LYCOS RETRIEVER 
East Timor: West Timor
built 124 days ago
The area that is now East Timor has suffered repeated invasions and colonizations over its history. The Portuguese first settled on Timor in 1520, and the Spanish arrived in 1522. The Dutch took possession of the western portion of the island in 1613. Two hundred years later, the island came under British rule, which remained in force from 1812 to 1815.
Source:
Portuguese and Dutch traders made the first western contact with East Timor in the early 16th century. Sandalwood and spice traders, as well as missionaries, maintained sporadic contact with the island until 1642, when the Portuguese moved into Timor in strength. The Portuguese and the Dutch, based at the western end of the island in Kupang, battled for influence until the present-day borders were agreed to by the colonial powers in 1906. Imperial Japan occupied East Timor from 1942-45. Portugal resumed colonial authority over East Timor in 1945 after the Japanese defeat in World War II.
Source:
A September 13 story in the London Daily Telegraph made the trenchant observation that the militia members targeting church institutions in East Timor were themselves primarily recruited from Catholic families. On September 18, CNN Worldview carried an interview with Dr. Jeffrey Winters of Northwestern University in which he asserted that "religion has virtually nothing to do with this." And in its September 20 issue, U.S. News and World Report reported that the violence was directed not just at the Timorese but at Indonesia’s next head of state. The armed forces’ message was: "Suharto was a puppet master, but you’re a puppet." In these and other instances, the Western press deserves praise for resisting stereotypes of Islam and Muslim politics as motivated by an eagerness to extirpate other faiths.
Source:
UNICEF continues to be vitally concerned about the protection of more than 200,000 persons from East Timor -- children and women in particular -- who now seek to survive in camps in West Timor, under a growing threat to their safety. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy voiced this concern in an urgent statement last Friday.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
West Timor