The island of Aruba is located in the Caribbean. Aruba is part of the kingdom of the Netherlands and is one of the ABC-islands along with Bonaire and Curaçao. The total surface of Aruba is 70 square miles and its located 14 miles north of the peninsula of Paraguaná of the Venezuelan state Falcón.
The capital of Aruba is Oranjestad and the number of inhabitants on January 1st 2008 was 102.000 inhabitants.
With Aruba’s white beaches and large hotels, it is a loved holiday destination amongst Americans, Europeans, South Americans and Canadians. The whole year long Aruba has an average temperature of 84ºF/28ºC. Besides that Aruba has, just as the other ABC islands, a fresh north- eastern wind. Hurricanes are very rare because Aruba lies outside the ‘hurricane belt’. The office languages in Aruba are Dutch and Papiamento, however Aruba has its own spelling of Papiamento, unlike on Bonaire and Curacao.
With a high average income (the highest of the Caribbean) and low unemployment rate Aruba is a prosperous country. Tourism is the largest and most important source of income. It is therefore well developed with many large hotel chains which have an establishment. Most tourists arrive via cruise ships, of which about three quarters Americans.
History
In 1499 Aruba was discovered by Alonso de Ojeda, Amerigo Vespucci and Juan de la Costa and was called, together with the other ABC islands, ‘Isla de Los Gigantes’. At this time these islands were owned by the Spanish king Juan de Ampies. On August 19th, 1806 Fran Cisko de Miranda distributed a proclamation among the inhabitants with a group of 300 freedom fighters. Between 1807 and 1816 Aruba was in the hands of the British. They discovered there was gold in 1916; this was won by an English company. In 1879 phosphate was discovered at Sero Colorado and a phosphate mining company was set up. The underground tunnels that were dug are still present.