Cailaco rebellion
 
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Location of Cailaco in East Timor |
The Cailaco Rebellion between 1719 and 1769 was one of the longest conflicts between Timorese rulers ( Liurai ) and the Portuguese colonial rulers. The Empire of Camenaça led the anti-Portuguese alliance to which Lolotoe , Cailaco , Lemac Hutu , Leohito (Leo-Hutu), Sanirin (Sanir), Atsabe , Leimea (Lei-Mean), Ai-Funaro , Deribate (Diribate) , Ermera (Hermera) and other empires belonged. Later, the Topasse , a mixed Portuguese-Malay population, continued the rebellion. At the end of the rebellion, Portugal had to give up its main Timorese base in Lifau and move it to Dili . For the Portuguese this meant the ultimate abandonment of West Timor .
The rebellion is named after the Timorese empire Cailaco, which was the headquarters of the rebels.
The Camenaça Pact
In 1719 the Liurais of about a dozen rich people from the two Timorese provinces met in Camenaça to form an alliance. A Portuguese report from 1727 describes the events: For the blood oath a black and white dog named Lebo was killed and its blood mixed with that of the rulers present and drunk by everyone. A holy sword was smeared with the mystical blood and kept in Camenaça. Several water buffalo were also sacrificed. The oath demanded loyalty to the point of death. The aim of the Camenaça Pact ( Camnace Pact ) was the expulsion of the Portuguese and Christianity as a whole, which was initially directed against the Topasse. 1722 warriors from Luca attacked the troop of Capitão-mor Joaquim de Matos and his Moradores on the way from Lifau to Cailaco, who collected the Fintas , the tribute payments of the Liurais for Portugal . No one was injured in the attack on the Portuguese side, but the rebels later killed two missionaries, priests Manuel Rodrigues and Manuel Vieira . In 1725 the rebellion broke out with all its might when the Liurai of Lolotoe refused to pay his fintas and the Portuguese collectors found it difficult to flee to Batugade . The rebels destroyed churches and murdered missionaries and converted Timorese. Governor António de Albuquerque Coelho (1722-1725) was besieged for three years by Topasse under Francisco da Hornay II in Lifau, who had joined the rebels.
The newly arrived Portuguese governor António Moniz de Macedo (1725 to 1729 and 1734 to 1739) tried to negotiate with the rebels, but then sent troops from Batugade and Dili to Cailaco. Here in the Marobo Valley , near the Marobo and Lóis rivers , 40,000 people lived relatively isolated. The Pedras de Cailaco (Rock of Cailaco), the steep walls of Mount Leolaco ( 1929 m ) offered the empire of Cailaco a natural fortress and were considered impregnable. On October 23, 1726, the Portuguese gathered a total of 4,000 men at the foot of the Leolaco, including Topasse under Francisco da Hornay and loyal Timorese. It is reported that women jumped down with their children so as not to be later sold as slaves , and that warriors drank the blood of animals from thirst and hunger. If a Timorese was caught, he was beheaded. The Portuguese counted 700 dead rebels on the battlefields, but after more than 40 days the Portuguese gave up the siege on December 8th, also due to heavy rain. After all, some rebellious Liurais gave up on January 13, 1727 and signed an alliance with the Portuguese. They also agreed to pay the Fintas again.
Governor Pedro de Melo (1729 to 1731) moved with 50 Portuguese and Macanese soldiers via Dili to Manatuto , where he arrived on October 18, 1730. Not only was he unable to drive out the rebellious warriors on site, he was besieged by 15,000 rebels in Manatuto for 85 days until he succeeded in breaking out on January 13, 1731. At least he managed an alliance with the Liurai of Manatuto and other rulers of the region. When Melo returned to Lifau after his near-debacle, he found the company there besieging Topasse, which had allied themselves with the rebellious Timorese. The Portuguese were in such a bad position that they had to feed on roots, leaves and powdered horse bones. The town was already being considered to burn down and give up, but luckily for the Portuguese, the new governor Pedro de Rego Barreto da Gama e Castro (1731 to 1734) arrived in time for the replacement with reinforcements from Macau. Lifau was liberated.
Gama e Castro then sailed to Dili, where, thanks to the contracts of his predecessor, he was able to enter into negotiations with the rebel leader and Topasse Francisco Fernandes Vaerella . A Portuguese garrison was set up again in Manatuto. As the negotiations dragged on, Gama e Castro returned to Lifau and made a stopover in Batugade. The base there had been abandoned by the Portuguese in the course of the rebellion. Gama e Castro persuaded the local rebel chief Dom Lourenço da Costa to give up. On September 19, 1731, Camenaça finally asked for peace, but in the same month Vaerella rebelled, supported by Vemasse . A peace treaty was signed on March 16, 1732, but Gama e Costa was only allowed to rest for a short time. New rebellions broke out several times.
