Nusa Tenggara Timur

Nusa Tenggara Timur
Basic data
Area :	47,876 km²
Residents :	4,679,316
Population density :	98 inhabitants / km²
Capital :	Kupang
governor	Frans Lebu Raya
Location in Indonesia
Website :	www.nttprov.go.id

Nusa Tenggara Timur (German Ost-Nusa-Tenggara or Eastern Lesser Sunda Islands ) is an Indonesian province in the Nusa Tenggara region, the Lesser Sunda Islands . It borders the state of East Timor .

geography

The province consists of over 550 islands, the largest of which are Flores , Sumba and Timor (of which only the western part belongs to Indonesia). Other islands are Adonara , Alor , Komodo , Pantar , Raijua , Roti , Sawu , Semau and others. The capital of the province is Kupang in West Timor.

population

Unlike in most other regions of Indonesia, 91% of the population is Christian. About 56% are Catholics , a result of the Portuguese missionary work in the 17th and 18th centuries. Dutch missionaries came to the area in the 19th and 20th centuries, making 35% of the population Protestants . The approximately 8% Muslims have mostly immigrated from other regions of Indonesia. Smaller minorities follow Hinduism and Buddhism . Animistic practices and traditions are particularly widespread among the late Christianized peoples .

Administrative division

Flag of East Nusa Tenggara

Administrative district	Seat of government	location
Kupang (surrounding area)	Oelamasi
Alor	Kalabahi
Belu	Atambua
The End	The End
Lembata	Lewoleba
Malaka	Pray
Manggarai	Downdraft
Nagekeo	Mbay
Ngada	Najawa
North Central Timor (Timor Tengah Utara)	Kefamenanu
East Flores (Flores Timur)	Larantuka
East Manggarai (Manggarai Timur)	Borong
East Sumba (Sumba Timur)	Waingapu
Red Ndao	Baa
Sabu Raijua	Sabu Barat
Sikka	Maumere
Southwest Umba (Sumba Barat Daya)	Tambolaka
South Central Timor (Timor Tengah Selatan)	Soe
Western Sumba (Sumba Barat)	Waikabubak
West Manggarai (Manggarai Barat)	Labuan Bajo
Central Sumba (Sumba Tengah)	Waibakul

city	location
Kupang

history

See also : History of East Timor

Portuguese fortress on Solor

Several waves of colonization crossed the region. It is believed that Vedo-Austronesian peoples were around 40,000 to 20,000 BC. Reached Timor from the north and west during the last ice age. At that time, the Great Sunda Islands were connected to the Asian continent by land bridges , and the way across the sea to Timor was significantly shorter. The immigrants were comparable to the Veddas in present-day Sri Lanka and appear to have the same ancestry. Their descendants, the Atoin Meto (Atoni) , probably represent the original population of Timor and are characterized by very dark skin and straight, black hair. They make up the majority of the population in the west of the island. They were followed by Melanesians who lived around 3000 BC. BC to Timor and finally various Austronesian groups, originally from southern China and northern Indochina.

Although some Indonesian publications of the 1970s state that the Srivijaya Empire (7th century to 13th century) extended as far as Timor, there are no sources to prove this. Even Bali and the east of Java did not belong to this empire, although these were located west of today's province of East Nusa Tenggara and were Hindu and Buddhist in character. Presumably, Javanese kingdoms prevented the Srivijaya Empire from expanding eastward. It is possible, however, that Srivijaya's traders reached the region. Dutch historians report that Timorese sandalwood was transported to China and India through the Strait of Malacca as early as the 10th century .

The Chinese overseas trade official Zhao Rukuo named Timor a place rich in sandalwood in 1225. Santalum album is not only found on Timor, but also on various Pacific islands , Madagascar , Australia and India, but only Timor, Sumba and Solor provided the highest quality of white sandalwood . The trade was conducted by Malay, Chinese and later also Arab traders. They bought sandalwood, slaves , honey and beeswax in the area . As local trade flourished, local ruling families emerged. The traders did not settle on Timor, which is far from the trade routes between China, India and the large islands, but only stayed as long as they had to to do their business.

In the heroic epic Nagarakertagama of the Majapahit empire, which reached its zenith in the middle of the 14th century, a long list of tributary vassal states of Majapahit is given. Timor is one of them. However, the Portuguese scribe Tomé Pires noted in the 16th century that all the islands east of Java were named Timor, as the local language uses the word "Timor" to denote the east. After a century, Majapahit's power fell due to disputes between the Hindu princes and the spread of Islam in Malaya , northeast Sumatra and northern Java. Muslim Malacca gained power, so that the Javanese ports also lost importance. The Chinese traders disappeared almost simultaneously between 1368 and 1405. The reason was the self-chosen isolation of China from the outside world . When China forbade its traders from foreign trade a second time between 1550 and 1567, the Portuguese initially took over the trade routes between the Middle Kingdom and Timor.

Portuguese sphere of influence on the Lesser Sunda Islands in the 16th and 17th centuries

The Portuguese Afonso de Albuquerque conquered the sultanate of Malacca to the north on August 15, 1511. This made Portugal an important base for trade with the Lesser Sunda Islands and especially the Moluccas , the main goal of Portuguese expansion in Southeast Asia. In order to find the islands called the Spice Islands, an expedition of three ships under António de Abreu was dispatched the following November . After the ships reached the Moluccas, they turned to the southwest and in 1512 were the first Europeans to reach Timor, Solor and Alor. A Portuguese settlement is said to have been founded on Solor back then, the nucleus of the Portuguese colonies on the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Initially, the Portuguese had no administration, military garrisons or trading posts on Timor. These were built up gradually in response to the threat posed by the Dutch, who a few decades later began to expand their influence in the region. In the first years some soldiers were hired under a captain for Solor. From 1575 an armed ship with 20 soldiers was stationed here and from 1595 Goa officially assigned the post of Capitão, who took over the duties of governor for the region - much to the displeasure of the Dominicans, who saw their rights restricted. The first Capitão Goa was Antonio Viegas . In 1586 large parts of Timor were declared a colony of Portuguese Timor .

