Botanical Ink Wash Drawings, Jacques AragoBack to Gallery

Timor. History.

It is believed that descendants from at least three waves of migration still live in East Timor. The first were related to the principal indigenous groups of New Guinea and Australia, and arrived before 40,000 years ago. Around 3000 BC, Austronesians migrated to Timor, and are thought to be associated with the development of agriculture on the island. Thirdly, proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina. Before colonialism Timor was included in Chinese and Indian trading networks, being in the 14th century an exporter of aromatic sandalwood, slaves, honey and wax. Early European explorers report that the island had a number of small chiefdoms or princedoms in the early 16th century.
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 colonized western half of the island and the Portuguese colonized eastern half of the island was established by the Hague Treaty of 1916, and it remains the international boundary between the successor states East Timor and Indonesia. For the Portuguese, East Timor remained little more than a neglected trading post until the late nineteenth century, with minimal investment in infrastructure, health, and education. 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.

The Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, more commonly known as East Timor, is an island country in Southeast Asia. The East Timor geography is quite interesting. It is in the eastern half of the Timor Island which is between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. The country incorporates the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco and the enclave of Oecussi which is within the Indonesian West Timor. Except Indonesia, the closest neighbor of this country of 5,461 square kilometer is Australia.

The East Timor is actually a part of the Malay dry lands. The highest point in the country is Foho Tatamailau. The population of the country is pretty high. According to the last census, East Timor has 1,062,77 citizens. The growth rate of the country is 2.1%. This high population of the country often creates socio-economic problems for the citizen. The half of the total population is unemployed here in East Timor. The capital of the country is Dili situated in 08° 35' S, 125° 35' E. So the time difference between Timor National Time and Greenwich Mean Time is of 09.00 hours. East Timor is so popular Tourist spot allover the world yet. So the place doesn't really have any particular tourist season. But it is better to visit the country during May to November. It rains very little during that time and the tourists can surely enjoy the good bright sunlight.

East Timor is not a country rich in vegetation. But experts, however, have divided the flora in oriental and occidental groups. Here in East Timor, forests fail to perform any significant role in the economy. The sedimentary rocks found here don’t favor vegetal development. The Mangrove forest occupies a very small part of the forest, only 7,500 acres. However, we find some interesting animals in the local forests. The Komodo dragon, Dwarf Buffalo and Badak Jawa are all found in East Timor. The country also has some valuable natural resources like gold, petroleum, natural gas, manganese and marbles.