East Timor History

Pacific East Timor

HISTORY
Indonesia it self has been settled for many Millennia, and was always considered a part of that country until very recent times.

Descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in this portion of Indonesia. The first were related to the principal Australoid indigenous groups of New Guinea and Australia, and arrived more than 40,000 years ago. Around 3000 BC, Austronesians migrated to Indonesia, and are thought to be associated with the development of agriculture on the island.

The Portuguese established outposts in Timor and Maluku. Effective European occupation of a small part of the territory began in 1769, when the city of Dili was founded and the colony of Portuguese Timor declared. A definitive border between the Dutch-colonised western half of the island and the Portuguese-colonised eastern half of the island was established by the Permanent Court of Arbitration of 1914, and it remains the international boundary between the successor states East Timor and Indonesia.

After WWII, Portugal abandoned any claims to east Timor, and a series of brutal uprisings occurred between the East Timorese and the Indonesian Government.

In late 1999, the administration of East Timor was taken over by the UN through the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The INTERFET deployment ended in February 2000 with the transfer of military command to the UN. By May 2002, over 205,000 refugees had returned, and East Timorese independence was formalised on 20 May 2002 with Xanana Gusmão sworn in as the country's first President. East Timor became a member of the UN in 2002.