ABOUT ARUBA
WHY ARUBA?Turquoise seas - radiant beaches - pleasant trade winds - near perfect climate - cactus-clad hillsides - hidden beaches - gabled houses - great golf courses - dazzling casinos - natural treasures - Dive - explore - shop and more...
This sunshiny place of balmy (some say perfect) weather, sandy beaches, duty-free shopping, and one of the most fascinating ecosystems on the planet, is surrounded by the warm, aquamarine waters of the Caribbean Sea. Aruba remains one of the most popular destinations in the Caribbean.
ABOUT ARUBA
The first permanent inhabitants in the history of Aruba were Arawak natives of South America, the Caiquetios, who traveled to the island and claimed it as their own two thousand years ago. The Museum of Archaeology in Oranjestad, an important storehouse of Aruba history and culture, holds remnants of this past in the past in the form of pottery shards and other every day artifacts.
Aruba has become a great tourist attraction in recent years to Americans in particular but also to Canadians and Europeans. It now has a number of gaming casinos, some of which open twenty four hours a day, while some others open at eleven a.m. until the wee hours of the morning. The large casinos also feature first class entertainment imported mainly from the United States and Latin America.
HISTORY:
(1994 est. pop. 66,000), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), internally self-governing dependency of the Netherlands, in the Lesser Antilles off the coast of Venezuela. Oranjestad is the capital. Tourism, oil refining, and offshore financial services are the mainstays of the economy. Part of the NETHERLANDS ANTILLES until 1986 and still linked with them.
PEOPLE / CULTURE:
The majority of the population is of African descent. Most of Antigua's inhabitants live in St. John's. The language is English, and nearly three-fourths of the people are Protestant, one-third of whom are Anglican. There are also a number of Moravians, Methodists, and Roman Catholics.
Unfortunately, for Aruba, the new level of independence came close on the heels of a severe economic downturn, which was in large measure due to the closure of Aruba's oil refinery. This loss of both gold and 'black gold' forced Aruba to turn to tourism. It has caused a phenomenal turn around in Aruba and it now gets over a million visitors a year. The oil refinery opened again in 1991, but tourism is now very much the mainstay of the island's economy. The Dutch maintain responsibility for the island's foreign and defense and continue to support Aruba's economy. Meanwhile, the United States has made some very serious inroads into controlling the economy of this island.