Aruba

Aruba is located in Caribbean directly north of Venezuela. The capital of Aruba is

Oranjestad located on the western coast of the island. Aruba is still a Dutch colony and have
been sense 1636. In 1986 Aruba succeeded from the Netherlands Antilles and is now an
autonomous member of the Netherlands. Aruba tried for full independence in 1990. Arubas
biggest industry is tourism accounting for approximately 80% of the national economy. The
main reason Aruba has tourism as its main industry is because it has negligible resources except
for its white sandy beaches. Aruba has very low rainfall and no rivers making any farming
difficult, and not profitable. Aruba is a small island with 180 square kilometers of land, making
it about the size of Washington DC. Aruba is a river less island having no inland water. Aruba
has few hills or vegetation with Ceru Jamota being the highest point at 188 meters. Aruba has
68.5 kilometers of coastline. Aruba has a population of 110,663 making it the 190th largest
country. The majority of the population is Dutch, speaking the language of Papiamento, and
being Roman Catholic. Aruba is a fairly well devolved country. Aruba has a Life expectancy of
76.35 years. Also a general population Literacy rate of 96.8%. Aruba main export is animals
and animal products. Their imports are machinery and crude oil. Arubas economic history
contain three major eras. In the 19th century Aruba was home to a strong gold rush. In 1924
an oil refineries brought more money to the island but also made it a target during world war
two. During World War II, Aruba was one of the main suppliers of refined petroleum products
to the Allies. On 16 February 1942, a German submarine under the command of attacked the
island's oil processing refinery, but the mission failed. Germany briefly occupied Aruba during
World War Two. Most of the Oil refineries shut down shortly after world war two. Arubas
first people were called the Caquerios Amerinds, a people from the Arawak tribe of Venezuela.
They were fleeing Venezuela where they were being attacked by a Carib tribe. Aruba was
originally discovered Aruba and ruled it for over a hundred years.