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People of Timor Leste
Photos: Joel Santos
Despite the fact that Timor-Leste is a small country, with an area of about 15,000 square kilometres and a population of only 924,000, its ethnic and cultural richness is easily stated by the presence of several social groups, religious beliefs and spoken languages. 76 percent of Timorese live in rural villages. There are about 498 villages distributed across 13 districts.
1Into this beautiful country, successive migrations of various peoples, from Melenesia, from continental Asia and, in the more recent past, from the islands to the west, have woven a surprisngly intricate pattern of cultures. In the words of Professor Forman, a leading authority on the anthropology of East Timor,
It manifests an ethnic heterogeneity which characterizes the entire region from the Philippines to Australia and from the islands east of Papua New Guinea to the Malagasy Republic.
Timor, noted Professor Forman,
did not come under the aegis of the early Javanese/Islamic principalities and, historical conjecture notwithstanding, Indo-Javanese and Islamic influences barely can be noted, except insofar as Dutch hegemony later effected the spread of some ideas, particularly in the political domain, to western (now Indonesian) Timor. East Timor, under Portuguese rule, was largely exempt from those influences.
Although Malays, Makassarese and Papuan-type people came to Timor and left traces of their presence, neither Hinduism nor Islam reached this remote island when these cultural influences were spreading across the archipelago. In general the Proto-Malay type predominates, with most of the Timorese being dark-skinned and lightly built.
Today there exists more than 20 distinct languages in the country. Although Tétum is only spoken on a daily basis by a quarter of its population, it is, along with Portuguese, the official language of Timor-Leste. Tétum Terik – used in the past to facilitate communication in trading relations – evolved to the present Tétum Praça, by means of assimilation of Portuguese and Malay words. Also of special importance are Mambai, Kemac and makassae, for these are the native tongues of more than 300,000 people in the east-central zone, in the central mountain districts and in the more populated border areas to the west.
The presence of the Portuguese from the 16th century onwards was determinant for the development of the Catholic faith spread by the missionaries that travelled to the island. Today, about 91.4 percent of the population is Catholic, followed by the Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. Animist rituals and traditions coexist peacefully with the different faiths, contributing to the Timorese people rich cultural palette.
Most of the population works in agriculture, mainly directed at inner consumption. Coffee crops are a potential export for the country, along with the energy resources from the Timor Sea and the emerging tourism sector.
© 2006 friends of timor