Languages | |
---|---|
Papiamento, Dutch, Spanish, English | |
Religion | |
Christianity | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Curaçaoan, African people, Afro-Venezuelans |
Afro-Arubans are Arubans who have predominantly African ancestry. Afro-Arubans are a minority ethnic group in Aruba (15% of Aruba's population), although many Arubans may have varying degrees of African ancestry. [1] Like other Arubans, Afro-Arubans speak Papiamento, an Afro-Portuguese creole language commonly spoken on the ABC islands, [2] as well as Dutch, Spanish, English and other languages. Papiamento dates back at least 300 years and is based on African linguistic structures combined with vocabulary from Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish. [3]
While Aruba had enslaved Africans, [4] most Afro-Arubans today descend from nearby Caribbean islands and nations such as Sint Maarten, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Haiti, Jamaica, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, the Lesser Antilles, and South America. [5] Many Afro-Arubans live in Aruba's second largest city, San Nicolaas, located on the southern tip of the island. [6]
Africans were brought to Aruba by Dutch settlers during the colonial era, [7] [8] [9] although not in large numbers as in nearby Curaçao and Bonaire.
Many immigrants from the British West-Indies (namely from Trinidad and Grenada) settled in San Nicolaas in the early 20th century, namely to work in the Aruban oil industry. Many brought their local English Creoles and dialects to the town, [10] later developing into what is today known as San Nicolaas English (known locally as Bush English)
Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná and 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Curaçao. In 1986, it became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and acquired the formal name the Country of Aruba.
The Netherlands Antilles, also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, and Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire in the Leeward Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies, and it was dissolved in 2010, when like Aruba in 1986, Sint Maarten and Curaçao gained status of constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire gained status of special municipality of Netherlands as the Caribbean Netherlands. The neighboring Dutch colony of Surinam in continental South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
This is a demography of the population of Aruba including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The ABC islands is the physical group of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. These islands have a shared political history and a status of Dutch underlying ownership, since the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 ceded them back to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as Curaçao and Dependencies from 1815. They are a short distance north of the Falcón State, Venezuela. Aruba and Curaçao are autonomous, self governing constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands. Territories of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the countries, and its special municipalities, are outside the European Union; citizens have Dutch nationality and the former colonial power benefits from preferential trade, mineral and natural resource rights, particularly offshore.
Papiamento or Papiamentu is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on the ABC islands.
Oranjestad, the capital and most populous of Aruba's eight regions, is located on the southwestern coast of the island. In Papiamento, the local language, Oranjestad is commonly referred to as "Playa" by the locals.
The music of the former Netherlands Antilles is a mixture of native, African and European elements, and is closely connected with trends from neighboring countries such as Venezuela and Colombia and islands such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Martinique, Trinidad, Dominica, and Guadeloupe. The former Netherlands Antilles islands of Curaçao and Aruba are known for their typical waltzes, danzas, mazurkas and a kind of music called tumba, which is named after the conga drums that accompany it.
The culture of Aruba, encompassing its language, music, and cuisine, is diverse and has been influenced by both regional and foreign cultures. One significant foreign influence originates from the Iberian Peninsula, which had a significant impact on the island for approximately 137 years, starting c. 1500. These influences were characaterized by a strong religious presence, missionary activities, and economic exploitation.
The official languages of the Caribbean island-state of Aruba are Papiamento and Dutch, but most Arubans speak a minimum of four languages, including English and Spanish. Schools require students to learn English, Spanish and to a lesser extent French. Portuguese, Italian, German, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Tagalog and other languages are also spoken by smaller communities on the island. According to the Government of Aruba the mother tongue and primary language of almost all Arubans is Papiamento, an Afro-Portuguese Creole language with heavy Spanish influence spoken since the 16th century. The language, however, was not widespread in Aruba until the 18th and 19th centuries when most materials on the island and Roman Catholic schoolbooks were written in Papiamento.
San Nicolaas is 19 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Oranjestad, and is Aruba's second largest city. As of 2010 it has a population of 15,283, most of whom originate from the British Caribbean and rest of the Caribbean.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Willemstad is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in the Caribbean. The diocese encompasses the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean: the countries Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba. The cathedra is in the city of Curaçao. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain, and a member of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.
Papiamento has two standardised orthographies, one used on the island of Aruba and the other on the islands of Curaçao and Bonaire. The Aruban orthography is more etymological in nature, while the other is more phonemic. Among the differences between the two standards, one obvious difference is the way the name of the language is written. In Aruba it is written Papiamento, while in Curaçao and Bonaire it is written Papiamentu. The governments of Curaçao and Aruba formally standardised orthographic rules in 1976 and 1977, respectively.
The languages of the Caribbean reflect the region's diverse history and culture. There are six official languages spoken in the Caribbean:
The Dutch Caribbean are the New World territories, colonies, and countries of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the northern and southwestern regions of the Lesser Antilles archipelago.
The St. Francis of Assisi Church also alternatively called Pro Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi is a religious building belonging to the Catholic Church and serves as the pro-cathedral or temporary cathedral in the city of Oranjestad, on the Caribbean island of Aruba, an autonomous country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Lesser Antilles.
Adriaan Walter Brokke, commonly known as Jani Brokke was an Aruban athlete who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympic Games. He represented Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles in teams of football, basketball, baseball and tennis.
Laura Simona Wernet-Paskel was an Aruban teacher, writer, and politician. She was the first female political candidate in Aruba, running for office three times beginning in 1949.
Olga Orman was a Dutch-Aruban writer, poet and storyteller. She wrote both in Papiamento and Dutch. Orman introduced kamishibai, a Japanese form of storytelling, to the Netherlands and the ABC islands.
San Nicolaas English, also known as Bush English, is a variety of Caribbean English spoken in the town of San Nicolaas in Aruba. It is spoken by many of the town's estimated 15.000 residents. It is also spoken by a smaller number of speakers in other parts of Aruba. San Nicolaas English is often spoken alongside Papiamento, one of the official languages of Aruba.
Arubans in the United States are immigrants from Aruba to the United States and their descendants. Aruba is an autonomous constituent country of Kingdom of the Netherlands. As of 2020, statistics from the American Migration Policy Institute have shown that there are an estimated 10.000 Aruban immigrants and their descendants living in the United States. Making the United States the country with the 2nd largest diaspora of Arubans, second to The Netherlands (23.000). The largest communities of Arubans in the United States can be found in the states of Florida, New York and to a lesser extent, Texas. Common destinations among other Caribbean and South-American immigrants to the United States.