Aruba in the Southern Caribbean
Thursday, 5 June 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Caribbean / Karibik General
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Palm Beach © Atilin/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Aruba is an island 33 kilometre long (20 mi) located about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) west of the
Lesser Antilles in the southern
Caribbean Sea , located 27 kilometres (17 mi) north of the coast of Venezuela. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the
ABC islands . Collectively, Aruba and the other
Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the
Netherlands Antilles or the Dutch Antilles.
Aruba is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands , along with the Netherlands , Curaçao and Sint Maarten . The citizens of these countries all share a single nationality: Dutch. Aruba has no administrative subdivisions, but, for census purposes, is divided into eight regions. Its capital is Oranjestad .
Green Eel at Malmock Reef © flickr.com - Serge Melki/cc-by-2.0
About three quarters of the Aruban gross national product is earned through tourism or related activities. Most tourists are from the United States (predominantly from the north-east US), the Netherlands and South-America, mainly Venezuela and Colombia. As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, citizens of (mainland) the Netherlands can travel with relative ease to Aruba and other islands of the Dutch Antilles. No visas are needed for Dutch citizens, only a passport, and although the currency used in Aruba is different, Euros are still not widely accepted but can be easily exchanged at a local bank for Aruban Florins.
The holiday of
Carnaval is an important one in Aruba, as it is in many Caribbean and Latin American countries, and, like
Mardi Gras , that goes on for weeks. Its celebration in Aruba started, around the 1950s, influenced by the inhabitants from the nearby islands (Venezuela, St Vincent, Trinidad, Barbados, St. Maarten and Anguilla) who came to work for the Oil refinery. Over the years the Carnival Celebration has changed and now starts from the beginning of January till the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday with a large parade on the last Sunday of the festivities (Sunday before Ash Wednesday).
Read more on
Government of Aruba ,
Aruba Tourism and
Wikipedia Aruba . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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