Our History

Our national flag was officially adopted on March 18, 1976, along with the official anthem "Aruba Dushi Tera." The four colors each have significance. The blue represents the sea that surrounds Aruba; yellow is the color of abundance, representing the island's past and its industries of gold, aloe and oil; red is for the love each Aruban has for the country and the ancient industry of Brazilwood; and white symbolizes the snow-white beaches as well as the purity of the hearts of Aruba's people who strive for justice, order and liberty.

The symbols on the flag consist of a red star and two yellow stripes. The red star represents the four points of the compass, with the island having drawn people from around the world. The star also represents the island itself, surrounded by the beautiful blue sea. The horizontal yellow stripes denote the free and separate position Aruba enjoys in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

We celebrate all that the flag and anthem have come to signify with the national holiday of Flag and Anthem Day each March 18, the same day that in 1948, Holland accepted Aruba’s right to autonomous status in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Caquetio Indians of the Arawak tribe from the South American mainland were Aruba's first inhabitants. During the Pre-ceramic Period of habitation (2500 BC – 1000 AD), they were fishers-hunters-gatherers who depended on the sea for survival and used tools of roughly flaked stones and shell. They lived in small family groups and fished along Aruba’s coast at locations now named Malmok and Palm Beach.

During the beginning of the Ceramic period (1000-1515 AD), five large Indian villages were founded on the best agricultural soil, producing corn and yucca. Indians buried their dead ceremoniously in different ways, indicating a hierarchical socio-political system. They made coarse pottery as well as finer well-crafted pieces.

When explorer Alonso de Ojeda discovered Aruba in 1499 and claimed it for the Spanish throne, he named it la isla de los gigantes (Spanish: the island of giants), the tall Indians descended from Aruba’s very first settlers. After a decade, Aruba’s moniker was changed to isla inutíl, a useless island, as no gold or treasures were found.

In 1513, the entire Indian population was enslaved and taken to work on the Spanish estates in Hispaniola, now the Dominican Republic and Haiti. At the beginning of the Indian Historic Period in 1515, some Indians returned while others arrived from the mainland and lived in small villages in the northern part of the island.

With the return of the Spanish, the Indians were recruited as laborers for cattle and horse breeding. From the 17th century on, the majority of Indians migrated from the South American mainland. Indian preachers were Aruba’s Catholic spiritual leaders well into the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Indians made up about one-third of the island’s 1700 inhabitants, but in 1862, historians believe that Aruba’s last Indian died.

Aruba’s strategic location was recognized by the Dutch who initially occupied the island in 1636 to protect their salt supply from the mainland and establish a naval base in the Caribbean during their 80-year war with Spain. Further economic development continued through the Dutch West India Company located on the neighboring island of Curaçao. Aruba remained in Dutch hands, except for a brief hiatus under English rule from 1805-1816, during the Napoleonic Wars.