Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor in the eastern part and Indonesia in the western part. The Indonesian part, known as West Timor, constitutes part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Within West Timor lies an exclave of East Timor called Oecusse District. The island covers an area of 30,777 square kilometres. The name is a variant of timur, Malay for "east"; it is so called because it lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Mainland Australia is less than 500 km away, separated by the Timor Sea.
West Timor is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno. Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The capital as well as its main port is Kupang. During the colonial period, the area was named Dutch Timor and was a centre of Dutch loyalists during the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949). From 1949 to 1975 it was named Indonesian Timor.
East Nusa Tenggara is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the north. It consists of more than 500 islands, with the largest ones being Sumba, Flores, and the western part of Timor; the latter shares a land border with the separate nation of East Timor. The province is subdivided into twenty-one regencies and the regency-level city of Kupang, which is the capital and largest city.
Rote Island is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. According to legend, this island got its name accidentally when a lost Portuguese sailor arrived and asked a farmer where he was. The surprised farmer, who could not speak Portuguese, introduced himself, "Rote".
Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. The largest city and capital of Maluku province is Ambon on the small Ambon Island. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, Southwest Papua, and West Papua in the north, Central Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi in the west, Banda Sea, Australia, East Timor and East Nusa Tenggara in the south and Arafura Sea, Central Papua and South Papua in the east. The land area is 57803.81 km2, and the total population of this province at the 2010 census was 1,533,506 people, rising to 1,848,923 at the 2020 census, the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,908,753. Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia.
The Torajan are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja. Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk. The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo as well as Hindu Alukta, namely, a form of Hinduism in Indonesia.
Kupang, formerly known as Koepang or Coupang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 Census, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 444,661. It is the largest city and port on the island of Timor, and is a part of the Timor Leste–Indonesia–Australia Growth Triangle free trade zone. Geographically, Kupang is the southernmost city in Indonesia.
Kisar, also known as Yotowawa, is a small island in the Southwestern Moluccas in Indonesia, located to the northeast of Timor Island. The island now forms two districts within the Southwest Islands Regency of Maluku Province. South Kisar District was previously called Kecamatan Pulau Pulau Terselatan and at one time included the larger Roma or Romang Island further north, but this with its own outliers was subsequently split off to form its own district. The rest of the island forms the North Kisar District within the regency. It is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia. The principal town is Wonreli, with 6,652 inhabitants at the 2010 Census.
Savu is the largest of a group of three islands, situated midway between Sumba and Rote, west of Timor, in Indonesia's eastern province, East Nusa Tenggara. Ferries connect the islands to Waingapu on Sumba, Ende on Flores, and Kupang in West Timor. Flying to Savu through Susi Air from Kupang, Ende, and Waingapu is also possible.
Belu Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Situated on the north side of Timor island, it originally stretched to the south coast, but in December 2012 its southern half was detached to form the new Malaka Regency. It now adjoins the North Central Timor Regency to the west, the new Malaka Regency to the south, and the separate nation of East Timor to the east, while to the north lies the Sawu Sea. Established on 20 December 1958, Belu Regency has its seat (capital) in the large town of Atambua, which lies inland from the coastal port of Atapupu.
Amarasi was a traditional princedom in West Timor, in present-day Indonesia. It had an important role in the political history of Timor during the 17th and 18th century, being a client state of the Portuguese colonialists, and later subjected to the Netherlands East Indies.
Kupang Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. It occupies the far western end of Timor Island, together with the smaller island of Semau and other minor offshore islands. Other islands further to the southwest and west which were formerly part of Kupang Regency have been separated administratively - the Rote Islands Group on 10 April 2002, and the Savu Islands Group on 29 October 2008.
North Central Timor Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. It covers an area of 2,674.02 km2, and had a population of 229,803 at the 2010 Census and 259,829 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 269,628. Its regency seat is located at the town of Kefamenanu, which had a population of 47,628 in mid 2023. The regency borders Timor Leste's Oecusse enclave, one of few Indonesian regions that have a land border with other countries.
Sabu Raijua Regency is one of the regencies in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. This regency has an area of 477.40 km2 which includes two main islands in the Sawu Sea, namely Sabu Island and Raijua Island, plus uninhabited Rai Dana Island. Sabu Island is the largest and is the center of government with its capital in West Sabu district, while Raijua Island is smaller and located to the west of Sabu Island. The regency was established by Indonesia's Minister of Home Affairs, Mardiyanto, on 29 October 2008, when it was partitioned from Kupang Regency. The population was 72,960 at the 2010 census, and 89,327 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 93,323.
The Hawu language is the language of the Savu people of Savu Island in Indonesia and of Raijua Island off the western tip of Savu. Hawu has been referred to by a variety of names such as Havu, Savu, Sabu, Sawu, and is known to outsiders as Savu or Sabu. Hawu belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, and is most closely related to Dhao and the languages of Sumba. Dhao was once considered a dialect of Hawu, but the two languages are not mutually intelligible.
Oecusse, also known as Oecusse-Ambeno and formerly just Ambeno, officially the Special Administrative Region Oecusse-Ambeno, is an exclave, municipality and the only special administrative region (SAR) of East Timor.
The Sumba people are an ethnic group inhabiting Sumba Island in Indonesia, which is divided by four regencies, namely the Southwest Sumba Regency, West Sumba Regency, Central Sumba Regency, and the East Sumba Regency. They refer to themselves as Tau Humba. The Sumbese have been able to retain much of their culture despite foreign influences that arrived long ago on the Lesser Sunda Islands.
The Abui are an indigenous ethnic group residing on Alor Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Abui people are spread across the districts of South Alor, East Alor, and Northwest Alor in Alor Regency. Abui people speak the Abui language, which is a Papuan (non-Austronesian) language, as well as Indonesian, and a Malay-based creole known as Alor Malay.
The East Timor–Indonesia border is the international border between East Timor and Indonesia. The border consists of two non-contiguous sections totalling 253 km in length, the larger section of which divides the island of Timor in two. The demarcation of the border between Indonesia and East Timor has been fought over by various parties for 350 years. The first attempts to define it precisely were made by the colonial powers of the Netherlands and Portugal with the Treaty of Lisbon in 1859, but it was not until the Permanent Court of Arbitration's award of 25 June 1914 that the final land border between them on the island of Timor was established. It largely coincides with today's border between the state of East Timor (Timor-Leste), which only gained its final independence in 2002, and West Timor, which belongs to Indonesia, but was still disputed on some points until 2019.
Indonesia (Sawu Island, East Nusa Tenggara)
