Roseau, Dominica

Roseau is the administrative, economic, and cultural capital of Dominica, an island nation that forms part of the Lesser Antilles island chain in the Caribbean Sea. Roseau has been an important location on Dominica since 3100 BCE, when the island was first inhabited. As Roseau occupies one of the only flat areas on the island, it has become an important location for shipping and tourism. It is also the most densely populated area in the mountainous nation.

Landscape

Roseau is located in western Dominica. The city is bordered by the Caribbean Sea in the west and the Roseau (Queens) River in the north and northeast. Mountains surround Roseau and cover most of the island. Dominica has a history of volcanic activity; six active volcanoes are located within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of Roseau. Most of the city sits roughly at sea level, with a maximum elevation, in the urban area, of 6 meters (20 feet). Because of its low elevation, the city is under threat of sea level rise due to global climate change.

Dominica has a warm, subtropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. During the summer months, the average monthly temperatures hover around 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 degrees Fahrenheit), while the slightly cooler winter months experience average monthly temperatures of about 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). The rainy season lasts from July to November. Hurricanes and monsoons are most common in September and October.

Roseau city occupies an area of 1,670 acres (2.6 square miles), which is divided into ten administrative parishes. The urban area is organized according to a French architectural plan with wide streets laid out into an irregular grid. The expanding suburban zones extend from the urban area in radiating arms that are bordered by sharply rising hills. In the 1950s, roads linking the west coast of Dominica with the nation’s other major cities in the east were constructed. Including the roads in Roseau, Dominica has 499 kilometers (309 miles) of paved roads across the nation.

The architecture of Roseau blends elements of colonial French and British design with modern structures. The Bay Street area along the Caribbean Sea contains a majority of the city’s largest administrative and commercial buildings and is bordered by the French District, which is dominated by colonial-style French architecture. The more distant portions of the city are zoned for residential use and are punctuated with commercial zones, which include small businesses and markets.

People

Roseau has a population of approximately 15,000 as of 2018, in a country of 74,656 as of 2023. The nation's population is growing at a slow rate of 0.05 percent as of 2022; this is primarily due to modest birth rates and immigration away from the island. Most of the island’s residents are descended from enslaved Africans brought to Dominica during the colonial period. Less than one-tenth of the population is composed of mixed African-Indian or African-European descent. There are small pockets of Amerindians on the island, primarily descended from the Carib people (more accurately known as the Kalinagos). English is the official language of Dominica and is used for governmental and educational purposes. Many Dominican residents also speak a form of French Creole, which blends French, English, and native Amerindian linguistic elements.

The religious composition of Dominica is largely a product of the island’s colonial history. As of the 2011 census, about 53 percent of Dominicans practiced Catholicism, while Protestants accounted for about 29 percent of remaining religious practitioners. Other faiths practiced in Dominica include Anglicanism, Jehovah’s Witness, Islam, Methodism, and Rastafarianism, brought to the island from surrounding Caribbean territories.

Dominican culture blends elements of French, British, and Amerindian culture with elements of nearby Caribbean cultures. The most popular sport on the island is cricket, though football (soccer) is also popular. Dominican cuisine utilizes seafood and spices and a variety of native fruits and vegetables. Music and theater borrow extensively from traditional French styles, but have developed into unique traditions that are similar to those found across the Caribbean.

Economy

Agriculture has historically been the most important industry in Dominica, contributing 22.3 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017. Tropical fruits, such as bananas, mangoes, and citrus, are among the island’s primary agricultural exports, along with vegetables. As one of two major seaports in the country (the other being Portsmouth), Roseau's economy is tied to the import-export market.

The manufacture of furniture and wood products, , clothing, and processed food and beverages became an important industry on the island in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Soap is also a major export; factories that produce these products can be found in the areas surrounding Roseau. Industrial activities accounted for over 12.6 percent of the island’s GDP in 2017.

The services industry, including banking and financial services, restaurants, hotels, and tourism services, accounts for around 65 percent of the national GDP. Ecotourism (tourist activities that have little negative impact on the environment) is the fastest-growing economic industry. However, expansion is hindered by a lack of beaches on the island, which prevents Dominica from establishing a cruise ship industry. Government initiatives have attempted to promote tourism by investing in hotels and nature tours. The country has also sought to attract filmmakers and in the 2000s and 2010s was a shooting location for Pirates of the Caribbean films and nature documentaries.

Dominica has been one of the poorest Caribbean nations since the nineteenth century. According to UN estimates, nearly 30 percent of the population lived in poverty in 2015 and the unemployment rate was about 23 percent in 2016. Roseau is underdeveloped in comparison to other Caribbean capitals. Public transportation consists largely of private taxi services and boats that carry passengers along the sea or through the Roseau River.

To obtain funding for its economic development, Dominica has long offered citizenship by investment. The program allows wealthy foreigners to obtain citizenship in exchange for investing substantial sums in select real-estate developments or the national Economic Diversification Fund. A number of the approved developments are located or headquartered in Roseau itself.

Landmarks

The area on top of Morne Bruce Hill is a popular destination for visitors to Roseau; the hilltop provides panoramic views of the city. Below the hill is the Dominica Botanic Gardens, the largest area of green space in Roseau. The Botanic Gardens are located on a former sugarcane plantation. The Botanic Gardens cover approximately 16 hectares (40 acres) and is divided into two sections, one for ornamental and exotic plants and one for the cultivation of scientifically and economically important species. In addition to showcasing native and imported plant species, the Botanic Gardens host cricket matches and national ceremonies.

