Portuguese Timor Totally Explained

Everything about Portuguese Timor totally explained

Portuguese Timor was the name of East Timor when it was under Portuguese control. During this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Netherlands East Indies, and later with Indonesia.
The first Europeans to arrive in the region were Portuguese in 1515. Dominican friars established a presence on the island in 1556, and the territory was declared a Portuguese colony in 1702. Following a Lisbon-instigated decolonisation process in 1974, Indonesia invaded the territory in 1975 ending Portuguese rule.

Early colonialists

Prior to the arrival of European colonial powers, the island of Timor was part of the trading networks that stretched between India and China and incorporating Maritime Southeast Asia. The island's large stands of fragrant sandalwood were its main commodity. The first European powers to arrive in the area were the Portuguese in the early sixteenth century followed by the Dutch in the late sixteenth century. Both came in search of the fabled Spice Islands of Maluku. Portuguese first landed near modern Pante Macassar, and in 1556 a group of Dominican friars established the village of Lifau.
   Over the following three centuries, the Dutch would come to dominate the Indonesian archipelago with the exception of the eastern half of Timor, which would become Portuguese Timor.
   The Portuguese introduced Catholicism to East Timor, the Roman writing system, the printing press, and formal schooling. The definitive border was drawn by the Hague in 1916, and it remains the international boundary between the modern states of East Timor and Indonesia.
For the Portuguese, East Timor remained little more than a neglected trading post until the late nineteenth century. Investment in infrastructure, health, and education was minimal. Sandalwood remained the main export crop with coffee exports becoming significant in the mid-nineteenth century. In places where Portuguese rule was asserted, it tended to be brutal and exploitative.]] At the beginning of the twentieth century, a faltering home economy prompted the Portuguese to extract greater wealth from its colonies, resulting in increased resistance to Portuguese rule in East Timor. In 1910-12, a Timorese rebellion was quashed after Portugal brought in troops from its colonies in Mozambique and Macau, resulting in the deaths of 3,000 East Timorese. Fretilin endorsed "the universal doctrines of socialism", as well as "the right to independence", and later declared itself "the only legitimate representative of the people". A third party, Apodeti emerged advocating East Timor's integration with Indonesia expressing concerns that an independent East Timor would be economically weak and vulnerable.
   The following year, East Timorese declared the territory's independence.
   In December 1975, Indonesia invaded the territory declaring it Indonesia's 27th province in 1976. The United Nations, however, didn't recognise the annexation. The last governor of Portuguese Timor was Mário Lemos Pires from 1974-75. Following the end of Indonesian occupation in 1999, and a United Nations administered transition period, East Timor became independent in 2002.
   The currency was the Portuguese Timor escudo, linked to the Portuguese escudo till 1975 when the currency ceased to exist as East Timor was annexed by Indonesia and began using the Indonesian rupiah.

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