Althouse: "The Arawaks were guided to Dominica, and other islands of the Caribbean, by the South Equatorial Current from the waters of the Orinoco River."

February 28, 2013

"The Arawaks were guided to Dominica, and other islands of the Caribbean, by the South Equatorial Current from the waters of the Orinoco River."

"These descendants of the early Taínos were overthrown by the Kalinago tribe of the Caribs. The Caribs, who settled here in the 14th century, called the island Waitikubuli, which means 'tall is her body'. Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it - a Sunday ('Doménica' in Italian) - which fell on 3 November 1493 on his second voyage."

In the place that we call Dominica, today's "History of" county.

13 comments:

David said...: """The Arawaks were guided to Dominica, and other islands of the Caribbean, by the South Equatorial Current from the waters of the Orinoco River."

And thereby exterminated.; 2/28/13, 7:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Needless to say, no snow. Morne Diablotins, the highest point in Dominica, is under 5,000 feet high. It would have to be more than twice that height for snow to be possible.

Peter; 2/28/13, 7:54 PM
edutcher said...: If memory serves, it was the PM of Dominica who went to Reagan requesting the US do something about the mess on Grenada.

RLTW.; 2/28/13, 7:56 PM
Michael said...: Dominica is a shithole.; 2/28/13, 8:37 PM
Michael said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/28/13, 8:37 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I am disturbed by two things:

1. I'm a bit of a geography nerd and I had literally no idea that this place existed until tonight, and

2. the way that the photograph of Roseau makes it look like the cruise ship from which it was taken is bigger than the gorram island. Scary!

Can we hurry up and get to the Dominican Republic so I can tell all of you to stop what you're doing and go read everything that Junot Diaz has written?; 2/28/13, 9:28 PM
drunkdebunker said...: Thanks Ann. I have spent 6 weeks there on 3 amateur radio trips (with a colleague of yours..UW faculty member) and have 2 good n friends (descendants of slaves, not Indians). It's an interesting place, not spoiled by herds of beach-seeking norte-Americanos. My friends are hams and are also very conservative Fox News watchers. It is very refreshing to spend time with black guys who haven't been taught all their lives that whites are devils; 2/28/13, 11:04 PM
drunkdebunker said...: Thanks Ann. I have spent 6 weeks there on 3 amateur radio trips (with a colleague of yours..UW faculty member) and have 2 good n friends (descendants of slaves, not Indians). It's an interesting place, not spoiled by herds of beach-seeking norte-Americanos. My friends are hams and are also very conservative Fox News watchers. It is very refreshing to spend time with black guys who haven't been taught all their lives that whites are devils; 2/28/13, 11:07 PM
drunkdebunker said...: BTW, it's pronounced DOM-in-EEK'-a, and Michael, compared to what??? There was an armed robbery at the resort we stay at the week before...the perps were caught that night, arraigned the next day, tried and sentenced to 10 years before the week was out. Their justice system works. It's also a magnificently beautiful island, with 365 rivers (yup, one for every day of the year).; 2/28/13, 11:14 PM
Michael said...: They wash their cars in those pristine rivers. Drive them right into the shallow places and scrub a dub dub, oil dripping into the river. The people are sullen as you would be if you lived there.; 3/1/13, 7:51 AM
Michael said...: They wash their cars in those pristine rivers. Drive them right into the shallow places and scrub a dub dub, oil dripping into the river. The people are sullen as you would be if you lived there.; 3/1/13, 7:51 AM
Anonymous said...: "...It's also a magnificently beautiful island, with 365 rivers (yup, one for every day of the year)...."

A 290 sq mile island has 365 rivers?
The stats for the island say that its water surface is only 1.6%?
.; 3/1/13, 9:02 AM
Mitch H. said...: Yay! Cannibal Island! It says something about a people when they're too vicious and pugnacious for the conquistadors to mess with, and we're not talking about folks living on the backend of nowhere, like the Comanche or Mapuche. Right in the heart of sugarcane plantation heaven!

Dominica was the aiming-point for ships sailing from Europe for the West Indies. The islands are called "Leeward" and "Windward" depending on which direction they lie as you sail into view. Dominica is the northernmost of the Windward Islands. The fact that for two centuries it wasn't seized by any of the many Europeans who sailed right on by en route to easier pickings says a lot about the Caribs of Dominica.

The French eventually nutted up and moved in to set up a slave-plantation colony, thus the black majority. But I guess there's still Caribs kicking around Dominica, which is fairly impressive, given how the locals were wiped out elsewhere in the Lesser Antilles.; 3/1/13, 9:37 AM