page_title: Portuguese Timor
section_title: Twentieth century
hierarchical_section_title: Portuguese Timor / History / Twentieth century
context_page_description: Portuguese Timor refers to East Timor during the historic period when it was a Portuguese colony that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies.
  The first Europeans to arrive in the region were the Portuguese in 1515. Dominican friars established a presence on the island in 1556, and the territory was declared a Portuguese colony in 1702. Following the beginning of a Lisbon-instigated decolonisation process in 1975, East Timor was invaded by Indonesia. However, the invasion was not recognized as legitimate by the United Nations, which continued to regard Portugal as the legal Administering Power of East Timor. The independence of East Timor was finally achieved in 2002 following a UN-administered transition period.
context_section_description: At the beginning of the twentieth century, a faltering home economy prompted the Portuguese to extract greater wealth from its colonies, resulting in increased resistance to Portuguese rule in Portuguese Timor. In 1911–12, a Timorese rebellion was quashed after Portugal brought in troops from the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Macau, resulting in the deaths of 3,000 East Timorese.
  In the 1930s, the Japanese semi-governmental Nan’yō Kōhatsu development company, with the secret sponsorship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, invested heavily in a joint-venture with the primary plantation company of Portuguese Timor, SAPT. The joint-venture effectively controlled imports and exports into the island by the mid-1930s and the extension of Japanese interests  greatly concerned the British, Dutch and Australian authorities.
  Although Portugal was neutral during the Second World War, in December 1941, Portuguese Timor was occupied by a small British, Australian and Dutch force, to preempt a Japanese invasion. However, the Japanese did invade in the Battle of Timor in February 1942. Under Japanese occupation, the borders of the Dutch and Portuguese were overlooked with Timor island being made a single Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) administration zone.  400 Australian and Dutch commandos trapped on the island by the Japanese invasion waged a guerrilla campaign, which tied up Japanese troops and inflicted over 1,000 casualties. Timorese and the Portuguese helped the guerillas but following the Allies' eventual evacuation, Japanese retribution from their soldiers and Timorese militia raised in West Timor was severe. By the end of the War, an estimated 40–60,000 Timorese had died, the economy was in ruins, and famine widespread. (see Battle of Timor).
  Following the Second World War, the Portuguese promptly returned to reclaim their colony, while West Timor became part of Indonesia, which secured its independence in 1949.
  To rebuild the economy, colonial administrators forced local chiefs to supply labourers which further damaged the agricultural sector. The role of the Catholic Church in Portuguese Timor grew following the Portuguese government handing over the education of the Timorese to the Church in 1941. In post-war Portuguese Timor, primary and secondary school education levels significantly increased, albeit on a very low base.
  Although illiteracy in 1973 was estimated at 93 percent of the population, the small educated elite of Portuguese Timorese produced by the Church in the 1960s and 1970s became the independence leaders during the Indonesian occupation.
caption: Portuguese Timor Arms (1935–1975)[1]