Abstract
The Democratic Republic of Timor Leste takes up the east side, and a small section of the north-west coast of the island of Timor, which is about 430 km from north of Australia. The word, ‘Timor Leste’ is a Portuguese term and the country is also referred to in Tetum as ‘Timor Lorosa’e’.
In the island’s long history, invaders and migrants have arrived from Asia, Europe and Africa. Today, Timor Leste has several ethnicities and languages. The two official languages, however, are Portuguese and Tetum. Timor Leste’s ethnic groups are of Malayo-Polynesian and Melanesian-Papuan ancestry. According to the 2004 Census national population was 923,198, over 50% of whom were under 20 years old (Government of Timor Leste 2006b; National Statistics Directorate. 2007a).
From the early 1500s Timor Leste was part of Portugal’s colonial sphere. In 1975, Indonesia absorbed the territory, renaming it as the province of Timor Timur. The locals voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999 and accepted independence in 2002. Indonesian invasion, occupation and relinquishment involved much human displacement, violence, death and destruction of property. Timor Leste is currently rebuilding politically, economically and socially with support from other countries. Its shares in undersea oil and gas reserves are a source of economic and strategic importance (CIA 2008).
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Bouma, G.D., Ling, R., Pratt, D. (2010). Timor Leste. In: Religious Diversity in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3389-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3389-5_5
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