Palm Beach is a tourism district about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) northwest of
Oranjestad, the capital of
Aruba. A number of high rise hotels are located there, such as Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino,
Aruba Marriott Resort, The Barceló,
Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort, Ritz Carlton Resort, and RIU palace Aruba. A shopping district adjacent to the hotels was finished in 2009 and includes two large malls called Paseo Herencia and Palm Beach Plaza Mall. Little North of Palm Beach is Malmok Beach, a small sandy strip running all the way until the northern tip of Aruba. Smaller apartment complexes and luxurious holiday homes are located along this dead-end Boulevard. Hadicurari Beach (kiting),
Arashi Beach
Arashi (or Arasji) is a settlement and beach on the northwestern tip of Aruba, in Noord district. It is close to Malmok, Kudarebe and the California Lighthouse
The California Lighthouse is a lighthouse located at Hudishibana near Arashi Beac ...
and Boca Catalina (snorkeling) are popular locations.
History
Palm Beach is the name of a region in the district of
Noord
Noord () is a town and region in Aruba (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands). This town is known for its low rise and high rise hotels, restaurants, beaches, malls, the California Lighthouse, and other places of attraction.
Places of interes ...
. Its adjacent shoreline beach was officially registered under the same name in 1960. The name "Palm Beach" is derived from the name of the coconut plantation of R.J. (Capt) Beaujon, who named it after
Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intraco ...
. Being located on government land its lease was rescinded for hotel development in 1958.
The first people to ever live on the beach were
Caquetios Indians from the Arawak tribe in 100 A.D. Later, in 1499, Spanish explorer
Alonso de Ojeda
Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He travelled through modern-day Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, Curaçao, Aruba and Colombia. He navigated with Amerigo Vespucci who is famous f ...
discovered the island and created a small garrison. The Dutch took over the island soon after and it had remained in Dutch power from then on with a short interruption of English rule in 1805 during the Napoleonic wars.
It was not until 1947 that Palm Beach's first tourist office opened. The first hotel opened in the fifties, actually a competition was held to find the best design for the hotel. The winner's name was Ernst Bartels and his idea was called the`Basiroeti’ based on the beach location namesake. The hotel would end up being called Hotel Basiruti. Hotel Basi-Ruti was not a high-rise, bungalows on the bare sand comprised the new hotel. Since 1983 it is a high-rise timeshare hotel called Playa Linda Beach Resort.
In 1962,
De Olde Molen
De Olde Molen is a windmill in Palm Beach, Aruba, Palm Beach, Aruba. It was originally built in 1815 as a windpump in Winschoterzijl, Groningen (province), Groningen, Netherlands. In 1897, it was moved to Wedderveer, Groningen where it served as ...
, a windmill from
Wedderveer
Wedderveer () is a hamlet near Wedde in the municipality of Westerwolde in the Netherlands. It has a population of around 135 and a total area of .
The sawmill Spinnenkop has been listed as a national heritage site since 1990.Bubali Bird Sanctuary
The Bubali Bird Sanctuary (Dutch: ''Bubali vogelreservaat'') form a 20 ha wetland area at the north-western end of the island of Aruba, a constituent country of the Dutch Caribbean. It has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLi ...
is located near the hotels in Bubali, Palm Beach.
References
# "Aruba." ''Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2012''. Ed. Karen Ellicott. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 118-121. ''Gale Virtual Reference Library''. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.
# Bongers, Evert
"Historia di Aruba - Tourism" ''www.historiadiaruba.aw''. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
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Populated places in Aruba
Beaches of Aruba
Noord