Afro-Arubans are Arubans who have predominantly

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n ancestry. Afro-Arubans are a minority ethnic group in Aruba. They speak Papiamento, an Afro-Portuguese dialect spoken in the ABC islands. The language dates back at least 300 years and is based on African linguistic structures combined with vocabulary from Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish. Many Afro-Arubans descend from nearby islands and nations such as

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the nort ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, Suriname, Haiti,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, Curaçao, the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

, and/or

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. Many Afro-Arubans live in Aruba's second largest city,

San Nicolaas San Nicolaas ( nl, Sint Nicolaas) is southeast of Oranjestad, and is Aruba's second largest city. it has a population of 15,283, most of whom originate from the British Caribbean and rest of the Caribbean. History According to oral tradition, ...

, located on the southern tip of the island.

History

African slaves were brought to Aruba by Dutch settlers during the colonial era.

Notable people

Xander Bogaerts Xander Jan Bogaerts (born October 1, 1992; ), nicknamed "the X-Man" and "Bogey" or "Bogie", is an Aruban professional baseball shortstop for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Boston Re ...

, baseball player * Glenbert Croes * Gregor Breinburg * Virginia Dementricia, rebel slave * Denzel Dumfries, football player *

Euson Julio Bernardo Euson (born April 12, 1941), professionally known as Euson, is an Aruban-Dutch singer, songwriter and occasional actor. Biography Euson formed his first band aging just twelve years. After winning a number of amateur talent contests ...

, singer *

Bobby Farrell Roberto Alfonso Farrell (6 October 1949 – 30 December 2010) was an Aruban dancer and singer. He was the male member of the 1970s pop and disco group Boney M. Biography Birth and early life Farrell was born and raised on the island of Arub ...

, dancer and singer * Gene Kingsale, baseball player *

Joshua John Joshua John (born 1 October 1988) is a footballer who plays as a forward. Born in the Netherlands, John represents Aruba internationally. Club career Sparta Rotterdam Joshua John came through the youth departments of SV Koedijk, Ajax, RKC Waal ...

, Football player * Nickenson Paul * Niesha Butler * Jim Jones (rapper) * Javier Jimenez * Matthew Lentink * Eric Abdul * Boy Ecury *

Jurriën Timber Jurriën David Norman Timber (; born 17 June 2001) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Arsenal and the Netherlands national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a right-back. Timber joined Ajax's you ...

* Quinten Timber

References and footnotes

Afro-Caribbean Ethnic groups in Aruba {{Africandiaspora-stub