Short answers, pulled from the story.
Dominica emerged from the sea approximately 27 million years ago during the Oligocene Epoch. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles archipelago and is still actively being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity.
Christopher Columbus first spotted the island on Sunday, the 3rd of November 1493, during his second voyage to the Americas. He named it Dominica derived from the Latin term dies Dominica meaning Sunday to mark the day of its discovery.
The island gained independence as a republic on the 3rd of November 1978, led by Prime Minister Patrick John. Political discontent with John's administration climaxed in a civilian coup in mid-1979 leading to the passage of a motion of no confidence against him.
The sisserou parrot also known as the imperial amazon is the island's national bird and is critically endangered and found only on Dominica. This bird is featured on the national flag making Dominica one of two sovereign nations whose official flag features the color purple.
Category 5 Hurricane Maria struck the island on the 18th of September 2017 and caused losses of approximately US$930 million or 226% of GDP. Early estimates of damage suggested 90% of the buildings on the island had been destroyed with infrastructure left in ruins.
This special Kalinago Territory previously called Carib Reserve was granted by the British Crown in 1903. There are more than 3,000 Kalinago remaining living in eight villages on the east coast of Dominica.