtown Core of the Central Area, Singapore. It was originally known as the Fullerton Building, and also as the General Post Office Building. The address is 1 Fullerton Square. The Fullerton Building was named after Robert Fullerton, the first Governor of the Straits Settlements (1826–1829). Commissioned in 1924 as part of the British colony's centennial celebrations, the building was designed as an office building by Major P.H. Keys of Keys & Dowdeswell, a Shanghai firm of architects, which won the project through an architectural design competition. The architectural firm also designed the Capitol Theatre, its adjoined Capitol Building and the Singapore General Hospital. In 2015, it was designated as a national monument of Singapore.
The architecture of Puerto Rico demonstrates a broad variety of architectural styles and built forms over the country's history of over four centuries of former Spanish rule, and over a century of American rule. Puerto Rico's architecture is as diverse as its multicultural society and has been shaped by many internal and external factors and regional distinctions.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Fair Haven of Roseau, originally known in French as Église de Notre-Dame du Bon Port du Mouillage de Roseau, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Roseau, the capital city of Dominica in the Caribbean. The church is the see of the Diocese of Dominica, suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Castries, Saint Lucia.
The Invasion of Dominica was a successful French invasion of the island of Dominica in the British West Indies, during the American Revolutionary War. The action took place before British authorities in the Caribbean were aware that France had entered the war as an ally of the United States of America. The French governor in the West Indies, François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé, was notified on 17 August that France was at war, and organized the invasion, infiltrating spies to rally sympathetic French-speaking Dominican support.
Agostino Brunias was an Italian painter who was primarily active in the West Indies. Born in Rome around 1730, Brunias spent his early career as a painter after graduating from the Accademia di San Luca. After he befriended prominent Scottish architect Robert Adam and accompanied him back to Britain, Brunias left for the British West Indies to continue his career in painting under the tutelage of Sir William Young. Although he was primarily commissioned to paint the various planter families and their plantations in the West Indies, he also painted several scenes featuring free people of colour and cultural life in the West Indies. Brunias spent most of his West Indian career on the island of Dominica, where he would die in 1796. Historians have made disparate assessments of Brunias's works; some praised his subversive depiction of West Indian culture, while others claimed it romanticised the harshness of plantation life. Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture was a prominent admirer of his work.
The Dominica Museum is the national museum of Dominica, an island nation in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles. It is located in the capital, Roseau, on a quay in front of the Old Market of Roseau, which was the centre for slave trading during colonial times. Its building was formerly an old market building and a post office dating to 1810.
Garraway Hotel is a hotel located on the quayside of Roseau, Dominica. It lies between the Fort Young Hotel and right next to The Dominica Museum. In the colonial period this area was part of the Fort Young from 1770. This hotel was built in 1994. Located in a mint green and white building, the five-storey hotel contains 31 rooms and is operated by the Garraway family. The hotel contains an interior courtyard, rooftop terrace, the Balisier Creole cuisine restaurant on the second floor, a duty-free shop on the ground floor and the Ole Jetty Bar. The rooms are fitted with king-sized beds or double beds, with rattan furniture and floral-print fabrics.
Sir William Young, 1st Baronet was an Antiguan-born colonial administrator and planter. He served as President of the Commission for the Sale of Lands in the Ceded Islands, and was appointed the first non-military governor of Dominica in 1768.
Morne Bruce is a hillside enclave located in Roseau, Dominica. It offers a panoramic view of the city and the Caribbean Sea beyond. The site was once home to the military garrison that protected Roseau. Remains of the original barracks and officers' quarters can still be seen today. One of the old cannons (non-operational) is still located at the site, near a giant cross that was erected in the 1920s. Morne Bruce is accessible by road or via Jack's Walk, a trail that begins in the Dominica Botanical Gardens.
Fort Young was a major military installation on the Caribbean island of Dominica. It was built by the British in 1770. The fort was named for William Young, the island's first British governor. Today, only ruins remain of the fort, and the site is the location of the Fort Young Hotel.
Fort Cachacrou was a historic military fortification and signal station on the island of Dominica. The fort was built by the British in the 1760s in present-day Scotts Head. During the American Revolutionary War, it was the site of the first battle in the French Invasion of Dominica. Remains of Fort Cachacrou include portions of the original walls and a canon. The site is accessible via the Waitukubuli National Trail.
