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44-654: According to most legends, Sonbai originated from Wehali in the Tetun -speaking central parts of Timor , the classical political and cultural centre of gravitation on Timor. The ancestor of the line, who was a brother of the Liurai (ruler) of Wehali , migrated to the highlands of West Timor, where he married a daughter of a local Atoni lord, Kune, and inherited his lands. The various Atoni principalities tended to relate themselves genealogically to Sonbai, although they did not acknowledge him politically as their lord. Other legends assert that

88-602: A 400-strong Dutch-Australian force and large numbers of Timorese volunteers engaged them in a one-year guerrilla campaign . After the allied evacuation in February 1943 the East Timorese continued fighting the Japanese, with comparatively little collaboration with the enemy taking place. This assistance cost the civilian population dearly: Japanese forces burned many villages and seized food supplies. The Japanese occupation resulted in

132-481: A fertile plain which is well suited for varied agriculture. It belongs to the South Tetun -speaking area, which is also known as Belu . The southern Tetun have a matrilineal system. At the apex of the political system stood a "great lord" (Nai Bot) who held the title of Maromak Oan ("son of God"). His task was ritually passive, in a symbolic sense "female", and he kept an executive "male" regent or assistant by his side,

176-657: A fifth regency – Malaka – was in 2012 formed from the southern half of Belu Regency. Note that the administrative area has shrunk as Rote Ndao Regency (Rote and Ndoa islands to the southwest) and Sabu Raijua Regency (the Savu Islands further west) were split off in 2002 and 2009 respectively from Kupang Regency. The island accounts for 35.5% of the provincial population. East Timor is divided into thirteen municipalities, which in turn are subdivided into 65 administrative posts, 442 sucos (villages), and 2,225 aldeias (hamlets). Timor and its offshore islands such as Atauro ,

220-480: A former place of exile increasingly known for its beaches and coral , as well as Jaco along with Wetar and the other Barat Daya Islands to the northeast constitute the Timor and Wetar deciduous forests ecoregion . The natural vegetation was tropical dry broadleaf forests with an undergrowth of shrubs and grasses supporting a rich wildlife . However much of the original forest has been cleared for farming, especially on

264-438: A number of endemic species such as the distinctive Timor shrew and Timor rat . The northern common cuscus , a marsupial of Australasian origin occurs as well, but is thought to be introduced. The island have a great number of birds, mainly of Asian origin with some of Australasian origin. There is a total of 250 species of which twenty four are endemic, due to the relative isolation of Timor, including five threatened species;

308-457: Is Indonesian , although Uab Meto is the local Atoni language spoken throughout Kupang , South Central Timur and North Central Timur Regencies. Indonesian, a standardized dialect of Malay, is also widely spoken and understood in East Timor. Christianity is the dominant religion throughout the island of Timor, at about 90% of the population. However, it is unequally distributed as West Timor

352-484: Is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor in the eastern part and Indonesia in the western part. The Indonesian part, known as West Timor , constitutes part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara . Within West Timor lies an exclave of East Timor called Oecusse District . The island covers an area of 30,777 square kilometres (11,883 square miles). The name is a variant of timur , Malay for "east"; it

396-480: Is 58% Protestant and 37% Catholic, and East Timor is 98% Catholic and 1% Protestant. Islam and animism make up most of the remainder at about 5% each across the island. Timor is located north of Australia and Oceania , and is one of the easternmost Sunda Islands . Together with Sumba , Babar and associated smaller islands, Timor forms the southern outer archipelago of the Lesser Sunda Islands with

440-452: Is a unique convergent margin where a thick continental margin is forced under thinner oceanic crust. The result is a large accretionary wedge of imbricated thrust sheets composed of Cretaceous and Tertiary distal material of the Australian continental margin thrust on top of Australian continental shelf deposits. Timor is well known for its structural complexity. Debate continues about

484-514: Is noted for its sandalwood. Later on, in the 14th-century Javanese Nagarakretagama , Canto 14, Timur is identified as an island within Majapahit 's realm. Timor was incorporated into ancient Javanese , Chinese and Indian trading networks of the 14th century as an exporter of aromatic sandalwood , slaves , honey and wax , and was settled by both the Portuguese , in the end of the 16th century, and