When António Moniz de Macedo took office for his second term in 1734, he was greeted surprisingly friendly by Topasse leader Gaspar da Costa . Another alliance between the Portuguese and Topasse came about. In 1735 and 1745 the Topasse tried to drive the Dutch out of Timor and for the last time in 1749 together with Portuguese and Timorese troops. But the attack on Kupang failed and 40,000 warriors were killed in the battle of Penfui on November 7th. Including Gaspar da Costa. Other sources say he was not killed until April 1751, when the Liurais of Servião rose again. In 1752 the Dutch attacked the Amarasi Empire and the Noimuti Topasse Empire . This attack was led by the German Hans Albrecht von Plüskow , who was the Dutch commandant of Kupang. After all, a large part of the West Timorese rulers concluded an alliance with the Dutch in the Treaty of Paravicini .
In 1759, Governor Vicento Ferreira de Carvalho (1756 to 1759) decided to give up due to the situation and sell Lifau to the Dutch on his own initiative. When the Dutch wanted to take possession of the place under Hans Albrecht von Plüskow in 1760, they were faced with a Topasse force. From Plüskow was from Francisco da Hornay III. and António da Costa murdered. To what extent the new Portuguese governor Sebastião de Azevedo e Brito (1759 to 1760) was involved in the defense is stated in the sources contradicting itself.
Revolt of the Topasse
But the pro-Portuguese partisanship of Francisco da Hornay III. changed. In 1766, Francisco made an alliance with his relative António da Hornay in Malacca, the Netherlands, and ended the temporary division of the Topasse. The goal was now to drive out the Portuguese and to secure Timor for the Dutch. The success of this plan was to be limited as the Liurais in east Timor were hostile to both Portuguese and Dutch.
The first victim of the change of sides of Francisco was Governor Dionísio Gonçalves Rebelo Galvão (1763 to 1765), who was poisoned on November 28, 1765 by Francisco da Hornay III., António da Costa, Quintino da Conceição and Lourenço de Mello . Little is known about the circumstances. The Dominicans António de Boaventura and José Rodrigues Pereira then took over the administration of the colony until the new governor António José Teles de Meneses (1768 to 1776) arrived. But the Portuguese were now threatened in Lifau, since they were only supported by Manatuto with warriors. Teles de Meneses was forced to ask Macau for deliveries of rice in 1769 due to poor supplies, but the ship did not reach Lifau. The connections to the inland were interrupted by the Topasse and local Timorese. Teles de Meneses gave up Lifau on the night of August 11, 1769. A total of 1200 inhabitants were evacuated with the ships São Vicente and Santa Rosa ; half of them women and children. On the way east, the fort at Batugade was reinforced. Finally, Teles de Meneses began on October 10, 1769 with the expansion of Dilis as the new capital of the Portuguese on the Lesser Sunda Islands. The Bay of Dili was even a better anchorage than the coast at Lifau because it offered more protection from the east and west winds. In addition, the plain that extends in front of the coastal mountains made defense against enemies easier and rice could be grown for self-sufficiency. In Lifau, Francisco da Hornay and António da Costa finally took control of the region. Between the Dutch Kupang and the Portuguese area they now controlled 25 to 30 leguas of the coast with several important anchorages. Francisco da Hornay offered Lifau to the Dutch, but after careful consideration they refused.
Lifau fell into insignificance, the center of the region became the seat of the Topasse-Liurai Pante Macassar . Dili is now the capital of East Timor , which emerged from the Portuguese Timor colony .
Historical reports
The Portuguese Basilio de Se reports in detail about the rebellion. In addition, the archives contain the Planta de Cailacao from 1727, a map of the events with detailed graphical representations of the events. This unique map shows the defenses of the Timorese, the armament of the Portuguese troops and even the flora of Timor at that time.
See also
supporting documents
- James J. Fox: The Paradox of Powerlessness: Timor in Historical Perspective , December 9, 1996, Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University ( Memento of August 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF- File; 68 kB)
- Geoffrey C. Gunn: History of Timor - Technical University of Lisbon (PDF file; 805 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Hägerdal: Rebellions or factionalism? Timorese forms of resistance in an early colonial context, 1650-1769 ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2015 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.
- ↑ António de Albuquerque Coelho (Portuguese)
- ↑ Chronologie de l'histoire du Timor (1512-1945) suivie des événements récents (1975-1999) (French; PDF; 887 kB)
- ^ Frédéric Durand: Three centuries of violence and struggle in East Timor (1726-2008) , Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence
- ↑ James J. Fox, “The Paradox of Powerlessness: Timor in Historical Perspective,” December 9, 1996, Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University ( Memento of August 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 70 kB)
- ↑ History of Timor, page 45 ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 824 kB)
