We are proud of our rich past, and over the course of Aruba’s history, our shores have been graced with people from all over the world. The name of our island comes from ancient gold miners. Aruba means “red gold” (“ore” for gold + “ruba” for red). These days, those searching for gold have a tendency to find it and more in the luxurious jewelry shops of Aruba.
Aruba's path to the present day is marked by the mystery of ochre-colored rock drawings left behind by island shamans, the enterprising spirit of European explorers and the traditions of diverse nationalities that have come to our island. Our people, our languages, and our innate hospitality are the result of a multi-cultural mix that reflects our rich past.
The Caquetios Indians of South America were Aruba's first inhabitants. Fragments of the earliest known Indian settlements date back to about 1000 A.D, as do the ancient painted symbols still visible on limestone caves found at Fontein, Ayo and elsewhere. Pottery remnants and other artifacts can be viewed at the Museum of Archaeology.
Centuries later, the first European landed on Aruban shores. Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda is thought to have arrived about 1499. The Spanish promptly exported the Indians to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where they were put to work in the copper mines. In 1636, near the culmination of the Eighty Years' War between Spain and Holland, the Dutch took possession of Aruba and remained in control for nearly two centuries. In 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British briefly took possession of the island, but it was returned to Dutch control in 1816. Today, Aruba remains a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but functions independently with its own government apparatus. |