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Geography of Aruba


Aruba is an island in the south of the Caribbean in the Caribbean Sea. It is westernmost island of the ABC Islands and of the Leeward Antilles. It is located at 12°30′N 69°58′W / 12.500°N 69.967°W / 12.500; -69.967, 25 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 68 km northwest of Curaçao. The island has a total area of 193 km2 (75 sq mi) and a coast line of 68.5 km (42.6 mi). Mount Jamanota of 188 m (617 ft) is the highest point.

Politically, Aruba is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Oranjestad is the largest settlement with a population of 32,748.

Aruba's terrain is mostly flat with a few hills. There is little in the way of vegetation or outstanding physical features and no inland water. Aruba's best-known geographical feature is its white-sand beaches, which are the basis of an active tourism industry that is the mainstay of the island's economy. Aruba is situated on the Caribbean Tectonic Plate. Aruba, as well as the rest of the ABC islands and also Trinidad and Tobago, lies on the continental shelf of South America, and is thus geologically considered to lie entirely in South America.

The core of the island is made up of Turonian submarine and subaerial basalts which were formed in the Caribbean large igneous province. These basalts were intruded by a tonalite pluton shortly after their eruption. The shore areas are mainly limestone-capped hills and ridges, with cliffs on the northern and northeastern coasts and coral reefs on the southern coast.


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