Шығыс Тимор: Португалия отарлығының тарихы (1702-1975/1999)

1702–1975/1999 Portuguese colony in eastern Timor

Portuguese Timor (Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the region were the Portuguese in 1515. Dominican friars established a presence on the island in 1556, and the territory was declared a Portuguese colony in 1702. Following the beginning of the Carnation Revolution (a Lisbon instigated decolonisation process) in 1975, East Timor was invaded by Indonesia. However, the invasion was not recognized as legal by the United Nations (UN), which continued to regard Portugal as the legal Administering Power of East Timor. The independence of East Timor was finally achieved in 2002 following a UN administered transition period.

Prior to the arrival of European colonial powers, the island of Timor was part of the trading networks that stretched between India and China and incorporating Maritime Southeast Asia. The island's large stands of fragrant sandalwood were its main commodity. It was sandalwood that attracted European explorers to the island in the early sixteenth century, and early European presence was limited to trade. The first European powers to arrive in the area were the Portuguese in the early sixteenth century followed by the Dutch in the late sixteenth century. Both came in search of the fabled Spice Islands of Maluku. In 1515, the Portuguese first landed near modern Pante Macassar. Dutch and Portuguese sources relate that the island was divided into two collections of kingdoms. Around sixteen kingdoms were grouped into Servião in the west, while in the east around fifty kingdoms were part of Belos. In 1556 a group of Dominican friars established the village of Lifau. Trade was controlled by Portuguese settlements on other Lesser Sunda Islands. The first Portuguese settlement in the area was set up on the nearby island of Solor in the 1560s. Due to the lack of direct Portuguese control in the area, with limited support from both Malacca and Goa, the sandalwood trade fell under the control of the Dominican missionaries. These exports were crucial for the prosperity of Macau. In 1613, the Dutch took control of the western part of the island. The Portuguese introduced maize as a food crop and coffee as an export crop. Timorese systems of tax and labour control were preserved, through which taxes were paid through their labour and a portion of the coffee and sandalwood crop. The Portuguese introduced mercenaries into Timorese communities and Timorese chiefs hired Portuguese soldiers for wars against neighbouring tribes. With the use of the Portuguese musket, Timorese men became deer hunters and suppliers of deer horn and hide for export. The Portuguese introduced Catholicism to Portuguese Timor, as well as the Latin writing system, the printing press, and formal schooling. by Caetano de Melo e Castro, the Viceroy of Goa, ending the autonomy of the Dominican missions. In 1716 the Viceroy of Macau, César de meneses, banned the sale of Timorese sandalwood to non Portuguese areas, creating tension with the Topasses. In 1718 governor Francisco de Melo e Castro, Governador de Timor e Macau was excommunicated by bishop pt, leading the governor to flee, the bishop to take over. This buildup of tension following more direct rule led to the leaders of some local kingdoms meeting in the kingdom of Camenassa on the southern coast, coming to an agreement to throw off Portuguese authority. A renewal of this rebellion in 1725 led to a campaign by Portuguese forces and allies from the north coast. This shift was accompanied by renewed relations between Portugal and more Eastern kingdoms, and control in Maubara became again contested. The definitive border was established by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1914 and ratified in 1916; it remains the international boundary between East Timor and Indonesia. The 1859 border treaty was not implemented all at once, with local transfers out of sync with the official ratification in August 1860. Rebellions against Portuguese rule broke out to the east and west of Dili in 1861. The autonomy and persistent rebellions of many kingdoms was viewed as an embarrassment, a view influenced by rebellions in Africa and the humiliation of the 1890 British Ultimatum.

Although Portugal was neutral during World War II, in December 1941, Portuguese Timor was occupied by a small British, Australian and Dutch force, to preempt a Japanese invasion. However, the Japanese did invade in the Battle of Timor in February 1942. Under Japanese occupation, the borders of the Dutch and Portuguese were ignored with Timor island being made a single Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) administration zone.

