Abstract
The island of Timor probably served as a stepping stone in the migration of modern humans from Africa to Australasia. The Jerimalai cave in Timor-Leste was inhabited at least 42,000 years ago, and stone tools and fishing equipment discovered there point to seafaring traditions. Settlement by Melanesians took place on Timor from around 3,000 BC and further waves of migration from south China (Hakka people) and the Malay Peninsula date from around 2,500 BC. Trade links with China and elsewhere in southeast Asia developed over centuries—with sandalwood, honey, beeswax and slaves exchanged for rice, textiles and metal goods. In the mid-14th century the island came under the influence of the Javanese Majapahit empire, which reached its zenith under HayamWuruk (1350–89).
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Further Reading
Berlie, Jean A. (ed.), East Timor's Independence, Indonesia and ASEAN. 2017
Dunn, James, East Timor: A Rough Passage to Independence. 2003
Hainsworth, Paul and McCloskey, Stephen, (eds) The East Timor Question: The Struggle for Independence from Indonesia. 2000
Kingsbury, Damien and Leach, Michael, (eds) East Timor: Beyond Independence. 2007
Kohen, Arnold S., From the Place of the Dead: Bishop Belo and the Struggle for East Timor. 2000
Nevins, Joseph, A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor. 2005
Robinson, Geoffrey, “If You Leave Us Here, We Will Die”: How Genocide Was Stopped in East Timor. 2009
Tanter, Richard, Ball, Desmond and Van Klinken, Gerry, (eds) Masters of Terror: Indonesia’s Military and Violence in East Timor. 2006
National Statistical Office:Direcção Nacional de Estatística, Rua de Caicoli, P. O. Box 10, Dili.
Website: http://www.statistics.gov.tl
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(2022). Timor-Leste. In: The Statesman’s Yearbook 2023. The Statesman's Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96056-9_183
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96056-9_183
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