Aruba

Details

Organization Timeline

Slavery is abolished in Suriname and the Caribbean

📅 1 July 1863

About 45,000 people were legally freed. Suriname’s emancipated population remained under state supervision and compulsory labor until 1873. Former owners received compensation; the people whose...

Kingdom conference begins negotiations over Aruba’s separate status

📅 7 March 1983

Representatives of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba opened a conference on Aruba’s constitutional future. The process recognized island-level self-determination claims but framed...

Conference agrees Aruba will become a separate country within the Kingdom

📅 12 March 1983

The conference concluded with an agreement for Aruba to gain status aparte. It responded to Aruban mobilization but did not create full independence; Dutch and Kingdom institutions retained...

Aruba becomes a separate country within the Kingdom

📅 1 January 1986

Aruba left the Netherlands Antilles and gained status aparte. The change reflected a long movement for self-determination, but Aruba remained within the Kingdom; an original plan for eventual...

Kingdom adopts a law removing Aruba’s scheduled independence transition

📅 15 December 1994

A Kingdom law amended the Charter to continue Aruba’s status within the Kingdom beyond the original ten-year transition. This change followed Aruban decisions not to proceed to independence in 1996...