From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timor
Political Division of Timor
Geography
Location	South East Asia
Coordinates	9°14′S, 124°56′E
Archipelago	Lesser Sunda Islands
Area	30,777 km²
Highest point	Ramelau 2,963 m
Administration
East Timor
Indonesia
Province	East Nusa Tenggara
Demographics
Population	2,220,000 (as of 2000)
Density	72/km²/km²

Timor is an island at the south end of the Malay Archipelago, divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara with a surface of 11,883 sq mi (30,777 km²). The name is a variant of timur, Malay for “east”; it is so called because it is at the east end of a chain of islands.

Contents 1 Language 2 Geography 3 Flora and fauna 4 History 5 See also 6 External links

See also: Languages of East Timor and Tetun

The official languages of East Timor are Tetun and Portuguese, while in West Timor it is Indonesian.

To the south and southeast of Timor is Oceania. To its northwest is the island of Sulawesi, and to its west, the island of Sumba. To the west-northwest of Timor are the islands of Flores and Alor, and to its northeast are the Barat Daya Islands, including Wetar.

Timor has older geology and lacks the volcanic nature of the Lesser Sunda Islands. 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 pushes into the South East Asia.

Timor, together with the Lesser Sunda Islands to the northwest and the smaller islands to the northeast, is covered by tropical dry broadleaf forests. Many trees are deciduous or partly deciduous, dropping their leaves during the dry season. Timor, the Barat Daya Islands, and the smaller islands to the northeast of Timor constitute the Timor and Wetar deciduous forests ecoregion.

During the Pleistocene epoch, Timor was the abode of extinct giant monitor lizards similar to the Komodo dragon. Like Flores and Sulawesi, Timor was also once a habitat of extinct dwarf stegodonts, relatives of elephants.

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: West Timor, which was known as Dutch Timor from the 1800s until 1949 when it became Indonesian Timor, a part of the nation of Indonesia which was formed from the old Netherlands East Indies; and East Timor which was known as Portuguese Timor from 1596 until 1975. It includes the enclave of Oecussi-Ambeno in West Timor. The Netherlands and Portugal did not formally resolve the matter of the boundary until 1912.

Japanese forces occupied the whole island from 1942 to 1945. They were resisted in a guerrilla campaign led initially by Australian commandos. (See Battle of Timor.)

Following the uprising against colonial rule an Indonesian invasion in 1975, East Timor was annexed by Indonesia and was known as Timor Timur or 'Tim-Tim' for short. It was regarded by Indonesia as the country's 27^th province, but this was never recognised by the United Nations or Portugal. The people of East Timor resisted Indonesian forces in a prolonged guerilla campaign. (See: Indonesian rule in East Timor). Following a referendum held in 1999, under a UN sponsored agreement between Indonesia and Portugal, in which its people rejected the offer of autonomy within Indonesia, East Timor achieved independence in 2002 and is now officially known as Timor-Leste.

One of the greatest fears of the Indonesian Government concerning East Timor has always been the possibility of the western part of the island being encouraged, after the eastern part's independence, to attempt to join the latter in a fully independent island-nation. Indonesian intelligence confirmed the arousal of a Timor Raya (Great Timor) movement, active since 2001, in the island's western side. [1]

• Great Timor
• Timor (song)

• East Timor Law Journal Publishes available English translations of the laws of the National Parliament, the Government, UNTAET legislation, legal articles & research sources.
• Minding the Timor Gap from Dollars & Sense