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528-652: Is so called because it lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands . Mainland Australia is less than 500 km away, separated by the Timor Sea. Anthropologists identify eleven distinct ethno-linguistic groups in Timor. The largest are the Atoni of western Timor and the Tetum of central and eastern Timor. Most indigenous Timorese languages belong to the Timor–Babar branch of

572-451: Is the name of a traditional kingdom at the southern coast of Central Timor , now in Indonesia and East Timor . It is often mentioned together with its neighbouring sister kingdom, as Wewiku-Wehali (Waiwiku-Wehale). Wehali held a position of ritual seniority among the many small Timorese kingdoms. Wehali is centred at the village of Laran , (now modern-day Wehali, Indonesia), situated on

616-584: The Austronesian languages spoken throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Although lexical evidence is lacking, the non-Austronesian languages of Timor are thought to be related to languages spoken on Halmahera and in Western New Guinea . Some are so mixed that it is difficult to tell which family they descend from. The official languages of East Timor are Tetum and Portuguese , while in West Timor it

660-734: The Dutch , based in Kupang, in the mid-17th century. As the nearest island with a European settlement at the time, Timor was the destination of William Bligh and seamen loyal to him following the infamous Mutiny on the Bounty in 1789. It was also where survivors of the wrecked HMS  Pandora , sent to arrest the Bounty mutineers, landed in 1791 after that ship sank in the Great Barrier Reef . The island has been politically divided in two parts for centuries. The Dutch and Portuguese fought for control of

704-472: The Liurai ("surpassing the land"). According to oral tradition Wehali was the first land that appeared from the waters which once covered the earth, which made it the centre or origin of the world from a Timorese perspective. Other traditions mention a migration from Sina Mutin Malaka (Chinese White Malacca) in ancient times. The historical background of this is not clear, but the account of Antonio Pigafetta of

748-587: The Magellan expedition, who visited Timor in 1522, confirms the importance of the Wewiku-Wehali kingdom. In the 17th century the ruler of Wehali was described as "an emperor, whom all the kings on the island adhere to with tribute, as being their sovereign". He entertained friendly contacts with the Muslim kingdom of Makassar , but his power was checked by devastating invasions by the Portuguese in 1642 and 1665. Wehali

792-515: The exclave of Oecussi-Ambeno in West Timor. Although Portugal was neutral during World War II , in December 1941, Portuguese Timor was occupied by Australian and Dutch forces, which were expecting a Japanese invasion. This Australian military intervention dragged Portuguese Timor into the Pacific War but it also slowed the Japanese expansion. When the Japanese did occupy Timor, in February 1942,

836-524: The slaty cuckoo-dove , Wetar ground dove , Timor green pigeon , Timor imperial pigeon , and iris lorikeet . Saltwater crocodiles are found in the wetlands whereas reticulated pythons can be found in forests and grasslands of Timor. However, the population sizes and status are unknown. Frog species in Timor include Duttaphrynus melanostictus , Hoplobatrachus tigerinus , Limnonectes timorensis , Litoria everetti , and Polypedates leucomystax . A new species of microlyhid frog belonging to

880-634: The 1750s Wehali approached the VOC, and in 1756 the Liurai Jacinto Correia signed a contract with the Dutch diplomat Johannes Andreas Paravicini . According to this contract the Liurai was the overlord over a large number of Timorese kingdoms, including Dirma , Laclo , Luca , Viqueque , Corara and Banibani. The Dutch hoped that the contract would automatically include most of East Timor in their sphere of power, but

924-571: The Portuguese colonial towns of Dili the capital, and Baucau in East Timor. Poor roads make transport to inland areas difficult, especially in East Timor. Sources of revenue include gas and oil in the Timor Sea, coffee growing and tourism. Timor is an aerially exposed portion of the Banda Forearc formed by collision of Eurasian oceanic crust and continental crust of the Australian plate . This

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968-468: The achievement of independence for Indonesia in 1949, the traditional forms of governance were phased out, but the traditional elite groups still retain an amount of local importance. Timor Timor ( Portuguese : Ilha de Timor , Tetum : Illa Timór , Indonesian : Pulau Timor ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia , in the north of the Timor Sea . The island

