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Dominica: Nature Island of the Caribbean

Dominica: Nature Island of the Caribbean. Clayton Shillingford President Dominican Academy of Arts and Sciences On the Occasion of the Memorial Breakfast for Jay D. Hair. Brief History. Before the arrival of Columbus the island was inhabited by the Caribs

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Dominica: Nature Island of the Caribbean

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  1. Dominica: Nature Island of the Caribbean Clayton Shillingford President Dominican Academy of Arts and Sciences On the Occasion of the Memorial Breakfast for Jay D. Hair

  2. Brief History • Before the arrival of Columbus the island was inhabited by the Caribs • In 1492 Columbus sailed into the Caribbean while searching for India, hence the name West Indies • One year later on Sunday, November 3rd he comes upon an island of rugged green mountains and natural beauty. The island is named Dominica from the Latin Domingo. • The island was subsequently colonised by the French and the British • In 1727 the first African slaves arrived • Dominica attains Independence in 1978

  3. DOMINICA • Small volcanic island of 290 sq miles with the most intact forest cover in the Caribbean..65 % covered by natural vegetation • Climate humid tropical ave. temperature 27 C and ave. rainfall 175 inches per year, central part up to 400 inches • Government, a Parliamentary Democracy • Population..71,242 • Language..English and French Creole

  4. In the wild grandeur of its towering mountains, some of which rise to five thousand feet above the level of the sea; in the majesty of its almost impenetrable forests, in the gorgeousness of its vegetation, the abruptness of its precipices, the calm of its lakes, the violence of its torrents, the sublimity of its waterfalls, DOMINICA stands without rival, not in the West Indies only , but I should think throughout the whole island catalogue of the Atlantic and Pacific combined W. Palgrave, 1876

  5. DOMINICA’S BIODIVERSITY Dominica is signatory to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (1994) Flora and fauna widely studied by Dominican and Caribbean scientists and from Kew Gardens, FAO, Smithsonian Institution (Bredin –Archbold- Smithsonian Survey of Dominica) Morne Trois Piton National Park was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000 by UNESCO

  6. AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE • Agriculture is Dominica’s major economic activity..followed by Eco-Tourism • Once a leading producer of sugar cane, vanilla, limes, grapefruits ..now bananas, coconuts, avocado, coffee, ginger, peppers, root crops, spices, pineapples, tropical fruits (mangoes, papaya, passion fruit) and cut flowers

  7. AGRO- PRODUCTS Rum, pepper sauce, syrups, juices, bay rum, Soap, oil and perfumes (Colgate Palmolive

  8. OTHER FOREST BASED PRODUCTS Handicrafts including baskets, mats, straw hats The Caribs are producers of much of these traditional handicrafts. Furniture and building materials

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