author

Thomas Atwood

d. 1793

Remembered for a vivid 1791 account of Dominica, this late eighteenth-century writer and colonial judge left behind a work that blends natural history, politics, and firsthand observation. His name is especially tied to one of the earliest full-length English histories of the island.

1 Audiobook

The History of the Island of Dominica Containing a Description of Its Situation, Extent, Climate, Mountains, Rivers, Natural Productions, &c. &c.

The History of the Island of Dominica Containing a Description of Its Situation, Extent, Climate, Mountains, Rivers, Natural Productions, &c. &c.

by Thomas Atwood

About the author

Serving as chief justice in Dominica and later in the Bahamas, Thomas Atwood is best known today for The History of the Island of Dominica, published in 1791. The book brings together descriptions of the island’s landscape, resources, government, trade, and people, making it a valuable window into the British Caribbean in the late eighteenth century.

Sources from this conversation describe him as the reputed author of that history, as well as a 1790 pamphlet on the treatment of enslaved people in the British West Indies. His work is still referenced because it preserves detailed contemporary observations of Dominica during a period of imperial conflict and colonial change.

Atwood died on May 27, 1793. Although much about his personal life remains unclear in the sources I could confirm here, his writing continues to matter for readers interested in Caribbean history, colonial government, and early travel and historical literature.