1012-458: The coasts of Timor and on the smaller islands like Atauro. Apart from one large block in the centre of Timor only patches remain. This ecoregion is part of the Wallacea area with a mixture of plants and animals of Asian and Australasian origin; it lies in the western part of Wallacea, in which Asian species predominate. Many trees are deciduous or partly deciduous, dropping their leaves during

1056-405: The colonial authorities before 1898. Brief military clashes took place in 1900 and 1906. The Dutch proceeded to restructure the administrative divisions of Belu in 1915-16, trying to use traditional rulers as zelfbestuurders (rajas under colonial surveillance). The Maromak Oan, Baria Nahak, died in 1925, and the Dutch unsuccessfully tried to use his nephew Seran Nahak as Raja of Belu in 1925-30. After

1100-456: The deaths of 40,000–70,000 Timorese. Following the military coup in Portugal in 1974 the Portuguese began to withdraw from Timor. The subsequent internal unrest and fear of the communist Fretilin party led to an invasion by Indonesia , who opposed the concept of an independent East Timor. In 1975, East Timor was annexed by Indonesia and became known as Timor Timur or 'Tim-Tim' for short. It

1144-579: The dry season, there are also evergreen and thorn trees in the woodland. Typical trees of the lowland slopes include Sterculia foetida , Calophyllum teysmannii and Aleurites moluccanus . During the Pleistocene epoch , Timor was the abode of extinct giant monitor lizards similar to the Komodo dragon . Like Flores , Sumba and Sulawesi , Timor was also once a habitat of extinct dwarf stegodonts , relatives of elephants . Fauna of today includes

1188-570: The first Sonbai descended from the sky. Historically, Sonbai is documented in European colonial sources since 1649. At that time it was a politically expansive realm which allied with the Portuguese , who had by this time started to establish their direct influence on Timor. In 1655 Sonbai switched sides and made a contract with the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), the enemies of the Portuguese colonialists. Serious defeats in 1657–58 at

1232-418: The genus Kaloula has also recently been discovered in Timor. Late Cretaceous fossils of marine vertebrates are known from East Timor deposits. These include mosasaurs such as Globidens timorensis , lamniforme sharks, coelacanths and the choristodere Champsosaurus . The earliest historical record about Timor island is the 13th-century Chinese Zhu Fan Zhi , where it is called Ti-wu and

1276-535: The hands of the Portuguese Topasses , led to a division of the realm. One part of the Sonbai population migrated to Kupang , where the Dutch kept a fort since 1653. This group, known as Lesser Sonbai ( Sonbai Kecil ), was one of the so-called five loyal allies of the Dutch, together with the princes of Kupang-Helong , Amabi , Amfoan and Taebenu . This group was finally merged with other principalities to form

1320-527: The inner islands of Flores , Alor and Wetar to the north, and beyond them Sulawesi . Timor is the principal island of the Outer Banda Arc , which is being uplifted by arc-continent collision with the Australian continent . Timor consists mostly of rocks from the Australian continental margin that are accreted to the Banda Arc. It occupies a forearc position in front of the active volcanic arc that forms

1364-542: The interior of West Timor, a Sonbai principality remained under Portuguese suzerainty after 1658. The rulers, known to the Europeans as " emperor ( keizer , imperador )", usually had an inactive role, while the executive governance was done by their main lieutenants of the Kono family. Therefore, the inland principality was often known as Amakono (Ama = father). The realm was also known as Greater Sonbai ( Sonbai Besar ). In 1748-49

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1408-569: The island include the North and South Laclo Rivers in East Timor. The mountains, which reach up to nearly 3000m elevation are one of the most mature parts of the Banda Range, which stretches from Sumba to Seram. Mutis is the highest mountain in West Timor and Ramelau is the highest mountain in Timor Leste. The largest towns on the island are the provincial capital of Kupang in West Timor, Indonesia and

1452-407: The island until it was divided by treaty in 1859, but they still did not formally resolve the matter of the boundary until 1912. West Timor , was known as Dutch Timor until 1949 when it became Indonesian Timor , a part of the nation of Indonesia which was formed from the old Netherlands East Indies ; while East Timor was known as Portuguese Timor , a Portuguese colony until 1975. It includes

