It was established for the Indigenous Kalinago people who inhabited the region prior to European colonization and settlement.

The Kalinago Territory was officially formed by British colonial authorities in 1903, in a remote and mountainous area of Dominica's Atlantic coast.

Its population remained largely isolated from the rest of the island throughout most of the 20th century, with only a ceremonial chief and no other formal self-governance.

The skirmish occurred at a shop in St. Cyr, one of the eight hamlets, when colonial law enforcement attempted to seize the goods of the people dubbing it as "smuggling."

The Chief was reinstated in 1952, and formalized local government was instituted the same year as part of an island-wide system.

The "Carib Reserve Act", enacted the year of Dominica's independence in 1978, reaffirmed the Kalinago Territory's boundaries, its land management, and institutions of local government.

In the last decades of the 20th century, modern utilities and infrastructure were finally introduced to the Kalinago Territory, which also established contacts with foreign governments and other indigenous peoples in the region.

Cultural preservation groups stage performances at the model village and other locations, and practice traditional Kalinago crafts, such as making baskets and pottery, that are sold to tourists as souvenirs.

Electricity, Internet, and wired telephone service became unavailable in the territory and were expected to remain so for several months.

[10] In 1902, Henry Hesketh Bell, the Administrator of Dominica, sent a lengthy report to the Colonial Office on the state of the Kalinago people after he had visited its communities.

[14] At the time the "Carib Reserve" was established, the Kalinago population of around 400 was extremely isolated from the rest of Dominica, but the community appreciated the token symbols.

[15] The population of the "Carib Reserve" remained disconnected from the rest of Dominica, seldom seen and largely self-sustaining apart from some limited illegal trade with the neighboring French islands of Marie Galante and Martinique.

[17] When the police tried to seize a quantity of rum and tobacco and to take away suspects in Salybia, a crowd gathered in response and hurled stones and bottles.

[20] A commission of inquiry was appointed in 1931 by the Governor of the Leeward Islands to investigate the 1930 incident and the situation of the Kalinago generally.

It reaffirmed the boundaries set in 1903, and legally established common ownership of land within the Kalinago Territory.

It comprises 3,700 acres (15 km2) in Saint David Parish, within boundaries first established by colonial authorities in 1903, and reaffirmed in Articles 41 and 42 of the "Carib Reserve Act" in 1978.

[37] Though the Kalinago Territory adjoins Dominica's east coast, due to its rugged topography it only has two access points to the Atlantic Ocean, both of which are difficult landings.

[38] The land is mostly of poor quality, with the worst soil erosion on Dominica, and deforestation that has destroyed many streams in the Territory.

[39] In 1947 Henri Stehlé, a French botanist working in Guadeloupe and Martinique, carried out an inventory of the flora of the Kalinago Territory which gave rise to a scientific article, which today bears witness to the remains of primitive plant groups present at the time, before to be reduced by land clearing.

[43] The Kalinago Territory has an estimated population of around 3,000, which makes it the largest settlement of indigenous people in the Caribbean.

[54] Soil erosion and deforestation have been attributed to this common ownership, as the land is intensively used by a rapid succession of tenants.

[55] Because of the usufruct rights over the communally held land, legal residency in the Territory is a significant issue.

Other traditional cultural demonstrations at the Kalinago Barana Auté include pottery making, cassava processing, and basket weaving.