Today we cross the Atlantic to another ex-French colony, Dominica. Actually, Dominica wasn’t just a French colony - it first colonised by Spanish settlers, then became a French colony before finally becoming part of the British Empire.
Sidenote: if this project is teaching me one thing, it’s the staggering extent to which European nations colonised the world. Colonial life was invariably bad for all of these countries and their voluntary and involuntary inhabitants. What’s more depressing is that often the way many of these nations gained independence set them up for decades of instability and repressive, corrupt governments.
Dominica is one of the more obscure Caribbean nations. It’s often confused with the vastly more populous Dominican Republic (we’ll go there tomorrow). Dominica’s biggest draw is its lush mountainous interior, and almost 400 rivers and 300 miles of hiking trails. With its black-sand volcanic beaches and lack of big all-inclusive resorts, it attracts relatively few tourists compared to its neighbours.
Despite being only marginally larger than Singapore, Dominica has a total of nine active volcanoes. That’s practically half of all of the active volcanoes in the Caribbean. Could Dominica be another Monserrat in the making? If you’re not familiar with Monserrat, in 1997 a major eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano devastated much of the island and buried the capital, Plymouth. More than half the population fled the country as a result.
So far though, Dominica has been astonishingly fortunate. Not one of its nine volcanos has had a major eruption since Columbus first visited the island in 1493. As a result, Dominica has the best and most immaculately preserved tropical rainforests of any Caribbean island.
Dominica is also home to the world’s second-largest boiling lake. I didn’t even know lakes could boil. Dominica also has several hot springs where you can swim without being boiled alive. Oh and apparently good rum.
So far of all of the Caribbean islands I’ve covered (I’m not counting Cuba), it’s the one I’d like to visit most. I find the mix of medicinal rum punch, lush jungle, volcanoes and hot springs particularly alluring.
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