Oranjestad

Oranjestad is a town on Aruba, an island in the warm Caribbean Sea.

People there speak Papiamento and Dutch.

Oranjestad is the capital and largest town of Aruba, says Store norske leksikon, Norway's big encyclopedia. Aruba is an island in the Caribbean Sea, only 29 kilometers north of Venezuela.

The 2020 census counted 28,658 people in Oranjestad's two census regions: 13,735 in Oranjestad West and 14,923 in Oranjestad Oost. People there speak Papiamento, a creole language, and Dutch.

Store norske leksikon ('Aruba'): an island in the Caribbean of 180 km² and 107,151 inhabitants (2022), 29 km north of Venezuela, belonging with Curaçao and Bonaire to the ABC islands; tourism the main industry; Oranjestad the capital and largest town; two official languages, Papiamento (a creole based on Portuguese with Spanish, Dutch, English, Arawak and African elements; spoken by 69.4 percent) and Dutch (6.1 percent; 2010 estimate). City Population (Central Bureau of Statistics Aruba), census regions: Oranjestad West 8,779 (1991), 12,131 (2000), 13,976 (2010), 13,735 (1 October 2020); Oranjestad Oost 11,266, 14,224, 14,318, 14,923. Its own urban-area outline for Oranjestad, made of census zones, had 81,915 people in 2020. Larousse: capital of the island of Aruba; agglomeration 36,839 (2011 estimate).

Look at the blue sea, the white beach and all the red roofs!

The town spreads far across the flat island.

James Martins took this photo from the air on 24 February 2004. It shows the waterfront of Oranjestad: turquoise and deep blue water, a curved white beach with palm trees, larger pale buildings by the shore, and many red-roofed and pastel buildings spreading inland across flat land.

On Wikidata, the Oranjestad Streetcar, a tramway line, runs about 0.2 kilometers from the town's point, and the town's water tower, built in 1939, stands about 0.35 kilometers northeast.

Commons: a Panoramio photo by James Martins (Panoramio, CC BY 3.0, reviewed by the Panoramio upload bot, 20 January 2017), taken 24 February 2004; his description names two shopping centers; camera point 12.5130° N, 70.0374° W, 0.65 km SSW of the town's Wikidata point; categories include 'Oranjestad, Aruba' and 'Lagoen Klip, Oranjestad Aruba' (the second added by another Commons user in August 2025). Faint reflections show in the sky. Wikidata, from the town point (Q131243): Oranjestad Streetcar (Q1848105), a tramway line, 0.21 km NW; Watertower Oranjestad (Q18618757), inception 1939, a cultural heritage site, 0.35 km NE.

Aruba has no rivers, so people make drinking water from seawater!

Cactus grows there, and flamingos and pelicans visit the beaches.

Store norske leksikon says Aruba has no surface water, so drinking water is made by taking the salt out of seawater. Most plants are thorn bushes, cactus and other plants that need little water; the best known is aloe vera.

Lizards, iguanas and wild donkeys live on the island, and pelicans and flamingos visit the beaches. Arikok National Park covers about 18 percent of the land.

Store norske leksikon: no surface water; drinking water from desalinated seawater; many large boulders of diorite in the sun-scorched landscape; vegetation mostly thorn bushes, cactus and other drought-tolerant plants, the best known Aloe vera; endemic animals include an endangered rattlesnake and subspecies of a burrowing owl and a parakeet; common animals include lizards, iguanas, wild donkeys and sheep, with pelicans and flamingos on the beaches; many fish and invertebrates on and near the coral reefs; Arikok National Park about 18 percent of the land. Wikidata: Arikok National Park (Q2028082), inception 2000, point 12.07 km E of the town.