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Asia East Timor

Guide to East Timor, family history and genealogy parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Welcome to the East Timor Page


---LOCATION---

East Timor is officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, and is a country in Maritime Southeast Asia. It is located in the Indonesian archipelago. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West 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.

---RELIGION---

Following the establishment of the Pagan Empire in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country.

Today, many religions are practiced in Burma. Religious edifices and orders have been in existence for many years. Festivals can be held on a grand scale. The Christian and Muslim populations do, however, face religious persecution and it is hard, if not impossible, for non-Buddhists to join the army or get government jobs, the main route to success in the country.

The religious population mix follows:

Buddhist:80%   Burmese folk religion: 6%   Protestant Christians: 5%   Muslim: 4%   Hindu: 2%   Roman Catholic Christians: 2%   Other:1%

---ECONOMY---

Because of the civil unrest that Myanmar has experienced over the past 50 years, the economy is really not very vibrant. Over the past few years, some smaller Chinese business entities have invested in the country, but nothing of major significance has occurred.

As in many locations in Asia, Myanmar has turned to trafficking in illegal drugs as a way of augmenting the economy. The country is the world's second largest producer of opium, accounting for 8% of entire world production and is a major source of illegal drugs, including amphetamines.

The country does have a number of natural resources it can export. Myanmar produces precious stones such as rubies, sapphires, pearls, and jade. Rubies are the biggest earner; 90% of the world's rubies come from the country, whose red stones are prized for their purity and hue. Thailand buys the majority of the country's gems. Burma's "Valley of Rubies", the mountainous Mogok area, 200 km (120 mi) north of Mandalay, is noted for its rare pigeon's blood rubies and blue sapphires.

---RECORDS---

At present all Birth, Marriage, and Death records in Myanmar are almost non-existent. What records that did exist during the British occupation have either been destroyed or lost.

The following links can be a start:

Burmese records

Family Search

Roots web Ancestry.com