Belu
Belu (also: Belos , Bellos or Bellum ) is a former province of Timor , in which the Portuguese combined the east of the island in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A member of the Magellan Expedition , Antonio Pigafetta , visited Timor briefly in 1522. He reports that there were four main kings of Timor who were brothers: Oibich, Lichisana, Suai and Canabaza . Oibich was the chief of the four. Oibich could be assigned to Wewiku , which is referred to in later sources as the base of the kingdom of Wehale . Suai is the capital of today's East Timorese municipality of Cova Lima and probably formed a double empire with Camenaça (Canabaza, also Kamenasa or Camenasse). Lichisana is equated with Liquiçá . Since Lichisana and Suai-Canabaza Wehale were tributary and all these empires were in the center and east of Timor, the Portuguese later grouped them together as the province of Belu, while the west was named Servião . Belu was the common name of the Tetum ethnic group , whose language is the Lingua Franca of the East. In contrast, the Baiquenos (Vaiquenos), now called Atoin Meto , dominated Servião .
From the mid-17th century, Portugal and the Netherlands competed for dominance on the island. When the Portuguese attempt to drive the Dutch from Kupang in the west of the island in 1749 ended in disaster, most of the regional rulers of West Timor signed treaties with the Dutch East India Company in 1756 . Including a certain Jacinto Correa , King of Wewiku-Wehale and Grand Duke of Belu , who also signed the dubious Treaty of Paravicini on behalf of many areas in central Timor . Fortunately for the Portuguese, Wehale was no longer powerful enough to pull the local rulers over to the side of the Dutch. So the eastern former vassals Wehales with the majority of Belus formed the colony of Portuguese Timor , while Wehale itself fell under Dutch rule.
A Portuguese source from 1769 lists the kingdoms of Belus: Lamaquine, Lanqueiroz, Balibo , Saneré, Simião, Baibao, Liquisa ( Liquiça ), Mahere, Fatuboro, Roadelle, Atossabe, Motael , Genovatte, Eramira, Sicas, Camanassa, Allas , Ramião, Humallara ( Uma Laran ), Cloco, Bibisuso , Tirismonte ( Tiro-Mauta ), Titiluro, Bibiluto , Luc ( Luca ), Corni, Loculata, Daslor ( Dilor ), Biquaque ( Viqueque ), Samoro , Dotte, Dille ( Dili ), Manatuto , Sifoi, Licoré, Lalupa, Vemasse Subdistrict , Tatoso, Sarau , Hera , Matarrufa and Maubara ( Maubere ). Maubara was the only empire that was allied with the Dutch.
See also
supporting documents
- Hans Hägerdal: Servião and Belu: Colonial conceptions and the geographical partition of Timor (PDF file; 338 kB)
- History of Timor - Technical University of Lisbon (PDF file; 805 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Hägerdal: Servião and Belu: Colonial conceptions and the geographical partition of Timor , University of Vaxjo ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 346 kB)
