DOMINICA, FLAG OF

national flag consisting of a green field (background) bearing a cross of yellow, black, and white stripes; in the centre of the flag, a red disk bears an imperial parrot encircled by green stars. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 1 to 2. As a British colony, Dominica obtained a coat of arms of its own in 1961. The arms had a shield with a blue and yellow cross, a banana tree, a coconut tree, a frog, a Carib Indian canoe, a lion symbolizing links with England, and a motto in the local language (Apres Bondie c'est la ter) meaning After the Good Lord, the land. Flanking the shield were imperial parrots, also known as sisserous, rare and distinctive birds indigenous to the island. Four years later a flag badge incorporating the coat of arms was established. This appeared at the centre of the fly end of the British Blue Ensign (a blue flag bearing the Union Jack as a canton). Government vessels were entitled to fly this flag, and it was used abroad in appropriate circumstances to represent Dominica. The flag continued in use after Dominica became an associated state, but at the time of independence on November 3, 1978, a new flag was hoisted. Designed by Alwyn Bulley, its background is green for the island's forests; its central disk, of red to symbolize socialism, bears a representation of the sisserou. There is a ring of 10 stars for the parishes of the island. The cross of yellow, white, and black is for the Carib, Caucasian, and African people, respectively, as well as for fruits, rivers and waterfalls, and the rich soil. Since independence there have been three modifications to the basic design, the latest on November 3, 1990. Whitney Smith History Before colonization the island was a stronghold of the Carib Indians who had migrated from South America, driving out the earlier Arawak Indians. It was named by Christopher Columbus, who sighted it on Nov. 3, 1493, a Sunday (Latin: dies dominica, the Lord's day). The French and British colonial period The first colonists (1632) were French, but, with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), Great Britain and France agreed to treat the island as neutral ground and leave it to the Caribs. From this time until 1805, Dominica went back and forth between France and Britain. French planters continued to settle in Dominica until 1759, when the British captured the island. It was formally ceded to Britain in 1763. In 1778, French forces from Martinique captured Dominica. The British recaptured the island in 1783. The French, coming this time from Guadeloupe, again failed to capture the island in 1795. The final French assault on the island was in 1805, and although they burned the capital, Roseau, they were forced to withdraw. At first administered as part of the Leeward Islands, in 1771 Dominica was made a separate colony. It was rejoined administratively to the Leewards in 1883 and remained thus until 1940, when it was transferred to the Windwards as a separate colony. In 1958 Dominica joined the West Indies Federation. After the federation was dissolved in 1962, discussions for alternative forms of federation took place. These issues were settled by the West Indies Act of 1967, which gave Dominica the status of association with the United Kingdom. Under the 1967 constitution the island became fully self-governing in internal affairs.