Aruba

Aruba ( ə-ROO-bə, Dutch: [aːˈrubaː, -ryb-] (listen), Papiamento: [aˈruba]) is an island and a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná and 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Curaçao. It measures 32 kilometres (20 mi) long from its northwestern to its southeastern end and 10 kilometres (6 mi) across at its widest point. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, Aruba forms a group referred to as the ABC islands. Collectively, these and the other three Dutch substantial islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean, of which Aruba has about 1⁄3 of the population. Aruba is one of the four countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten; the citizens of these countries are all Dutch nationals. Aruba has no administrative subdivisions, but, for census purposes, is divided into eight regions. Its capital is Oranjestad.Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid or desert, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny clear skies year-round. Its land covers 179 km2 (69.1 sq mi) and is quite densely populated, by 101,484 inhabitants, as at the 2010 Census. Current estimates of the population place it at 116,600 (July 2018 est.) It is south of the typical latitudes of hurricanes but was affected by two in their early stages in late 2020.