1496-582: The islands in the Flores region to the north. The orientation of the main axis of the island also differs from its neighbors. These features have been explained as the result of being on the northern edge of the Indo-Australian Plate as it meets the Eurasian Plate and pushes into Southeast Asia . The climate includes a long dry season (April-November) with hot winds blowing over from Australia. Rivers on

1540-660: The larger zelfbesturend landschap (self-ruling territory) of Kupang in 1917. The new Kupang principality was governed by members of the Nisnoni family, a side-branch of Sonbai, surviving the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies in 1942-45 and the Indonesian Revolution in 1945–49. Its population was 49,168 inhabitants in 1949. In 1955 the new Indonesian republic ended the rule of governing princes (raja) in Kupang. In

1584-418: The nature of deformation of continental crust. Some researchers advocate shallow thin-skinned deformation, while others favor shallow thin-skinned with some basement deformation. Timor also has potential for significant petroleum development. Onshore and offshore exploration efforts have been attempted with varying success. Timor host dozens of natural oil and gas seeps with most exploration concentrated on

1628-645: The north end of the Island where oil seeps are prevalent. Carbon rich shales from the island have been found with TOC up to 23%. Such shales buried deep in the subsurface could act as high-quality source rocks . Jurassic marine shoreface and turbidite sands of the Plover and Militia Formations are proven reservoirs in the North Australian Shelf. Over pressured Upper Jurassic silt and mudstones shales may also provide adequate seals for hydrocarbons. Research focusing on

1672-511: The offer of autonomy within Indonesia. The UN then temporarily governed East Timor until it became independent as Timor-Leste in 2002 under the presidency of Falintil leader Xanana Gusmão . Political strife continued, as the new nation coped with poverty. Nevertheless, the UN presence was much reduced. A group of people on the Indonesian side of Timor have been reported active since 2001 trying to establish

1716-452: The ritual rather than executive authority of Wehali was insufficient for this. In effect, Wehali vacillated between the Dutch and Portuguese sides for the next century. A colonial borderline on Timor was finally agreed on in 1859, which left Wehali's ruling center on the Dutch side. A Dutch official was posted in Atapupu on the north coast of Belu in 1862, but the south coast was not surveyed by

1760-473: The ruler of Greater Sonbai defected from Portugal and escaped to Kupang, submitting to the Dutch. Later on, in 1782, the Greater Sonbai congregation again broke with the Dutch and re-established an autonomous realm in the interior. It approximately covered the regions Fatuleu , Mollo and Miomaffo . After 1867 this realm began to break up, as minor rajas asserted their independence. The last pretender-ruler

1804-614: The structure of deformed basement rocks provides insight into possible onshore and offshore structural and stratigraphic traps for future petroleum development. West Timor is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. It was formerly split into the City of Kupang (a kabupaten or regency-level administrative area) and four regencies (kabupaten); from west to east these are: Kupang , Timor Tengah Selatan (South Central Timor), Timor Tengah Utara (North Central Timor) and Belu . However,

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1848-490: Was captured by Dutch colonial troops in 1906, bringing a definite end to the principality. The Dutch and Portuguese gave the rulers of the Sonbai Besar and Sonbai Kecil the lofty title of 'emperor' ( keizer , imperador ), which indicates that the two colonial powers both understood the importance of maintaining control over the ritually prestigious princes. Wehali Wehali ( Wehale , Waihali , Veale )

1892-473: Was now brought inside the Portuguese sphere of power but appears to have had limited contact with its colonial suzerain. The Portuguese grip over western Timor receded greatly after the 1749 Battle of Penfui , and the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC), which had hitherto been confined to Kupang , expanded its sphere of power over large parts of the island. During

1936-518: Was regarded by Indonesia as the country's 27th province, but this was never recognised by the United Nations (UN) or Portugal . The people of East Timor, through Falintil the military wing of Fretilin, resisted 35,000 Indonesian troops in a prolonged guerrilla campaign, but the whole island remained under Indonesian control until a referendum held in 1999 under a UN-sponsored agreement between Indonesia and Portugal in which its people rejected

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