ARUBA

Seisma Energy Research, AVV (formerly Seisma Oil Research, LLC) thought you might be interested in learning a little bit about our new home. We hope we will see you here one day soon.

Aruba is a 33 km (21 mi) long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, 27 km (17 mi) north of Venezuela. It has a land area of 193 km2 (75 sq mi) and lies outside the hurricane belt. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles. An autonomous region within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba has no administrative subdivisions.

Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. Aruba is renowned for its white, sandy beaches on the western and southern coasts of the island, relatively sheltered from fierce ocean currents, and this is where most tourist development has taken place. Temperature varies little from 28 °C (82 °F), moderated by constant trade winds from the Atlantic Ocean. Yearly precipitation barely reaches 500 mm (20 in), most of it falling in late autumn.

Aruba's first inhabitants are thought to have been Caquetíos Amerinds from the Arawak tribe, who migrated there from Venezuela to escape attacks by the Caribs. Fragments of the earliest known Indian settlements date back from 1,000 AD. Sea currents made canoe travel to other Caribbean islands difficult, thus Caquetio culture remained closer to that of mainland South America.

Aruba enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean region; the low unemployment rate is also positive for Aruba. About three quarters of the Aruban gross national product is earned through tourism or related activities. Most of the tourists are from Venezuela and the United States, Aruba's largest trading partners. Before the "Status Aparte", (a separate completely autonomous country/state within the Kingdom), oil processing was the dominant industry in Aruba. The G.D.P. per capita for Aruba is calculated to be $23,831 in 2007; among the highest in the Caribbean and the Americas. Its main trading partners are Venezuela, The U.S and the Netherlands.

Language can be seen as an important part of island culture in Aruba. The cultural mixture has given rise to a linguistic mixture known as Papiamento, the predominant language on Aruba. The two official languages are the Dutch language and Papiamento. Papiamento is a language that has been evolving through the centuries and absorbed many words from other languages like Dutch, English, French, diverse African dialects, and most importantly, from Portuguese and Spanish. However, like many islands in the region, Spanish is also often spoken.

The holiday of Carnival is an important one in Aruba, as it is in many Caribbean and Latin American countries, and, like Mardi Gras, that goes on for weeks. Its celebration in Aruba started, around the 1950s, influenced by the inhabitants from the nearby islands who came to work for the oil refinery. Over the years the Carnival Celebration has changed and now starts from the beginning of January till the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday with a large parade on the last Sunday of the festivities.

Aruba boasts the world's third largest desalination plant which produces potable industrial water. Average daily consumption in 2005 was about 37,043 metric tons.