- Aruba is an island of the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the Lesser Antilles and located at broad of the coasts of Venezuela. Aruba forms a state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to whole share since the island separated from the Dutch West Indies in 1986.
Discovered in 1499 by the Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda, the island of Aruba remains under Spanish control until 1636, date on which the Kingdom of the Netherlands in fact a colony. After the transfer of the island by the Spaniards, from the Jews marranes fleeing persecutions in their countries (Spain and Portugal) come to settle in the island. Aruba changes on several occasions of statute: property of the Company Dutchwoman of the Western Indies, colony attached to Dutch Guyana and even twice the Dutchmen must cohabit with the British (1799-1802 and 1805-1816) without it appearing clearly which held the effective capacity with Aruba. To note that the Dutch governor between 1642 and 1646 was called Peter Stuyvesant: he will become later on the governor of the Dutch province of Nieuw Amsterdam until the annexation by the English in 1664 under the name of New York. At the time of the Second World war, the Netherlands are occupied by the Nazi Germany as from May 10, 1940 and the 11, the British place the island under their protection before leaving it in the United States of America of January 16, 1942 and this until the release of the Netherlands in 1945. March 18, 1948, the Crown Dutchwoman accepts the principle of self-determination for Aruba. The Dutch West Indies take their autonomy on December 29, 1954 and Aruba forms part of this unit made up of the "Islands under the wind" (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao located close to the coast of Venezuela) and of the "Islands of the wind" (Sint-Maarten, Sheba and Saint-Eustache located at the East of Puerto Rico). A constitution is established in April 1955. From now on, the Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of two entities of equal right: Netherlands and the Dutch West Indies. To commemorate the agreement of 1948, the date of March 18 is selected as celebrates island (one cannot say national festival, since it is not a question of a nation), it is the "Day of the flag", flag adopted on March 18, 1976 at the same time as the anthem "Aruba Dushi Tera" (which means Aruba, invaluable ground). March 12, 1983, of the representatives of the Crown Dutchwoman, each island of the Dutch West Indies and the Netherlands accept the principle of the autonomy of the island of Aruba, autonomy with respect to the Dutch West Indies and not of the Kingdom. Autonomy is effective on January 1, 1986. The Kingdom then consists of three entities. The agreement of 1983 envisaged independence in ten years (either for 1996) but the government arubais preferred to ask for the suspension of this clause. Since the accession with autonomy, the constitution of Aruba defined the structure of the apparatus of State: the sovereign in exercise (since April 30, 1980, the Queen Beatrix II) is Président(e) of the island; legislative elections take place every four years to provide the 21 members of the single room of the country: Staten; Staten in its turn names the seven members of the Council of Ministers; the Council of Ministers proposes a governor with the sovereign, governor whose mandate is six years and who represents the Crown in the island of Aruba.
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