Dominica is a mountainous island of volcanic origin in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, located midway between Puerto Rico to the north and Trinidad to the south. It is 754 square kilometers (291 square miles) in area and in 2004 had a population of approximately 69,400. The majority of its inhabitants are of African descent, with about 77 percent adhering to the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church and 15 percent to those of Protestant denominations.

After Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) landed on the island in 1493, its inhabitants, the Carib, managed to fend off rival colonial claims from the French and British but were eventually defeated and nearly decimated. France formally ceded Dominica to Great Britain in 1763. Despite several French attempts to reclaim the territory, it remained a British colony for another two centuries, with a limited representative government similar to those of older West Indian colonies.

In 1831, with the passage of the Brown Privilege...