Oranjestad, Aruba
| Oranjestad | |
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| Capital city | |
Clockwise: Townhall, I love aruba sign,Royal Plaza,Plaza Simon Bolivar,Plaza Betico Croes,Tram in center of the town,Census Building,Plaza Daniel Leo,Willem III tower. Center clockwise: Wilhelmina Park,Archeological Museum,Ecury House,Protestant church,Aruban Courthouse,San Francisco church
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| Etymology: Orange Town | |
| Nickname(s): Playa | |
 Oranjestad
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| Coordinates: 12°31′08″N 70°02′13″W / 12.519°N 70.037°WCoordinates: 12°31′08″N 70°02′13″W / 12.519°N 70.037°W | |
| Sovereign state | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
| Country | Aruba |
| District | Oranjestad |
| Elevation | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Population (2015) | |
| • Total | 34,980 |
| • Rank | 1st |
| Time zone | AST (UTC-4) |
| Climate | BSh |
Oranjestad (Dutch pronunciation: [oːˈrɑɲəˌstɑt]; literally "Orange Town") is the capital and largest city of Aruba. Oranjestad is located on the southern coast near the western end of the island country. In the local language, Papiamento, Oranjestad is often referred to simply as "Playa". As of 2015[update], the population of the capital was around 35,000.
The town was built around Fort Zoutman shortly after it was built in 1796 . Initially the town had no official name, being known only as the town on the Bay of Horses (Paardenbaai in Dutch), a place from which native-bred horses were raised and exported to neighboring Curaçao. The town has ever since been the capital city of the island.
The city is named after the first King William I of the Netherlands. The name was conferred on the city in the 1820s when interest in Aruba increased due to the discovery of (alluvial) gold deposits.
Air Aruba once had its headquarters in Oranjestad. Air Aruba suspended its operations on October 23, 2000.
Tiara Air has had its head office in Oranjestad since 2006 except between 2014 and 2016 when the company suspended services due to the Venezuelan Airline Crisis.
Small portions of the city are formed from a series of man-made expansions of land into the sea. Present-day Renaissance Marketplace (formerly Seaport Marketplace), as well as the adjacent Queen Wilhelmina Park, lies within this land reclamation.
Oranjestad has a hot semi-arid climate with significant tropical influence. Temperatures are hot and the climate is humid with low diurnal temperature variation year-round, but a lack of precipitation prevents it from falling under the tropical classification.
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