Following World War II, the Portuguese promptly returned to reclaim their colony, while Dutch Timor became part of Indonesia as Indonesian Timor, when it secured its independence in 1949. Keen to maintain its colonies under the ideology of Lusotropicalism, Portugal formally declared Timor as an Overseas province. A small increase in education, infrastructure, and health development was coupled with increased repression. The international pressure for decolonisation and unrest in Portuguese Africa had little impact internally in Portuguese Timor, where identities remained linked to local kingdoms. The role of the Catholic Church in Portuguese Timor grew following the Portuguese government handing over the education of the Timorese to the Church in 1941. In post war Portuguese Timor, primary and secondary school education levels significantly increased, albeit on a very low base. Although illiteracy in 1973 was estimated at 93 percent of the population, the small educated elite of Portuguese Timorese produced by the Church in the 1960s and 1970s became the independence leaders during the Indonesian occupation. It was formed by members of the existing National Action Party and plantation owners. Fretilin, formed by trade unionists and anti colonialists, and later declared itself "the only legitimate representative of the people". A third party, APODETI, emerged advocating Portuguese Timor's integration with Indonesia expressing concerns that an independent East Timor would be economically weak and vulnerable. Smaller political parties included the Association of Timorese Heroes, a party advocating union with Australia, and the Timorese Labour Party. The rapid political changes fed down to the local level, where political allegiance was affected by existing internal divisions and intra suco divisions. On 14 November 1974, Mário Lemos Pires an Army officer was appointed by the new Portuguese Government as Governor and Commander in Chief of Portuguese Timor. Meanwhile, the political dispute between the Portuguese Timorese parties soon gave rise to an armed conflict, that included the participation of members of the Colonial Police and Timorese soldiers of the Portuguese Army. In August, a UDT faction seized control of government buildings in Dili and began to arrest members of Fretilin. While hundreds were arrested, most of the Fretilin leadership escaped south to Aileu. While there were some similar actions in other towns, UDT was unable to build upon its initial surprise action. Fretilin, with the support of much of the former colonial armed forces, began a counter attack on 20 August. Unable to control the conflict with the few Portuguese troops that he had at his disposal, Lemos Pires decided to leave Dili with his staff and transfer the seat of the administration to Atauro Island (located 25 km off Dili) in late August 1975. At the same time, he requested Lisbon to send military reinforcements, the request being responded with the sending of a warship, the NRP Afonso Cerqueira, which arrived in Portuguese Timorese waters in early October. On 28 November 1975, Fretilin unilaterally declared the colony's independence, as the Democratic Republic of East Timor (República Democrática de Timor Leste). Representatives of UDT and APODETI, encouraged by Indonesian intelligence, declared that the territory should become part of Indonesia. On 7 December 1975, the Indonesian Armed Forces launched an invasion of East Timor. At 3:00 a. m., the two Portuguese corvettes, the NRP João Roby and NRP Afonso Cerqueira, anchored near Atauro, detected on the radar a high number of unidentified air and naval targets approaching. They soon identified the targets as Indonesian military aircraft and warships, which initiated an assault against Dili. Lemos Pires and his staff then left Atauro, embarked on the Portuguese warships, and headed to Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. The João Roby and Afonso Cerqueira were ordered to continue patrolling the waters around the former Portuguese Timor, in preparation of possible military action to respond to the Indonesian invasion, constituting the naval task force UO 20.1.2 (latter renamed FORNAVTIMOR). Portugal sent a third warship to the region, the NRP Oliveira e Carmo, which arrived on 31 January 1976 and replaced the NRP Afonso Cerqueira. The Portuguese warships would continue in the region until May 1976, when the remaining NRP Oliveira e Carmo left, going back to Lisbon, at a time when a military action to expel the Indonesian forces was clearly seen as unviable. On 17 July 1976, Indonesia formally annexed East Timor, declaring it as its 27th province and renaming it Timor Timur. The United Nations, however, did not recognise the annexation, continuing to consider Portugal as the legal Administering Power of what under international law was still Portuguese Timor. Following the end of Indonesian occupation in 1999, and a United Nations administered transition period, East Timor became formally independent 20 May 2002.

The first Timorese currency was the Portuguese Timorese pataca, introduced in 1894. From 1959, the Portuguese Timorese escudo linked to the Portuguese escudo was used. In 1975, the currency ceased to exist as East Timor was annexed by Indonesia and began using the Indonesian rupiah.

Boxer, C. R. "Portuguese Timor: A Rough Island Story, 1515–1960." History Today (May 1960) 19#5) pp. 349–355. Indonesia. Department of Foreign Affairs. Decolonization in East Timor. Jakarta: Department of Information, Republic of Indonesia, 1977. .