Many visitors come to Roseau to enjoy the city’s markets. Open-air markets open in the city several times each week and sell fruits, vegetables, and a variety of native crafts. The Old Market Place, which was once part of the city’s slave market, now contains an iron memorial to commemorate the history of the island’s slave trade. The market now has a variety of shops and serves as an urban park for the city’s residents.

The Bay Front area sits along the Caribbean Sea and is lined with buildings characteristic of the city’s French colonial period, including many that have been converted into governmental and administrative buildings. The Dominica Museum, which is located near the old market area, provides a visual tour of the nation’s history. The museum contains Amerindian relics and artifacts, as well as photographs related to the slavery era and colonial period. Many restaurants, craft vendors, and other businesses are also arranged along the Bay Front promenade, making it a popular recreational destination.

The Government House is the headquarters for the Dominican government, originally constructed to house the nation’s colonial governors. Built in the late eighteenth century, the Government House is of interest because of its colonial architecture; it also serves as the official residence for the president of Dominica. The Government House is surrounded by extensive gardens, which were reconstructed after suffering extensive hurricane damage in the 1970s.

History

Dominica was first occupied by the Ortoroid people, who spread from South America to occupy islands in the Caribbean between 3100 and 400 BCE. From the fifth century CE, the Arawaks inhabited the island and developed agricultural settlements around Roseau. The Kalinagos organized a militant campaign to gain control of the Caribbean in the fifteenth century, eventually killing or absorbing the Arawaks on Dominica and forming a village, known as Sairi, at the base of the Roseau River.

Explorer Christopher Columbus was the first European to find Dominica in 1493. For much of the sixteenth century, the Spanish attempted to colonize the Caribbean islands, though in many cases they met resistance from the Kalinagos. On Dominica, the Kalinagos prevented the Spanish from establishing lasting settlements. The Kalinagos often killed or imprisoned the Spanish missionaries who visited the island.

France claimed Dominica in 1635, though attempts to establish a colony failed due to attacks by the Kalinagos. The British contested early French claims on the island, leading to minor naval skirmishes between the two nations. By the late seventeenth century, Carib resistance had convinced both the British and French to forgo establishing permanent settlements, though both nations continued to send expeditions to the island to harvest timber.

The French eventually established a modest settlement on the island in 1727. Many of the Kalinagos had died during extended conflicts with European colonizers. Diseases introduced by Europeans visiting the island also resulted in numerous deaths. The remaining Kalinagos on the western coast sold their territory to the French and moved to the interior of the island. The French government established an office in Roseau. The French settlement grew to contain over 600 colonists by 1735. The French established tobacco and cotton plantations and began a profitable timber trade, importing slaves from Africa to work on the plantations.

The British continued to challenge French dominance in the Caribbean and launched an attack on Roseau in 1761, during the Seven Years’ War. In the 1763 Treaty of Paris, the French ceded control of Dominica and several other territories to the British. Though the British government began sending colonists to Roseau, they allowed many of the French colonists to remain in an effort to maintain production from the established agricultural settlements.

In 1778, during the American Revolution, the French government attempted to invade Dominica, aided by anti-British forces among the island’s population. The French were successful in driving the British from the island but failed to reestablish their agricultural plantations. Natural disasters, including hurricanes in 1779 and 1780, further hindered French efforts. Finally, a fire in 1781 destroyed the French settlement at Roseau. The following year, the British attacked again, meeting the French naval fleet in the Caribbean Sea. The naval battle, known as the Battle of Saints, resulted in a British victory, and the French agreed to cede the island to British control.

After establishing a colonial government, the British faced resistance from the large population of African slaves that now constituted the greatest portion of the population. Hundreds of escaped slaves, known as Maroons, had fled into the mountains over the years and mounted a resistance against the British colonists. By 1756, a majority of the Maroons had been defeated or pushed back into the mountains. The British and French continued to compete for Caribbean territory. In 1795 and 1805, the British were forced to repel further French invasions.

The British continued fighting with Maroon rebels until 1815, by which time the government had established firm control over the colony. In the 1830s, as the British outlawed slavery, the government enacted reforms allowing limited representation for former slaves. Though the British remained in nominal control of the island until 1978, increasing autonomy was granted to the internal administration, which was largely composed of the island’s black population. Declining economic benefits, largely due to fluctuations in the fruit and tobacco market, convinced the British to grant the island internal autonomy in the 1960s. In 1978, Great Britain granted Dominica full independence.

Throughout Dominica’s turbulent colonial period, Roseau remained one of the most important ports on the island and was continually colonized and recolonized by waves of inhabitants. As a result, Roseau’s architectural and cultural history contains elements of tribal, French, and British culture, mirrored in the architecture and the names of locations, monuments, and other features. In the late twentieth century, the independent government of Dominica attempted to develop Roseau into a popular destination for tourism. The city grew quickly during the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in suburban sprawl.

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria pummeled Dominica with high winds and triggered landslides that washed out roads and bridges. Nearly all of the country's buildings were damaged or lost their roofs, leaving thousands without adequate shelter. Roseau residents took to looting and scavenging food and other supplies, and a national curfew was instituted. More than one year later recovery efforts remained ongoing. Water, electricity, and communication networks had been restored, and the tourism industry began rebounding.

The tourism sector was hit hard again in 2020 when the COVID-19 global pandemic halted most travel. By 2022, the island's tourism office reported the industry was rebounding.

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