| The island of Aruba is part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea, and lies about 12
degrees north of the equator, approximately 29km (18 miles) off the Paraguaná Peninsula
of Venezuela. One of the Lesser Antilles islands, Aruba is about 30 km (19 miles) long and
about 8 km (5 miles) wide with an area of 193 sq km (75 sq miles). The island's population
is about 112,000. The capital is Oranjestad, named after the Dutch Royal House of Orange.
Antilles is the term used for the whole of the West Indies except the Bahama Islands. Cuba,
Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico form the Greater Antilles. The
Lesser Antilles, extending in an arc from Puerto Rico to the northeastern coast of South
America, include the Virgin Islands, Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, southern group
of the Netherlands Antilles (including Aruba), and, usually, Barbados and Trinidad and
Tobago.
The Netherlands Antilles are an integral part of the Netherlands, comprising two island
groups of three islands each, the Netherlands Leeward Islands and the Netherlands
Windward islands, in the Caribbean Sea.
The former group, consisting of Curaçao, Bonaire, and until 1986 Aruba, is situated
northwest of Caracas, Venezuela. The area of the Netherlands Leeward Islands is
925 sq km (357 sq mi). The Caribbean Sea is partially enclosed on the north and east by the islands of the
West Indies, and bounded on the south by South America and Panama, and on the
west by Central America. Its name is derived from the Carib people, who inhabited
the area when Spanish explorers arrived there in the 1400s. |
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