Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea. It is located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles.
Aruba, which has no administrative subdivisions, is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of The Netherlands, together with The Netherlands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, whose citizens share a single nationality: Dutch. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. It has a land area of 180 square kilometres (69 sq mi) and is densely populated with its estimated 103,000 people. It lies outside the hurricane belt.
Aruba is situated in the deep southern part of the Caribbean. Because it has almost no rainfall, Aruba was saved from the plantation system and the economics of the slave trade. Aruba's population is estimated to be 80% mestizo and 20% other ethnicities. Arawaks spoke the "broken Spanish" which their ancestors had learned on Hispaniola. The Dutch took control 135 years after the Spanish, left the Arawaks to farm and graze livestock, and used the island as a source of meat for other Dutch possessions in the Caribbean. The Arawak heritage is stronger on Aruba than on most Caribbean islands. Although no full-blooded Aboriginals remain, the features of the islanders clearly indicate their genetic Arawak heritage.
Most of the population is descended mostly from Arawak, and to a lesser extent Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and a few French, Portuguese, British, and African ancestors. Recently there has been substantial immigration to the island from neighbouring American and Caribbean nations, possibly attracted by the higher paid jobs.
Aruba, which has no administrative subdivisions, is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of The Netherlands, together with The Netherlands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, whose citizens share a single nationality: Dutch. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. It has a land area of 180 square kilometres (69 sq mi) and is densely populated with its estimated 103,000 people. It lies outside the hurricane belt.
Aruba is situated in the deep southern part of the Caribbean. Because it has almost no rainfall, Aruba was saved from the plantation system and the economics of the slave trade. Aruba's population is estimated to be 80% mestizo and 20% other ethnicities. Arawaks spoke the "broken Spanish" which their ancestors had learned on Hispaniola. The Dutch took control 135 years after the Spanish, left the Arawaks to farm and graze livestock, and used the island as a source of meat for other Dutch possessions in the Caribbean. The Arawak heritage is stronger on Aruba than on most Caribbean islands. Although no full-blooded Aboriginals remain, the features of the islanders clearly indicate their genetic Arawak heritage.
Most of the population is descended mostly from Arawak, and to a lesser extent Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and a few French, Portuguese, British, and African ancestors. Recently there has been substantial immigration to the island from neighbouring American and Caribbean nations, possibly attracted by the higher paid jobs.
