Barroui, Dominica

A sandy beach near Barroui/Salisbury.

Barroui (also known as Salisbury) is a town on the west coast of the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica. It is located at 15.43°N and 61.45°W and is a part of the country's St. Joseph administrative division. Its population is estimated to be approximately 1,500 people.

Barroui is the original Creole name for the town, but during English colonization and the increasing Anglicizing of the nation that occurred during the 1900's, Salisbury became an equally accepted name. For the first half of the 20th century, the town was little more than a small village of thatched-roof huts along the shore, with the only significant building being the local Catholic Church (constructed in 1929). During the 50's and 60's, however, the banana industry began to utilize the town as a port where bananas could be transfered from feeder roads into the island's interior to "banana boats" exporting the nation's produce. After private land was put up for sale, the town snapped it up and grew to the north. Today it is a quiet town that offers beautiful beaches and spectacular opportunities for diving.