Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dominica Protects Indigenous

Roseau, Jan 28 (Prensa Latina) - The government of Dominica announced the start of a infrastructure plan, for which the only Caribbean indigenous community still with the name of the region they named, is also taken into consideration.

The authorities of Dominica said 8 million Eastern Caribbean dollars (3 US million dollars) were destined for the national Caribbean community, coming from the Caribbean Development Bank.

A total of 3,000 Kalinagos (Caribbean) indigenous people are living in 5.8 square miles in the northeast of the island of Dominica, where they maintain the traditions of their ancestors, despite the colonization processes to which they were submitted, and they resisted.

The Europeans came to Dominica for the first time in 1493, in an expedition commanded by Christopher Columbus, but the domination of the island was disputed by French and English colonizers.

Dominica’s mountain feature - 291 square miles- favoured the survival of the indigenous community, now counting on a population estimated in 3,000 people in the island, of a total population of 72,000 inhabitants.

The name “Waitikubuli” is considered the Caribbean indigenous original name of Dominica. Its modern current translation is “Sunday”, the day of the week of Columbus´ arrival to the island.

Source: Prensa Latina

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