On April 20, 1613, the Dutch under Apollonius Schotte conquered the fortress on Solor. The Portuguese evaded to Larantuka in the east of Flores . Solor switched back and forth between the two colonial powers several times over the course of the next few decades, while Larantuka became the new Portuguese center of the region. From Larantuka, the Topasse controlled the trade network in the region, especially the lucrative sandalwood trade. The topasse, also called Bidau, Larantuqueiros or black Portuguese , were descendants of Portuguese soldiers, sailors and traders who married women from Solor and Flores. According to Dutch reports, the Topasse ruled the ports on the north coast of Timor from Larantuka as early as 1623.

Picture from the colonial times: Two girls from Worbain, Alor

The first Dutch post on Timor was established in Kupang in 1640. In 1681 the Dutch conquered the island of Roti, from where slaves were brought to Timor. In addition, the Dutch recruited soldiers for their army and built schools on Roti after the local ruler converted to Christianity in 1729. The Rotinese became a well-educated elite. In order to use this as a counterbalance to the Timorese, the Dutch encouraged their immigration to West Timor, so that they and their language are still present here today. From 1756, after the Battle of Penfui , the Netherlands had at least nominally fought for suzerainty over West Timor.

In 1797 the English tried to occupy Kupang because it was feared that France might establish itself here . The British were driven out by the Dutch commandant with the help of locals and slaves. During the Napoleonic Wars , the English succeeded in occupying Kupang in 1811. In 1812 British control was extended to all of Dutch West Timor. Only after the return of the Orange to the Dutch throne did the Dutch officially get their Timorese possessions back on October 7, 1816.

In 1851 the Portuguese governor José Joaquim Lopes de Lima sold the remaining Portuguese territories and claims to the Lesser Sunda Islands to the Netherlands for 200,000 florins without authorization from Lisbon , apart from the core colony Portuguese Timor. Lisbon did not recognize the sale and had Lopes arrested. He died on the way back to Europe. From 1854 the agreements were renegotiated. The sale was finally confirmed in the Lisbon Treaty . The ratification took place in 1859. The final demarcation between the Dutch East Indies and Portuguese Timor did not take place until 1914. However, until 1915 the Dutch had to constantly suppress revolts that broke out on Timor, Flores and other islands almost every year. Often there was only a formal Dutch sovereignty, while the local rulers (Raja) had the real power to govern locally.

Between 1942 and 1945 the Japanese occupied the islands in the Pacific War . After the Indonesian declaration of independence on August 17, 1945, the Dutch-Indonesian War (1947/48) began. East Nusa Tenggara was never under the control of the independence movement. In 1949 the Netherlands recognized Indonesia's sovereignty, including over East Nusa Tenggara.

The local administration remained in the hands of the local rulers until 1958. Despite their later disempowerment, their families still have great influence in society today.

From 1975 to 1999, Indonesia occupied neighboring East Timor. In an independence referendum , the local population decided in favor of independence from Indonesia. During and after the crisis in East Timor in 1999 , 250,000 East Timorese were deported to West Timor or fled here. While most of them returned to their homeland, in 2005 there were still 30,000 refugees living in the Indonesian West Timor. At the border between the two countries there are always minor incidents because some small border sections have not yet been precisely defined.

Governors

No.	governor	Term of office
1	J. Lala Mental	1960-1965
2	El Tari	1966–1978 (†)
in charge	Wang Suwandi	April 1978 - June 16, 1978
3	Ben Mboi	1978-1983
4th	Hendrik Fernandez	1988-1993
5	Herman Musakabe	1993-1998
6th	Piet Alexander Tallo	1998-2008
7th	Frans Lebu Raya	July 16, 2008 - July 16, 2013
in charge	Robert Simbolon	July 17, 2018 - September 5, 2018
8th	Viktor Laiskodat	since September 5, 2018

Web links

Commons : East Nusa Tenggara  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} List of the administrative units of Indonesia down to the Desas 2010 ( Memento from April 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English; PDF; 5.9 MB)
2. ↑ PERATURAN PEMERINTAH NOMOR 3 TAHUN 2006 TENTANG PEMINDAHAN IBUKOTA KABUPATEN KUPANG DARI WILAYAH KOTA KUPANG KE WILAYAH OELAMASI KABUPATEN KUPANG
3. ↑ Kompas.com: Malaka Akhirnya Menjadi Daerah Otonom Baru , December 15, 2012 , accessed February 3, 2013
4. ↑ ^{a b} Population Settlements in East Timor and Indonesia ( Memento of February 2, 1999 in the Internet Archive ) - University of Coimbra
5. ↑ 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. 
6. ↑ Jane's oceania - Timor
7. ↑ ^{a b} History of Timor ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2009 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; 824 kB) - Technical University of Lisbon 
8. ↑ Monika Schlicher: Portugal in East Timor. A critical examination of the Portuguese colonial history in East Timor from 1850 to 1912 . Abera, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-931567-08-7 , ( Abera Network Asia-Pacific 4), (also: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 1994).
9. ↑ 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 July 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 70 kB)
10. ↑ Monika Schlicher: East Timor faces its past , missio-hilft.de , accessed on January 28, 2019.
11. ↑ Bataviase, December 22, 2009, 12 residents arrested after Kupang clash

Coordinates: 10 ° 0 ′  S , 124 ° 0 ′  E