West Timor

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Timor.png West Timor is a political region that comprises the western half of Timor island with the exception of Oecussi-Ambeno district (which is politically part of East Timor) and forms a part of the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur, (NTT or East Nusa Tenggara). West Timor's capital and chief port is Kupang. The land area of West Timor is 15,850 km². During the colonial period it was known as Dutch Timor and was a centre of Dutch loyalists during the Indonesian War of Independence (1945 - 1949).

Rote Island, the southernmost island of Indonesia, is just to the southwest of West Timor.

Three native languages belonging of Fabronic Stock of the Austronesian group of languages are spoken in West Timor, the others in East Timor. These languages are Ndaonese, Rotinese, and Helong.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Economy
4 See also
5 External links

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History

European colonization of Timor started in the 16th century. Although the Portuguese claimed the island of Timor in 1520, the Dutch (in the form of the Dutch East India Company) settled West Timor in 1640, forcing the Portuguese out to East Timor. The subsequent collapse of the company meant that in 1799 the area returned to official Dutch rule. Finally, in 1914 the border between East and West Timor was finalized by a treaty between Holland and Portugal that was originally signed in 1859 and modified in 1893.

Japan conquered the island as part of World War II in early 1942. August 17, 1945 saw Indonesian Independence declared, just three days after the Japanese surrender. The Dutch returned but faced a war with republican guerrillas, the eventual outcome of which was the proclamation of Republic of Indonesia in 1950, which made West Timor a part of Nusa Tenggarra Timur province.

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Demographics

The population of West Timor are mostly of Malay, Papuan or Polynesian extraction, with a small ethnic Chinese group. About half of the population belongs to the Atoni ethnicity. West Timor's main religions are Catholic (56%), Protestant (35%) and Islam (8%). There are approximately 1.4 million inhabitants, some of whom are refugees who fled militia and military persecution in the 1999 Timor-Leste Scorched Earth operation.

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Economy

West Timor's economy is notably more developed than the rest of the East Nusa Tenggara, with a GDP per capita roughly one-third higher than the province's average. West Timor has also enjoyed an economic growth rate considerably higher than the national average since 2000. Nonetheless, much of the population remains very poor and occupied with subsistence agriculture. Most of the area's economic output is based around the city of Kupang and the surrounding regency.

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