Originally settled by a tribe of Arawak Indians called the Caiquetios about 2000 years ago. Aruba was first discovered by Europeans in 1499. The Spanish discoverers had little interest in the island because it was unsuited to the sugarcane plantations that they established on many other Caribbean islands. Aruba was taken from Spain in 1636 by the Dutch, who wanted to establish a colonial presence in the Caribbean Sea. Today, Aruba is an autonomous state in the kindom of the Netherlands.

About Aruba | Aruba History | Aruba Culture

The first people to inhabit the island migrated north from the Orinoco Basin in South America. They were a nation of Arawak Indians called the Caiquetios who settled here approximately 2,000 years ago and were spread throughout much of the Caribbean islands. Signs of their culture can still be found at a number of different sites around the island, such as the cave drawings and petroglyphs in the Fontein and Guadiriki Caves and at Arikok National Park.

The Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda discovered Aruba in 1499, claiming it for Queen Isabella. The island was too arid for sugarcane plantations, with an average annual rainfall of only 20 inches, and the Spanish found no evidence of the gold they were looking for, so Aruba was left mostly to the native inhabitants. The only resource Aruba offered that the Spanish took away was the natives, to become slaves in Hispanola.

In 1636, the Dutch had lost their base in St. Maarten to the Spanish, and were looking for a new location to maintain a colonial presence in the Caribbean. They soon captured the islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire from the Spanish, who put up very little resistance, not believing the islands were of any value. The Dutch West India Company formed the Netherlands Antilles, with Curacao its capital. It was during this time that the historic fortress Fort Zoutman and William III Tower were built. Apart from a short period when the island fell to the British during the Napoleonic Wars, and when Aruba became British and U.S. protectorates during World War II, the island has remained under Dutch control ever since.

Gold was discovered on Aruba near Bushiribana and the ruins of a nineteenth-century smelting plant still survive in Balashi. The new mines caused the Dutch to bring Arawok Indian slaves back from Hispanola, and in Aruba these Indians survived long past the time they were extinct in the rest of the Caribbean. Aruba was also a major supplier of aloe, producing about 70% of the worlds supply at one time. In 1924, oil was discovered and two refineries were built on the island. Although both refineries were close in the 1980's, one has been reopened and is one of the worlds major oil refineries. Today, most of the population works in the tourism or the oil industries.

Aruba gained independence from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 to become a self-governing state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Commonwealth. The Head of State for the Commonwealth is Queen Beatrix, and it has a 21-seat Parliament, a 21-seat Staten, an 8-member Cabinet, Governor General, Prime Minister and deputy prime ministers.  The Commonwealth has its own courts and a Supreme Court of Justice.