East Timor, A Country at the Crossroads of Asia and the Pacific, A Geo-hitorical Atlas

On 20 May 2002, rising out of a history fraught with tragedy, East Timor acceded to independence under the name of Timor Leste or Timor Lorosa’e : Sunrise Timor.

This insular ethno-linguistic mosaic wedged between Southeast Asia and Oceania had been a colony of Portugal for four centuries before it was invaded by Indonesian forces in December 1975. It was not until 30 August 1999, however, that more than 78% of the population voted for
independence, thus ending twenty-five years of Indonesian occupation.

This atlas highlights the specific features and characteristic of the new country of East-Timor. Using statistical documentary resources available since the colonial period, its 136 colorful maps show how material constraints and local, regional and world stakes have shaped Timor’s destiny, both past and present.

The Author

Frédéric Durand teaches geography at Toulouse II – Le Mirail University, France. Authors of several works on Southeast Asia, the Malay world and Indonesia, he published the French version of this geo-historical atlas of East-Timort in 2001 and the essay Catholiscisme et protestantisme dans l’Ile de Timor : 1556-2003, in 2004.

Irasec

Based in Bangkok since 2001, the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC) is a member of the network of research centres of the French Foreign Ministry. IRASEC is calling on specialists from all academic fields to study the important social, political, economical and environmental developments that affect, together or separately, the eleven countries of the
region.