Dominica (in Dominican Creole: Donmnik; in Kalinago: Wai'tu kubuli), formally known as the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea located in the Lesser Antilles archipelago, between the French islands of Les Saintes and Marie-Galante (two dependencies of Guadeloupe) to the north, and Martinique to the south. Its Kalinago name is Wai'tu kubuli, which means “Its body is large.”

The first European to land there was Christopher Columbus, during his second voyage in 1493. Before its independence in 1978, Dominica was an associated state of the British Crown (Associated States of the West Indies) and, prior to 1967, a British colony that was a member of the short-lived West Indies Federation (1958–1962). The island had previously been under French control until the Treaty of Paris in 1763. However, France briefly reoccupied the island on two subsequent occasions (1778 and 1814).

The island of Dominica is located in the heart of the Lesser Antilles, 41 km north-northwest of the coast of Martinique, 29 km southeast of the coast of Les Saintes, and the same distance south-southwest of the coast of Marie-Galante; the latter two are dependencies of Guadeloupe.