Aruba - One Happy Island

Aruba is a generally flat island renowned for its many white sand beaches; its tropical climate is moderated by constant trade winds from the Atlantic Ocean; the temperature is almost constant at about 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit).

Tourism is the mainstay in Aruba, with offshore banking,oil refining and storage also being important industries . Over 1.5 million tourists per year visit Aruba, with 75% of those from the US. Construction continues to boom, with hotel capacity now five times the 1985 level. In addition, the reopening of the country's oil refinery in 1993, a major source of employment, has further spurred growth. The island experiences only a brief low season, and hotel occupancy averages 80%, compared to 68% throughout the rest of the Caribbean.

Aruba's first inhabitants were the Caquetios Indians from the Arawak tribe, who migrated there from Venezuela to escape attacks by the Caribs. Fragments of the earliest known Indian settlements date back to about 1,000 A.D. Due to Aruba's mostly distant location from other Caribbean islands and strong currents in the sea which made canoe travel to the other islands difficult, the Caquetios remained more tied to South America than the Caribbean.

Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda is regarded as the first European to arrive in about 1499. Although he established a colony there, it never amounted to much. Unlike many other Caribbean islands, no plantations evolved on Aruba. Instead, the Spanish sent many Caquetios to Hispaniola, where they were enslaved in the mines.

In 1636, Aruba was acquired by the Dutch and remained under their control for nearly two centuries. In 1805 the British briefly took control over the island, but it was returned to Dutch control in 1816. The last decades of the 20th century saw a boom in the tourism industry, which became Aruba's primary industry. Because of the focus on tourism and the number of resorts on the island, Arubans enjoy a very low unemployment rate.

Aruba is given the reputation as the Las Vegas of the Caribbean. In 1986, Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles and became a separate, autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, under the Dutch crown. Movement toward full independence was halted at Aruba's request in 1990. Aruba has a mixture of people from South America, Europe, the Far East, and other islands of the Caribbean.