Located at the heart of world trade routes in the South Western Caribbean Aruba enjoys a healthy climate, making it a year-round paradise for residents and visitors alike. Aruba’s capital, Oranjestad was built around Fort Zoutman shortly after it was constructed in 1796. Initially the town had no official name, being known only as the town on the Bay of Horses (Paardenbaai in Dutch) - a fitting designation for the place from which many native-bred and raised horses left for neighboring islands. The fort is still one of Oranjestad’s main attractions, along with our cruise port, and the Willem III Tower, located adjacent to the fort in our capital which is named after the first King Willem van Oranje-Nassau - the first heir to the Dutch House of Oranje.
Oranjestad houses the largest port on the island which began welcoming cruise tourists in the early 1950's with the visit by the M.S. Liberator, a combination cargo/passenger ship of the Royal Netherlands Steamship Company/K.N.S.M, now know as the Nedlloyd Line.
The Aruba Ports Authority, officially established in 1981, will announce the undertaking of a US$ 62 Million Dollar Container Port Development project in the fall of 2011, which involves moving the island’s commercial port to the port of Barcadera. Once this is underway, Aruba’s cruise port in Oranjestad will be able to undergo the necessary development to accommodate more cruise lines and cruise visitors.
Aruba is characterized by an open economy which, because of its small scale, is dependent upon imports from and exports to other countries. The main economic activities in Aruba are tourism, banking and transportation. The locally manufactured goods presently exported are semi-finished petroleum products, plastic bags, soaps/disinfectants, printed textiles, and refined sugar and rice products.
Aruba is a safe, stable and friendly Caribbean island with Dutch roots. A former colony of the Netherlands, it later formed a part of the Netherland Antilles before gaining its autonomy in 1986 under “status aparte”. Aruba functions as an independent entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and our government is founded on democratic principles.
