Aruba Flag

Aruba's national flag was adopted on March 18, 1976. The design consists of a field of light blue (called "Larkspur", two narrow parallel horizontal yellow ("Bunting Yellow") stripes in the bottom half, and a four-pointed white-fimbriated red ("Union Flag red") star in the canton.

The design elements have multiple symbolic meanings:

- The blue field represents the sky, the sea, peace, hope, Aruba's future and its ties to the past.

- The two narrow stripes "suggest the movement toward status aparte".The other "industry, all the minerals (gold and phosphates in the past, petroleum in the early 20th century)". [1] In addition to sun, gold, and abundance, the yellow is also said to represent wanglo flowers.

- The star has particularly complex symbolism.

- It is vexillologically unusual in having four points, representing the four cardinal directions. These refer in turn to the many countries of origin of the people of Aruba.

- The star also represents the island itself: a land of often red soil bordered by white beaches in a blue sea.

- The red colour also represents blood shed by Arubans, the Indian inhabitants, during the French pass war; patriotic love.

- The white also represents purity, honesty and the white beaches of Aruba.

Discovered and claimed for Spain in 1499, Aruba was acquired by the Dutch in 1636. The island's economy has traditionally been dominated by three main industries. A 19th century gold rush was followed by prosperity brought on by the opening in 1924 of an oil refinery. The last decades of the 20th century saw a boom in the tourism industry. In 1986, Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles (Bonaire and Curacao, which together with Aruba form the ABC-Islands) and became a separate, autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Movement toward full independence was halted at Aruba's request in 1990.

In 1986, the oil refinery closed, which severely impacted Aruba's economy and accelerated an already-evident shift towards tourism which is now almost complete. The oil refinery reopened in 1991, closed again in 2009, reopened again in 2011, and closed again in 2012.

Today, tourism is the mainstay of the small, open Aruban economy. The rapid growth of the tourism sector over the last decade has resulted in a substantial expansion of other activities. Construction boomed, with hotel capacity five times the 1985 level. The 1980s tourism boom led to a bad hangover, in that several projects ran out of money during construction and sat as half-completed eyesores until they were eventually picked up by other investors and completed during the 1990s and 2000s. To prevent a recurrence of that situation, the government imposed a building moratorium in 2007.

The climate is tropical marine, with little seasonal temperature variation. Because of its location south in the Caribbean there is very strong sun, but a constant light breeze keeps the temperature pleasant. (These persistent winds out of the east shape the island's distinctive, lop-sided divi-divi trees.) The divi-divi trees have become a signature tree to Aruba's landscape. The weather is almost always dry, with most rain showers coming at night and lasting only a little while. Temperatures in Aruba do not change dramatically. Between the months of January and March the temperatures stay around 76-85 degrees; this being their high season. However starting in April and through December this is considered off season and temperatures do not change much beyond 79 and 88 degrees. It lies outside the zone usually affected by hurricanes.