Aruba is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea, about 18 miles north of the coast of Venezuela in South America. It is a ‘constituent country’ of the Netherlands and all its citizens are Dutch nationals. The Dutch seized it from Spain in 1636, as part of the Thirty Years War.
Aruba has one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean region and its economy is dominated by four main industries: tourism, aloe export, petroleum refining, and offshore banking. Tourism and related industries, however, comprise the vast majority of their gross national product. Their currency, the florin, is pegged to the dollar and due to the large number of tourists from the USA, many of their businesses in the resort and tourism sector operate using the USD as their currency.
The official languages are Dutch and Papiamento and the dominant religion is Roman Catholicism. Their culture, while global and varied, is still influenced to a large degree by the Dutch.