Aruba pictures

Aruba is a Dutch island in the Caribbean Sea, in the Lesser Antilles archipelago, close to Venezuela, west of Curacao. Venezuela, along with Aruba and Curacao and Bonaire, claims these islands, which are not recognized.

It was discovered by the Spanish in 1499 and became a Dutch colony in 1636. In 1986, it was separated from the Netherlands Antilles and was directly connected to the Netherlands.

Its surface area is 180 km² (two-thirds of the size of Gökçeada). Its approximately 70,000 inhabitants (mostly in the capital Oranjestad) are a mixture of Africans, natives, Europeans and Indians. Although the local language is Papiamento, the official language is Dutch.

While refineries processing Venezuelan oil were the main source of income in the early 20th century, tourism became more important after the 1980s. Having relatively long beaches has contributed to the development of tourism compared to the neighboring island of Curacao.