Dominica

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Dominica fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇪🇸 Spanish Empire1493 to 1600

   Spanish fleets stopped at Dominica for water and wood on their way to the Indies. The Kalinago fought off Spanish landings and slave raids, and Spain never managed to settle the island.

2. 🇬🇧 Kingdom of England1625 to 1686

   English colonists on Saint Kitts and Antigua fought the Kalinago of Dominica, who raided their settlements. In 1674 an English expedition killed Thomas Warner, a Kalinago leader who was the son of the English governor of Saint Kitts.

3. 🇬🇧 Kingdom of Great Britain1761 to 1763

   During the Seven Years' War a British force captured the French settlements on Dominica in 1761. The Treaty of Paris confirmed the island as British in 1763.

4. 🇫🇷 Kingdom of France1778 to 1805

   France seized Dominica from Martinique in 1778 and held it until the peace of 1783. French forces tried to retake it in 1795, and in 1805 burned Roseau before withdrawing.

Today

Dominica now

Dominica was the last of the Caribbean islands to be colonized by Europeans, due chiefly to the fierce resistance of the native Caribs. France ceded possession to Britain in 1763, and Dominica became a British colony in 1805. Slavery ended in 1833, and in 1835, the first three men of African descent were elected to the legislative assembly of Dominica. In 1871, Dominica became first part of the British Leeward Islands and then the British Windward Islands until 1958.

Capital

Roseau

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Roosevelt Skerrit

Head of state

Sylvanie Burton

Languages

English

Area

751 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population66,5002023 · 50,200 in 1950
• Life expectancy71.1 years2023 · 44.5 years in 1950
• GDP per person$8,8792022 · $980 in 1950
• Living in cities74%2025 · 35% in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.