Portuguese Timor - Twentieth Century

Twentieth Century

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 East Timor. In 1910–12, a Timorese rebellion was quashed after Portugal brought in troops from its colonies in Mozambique and Macau, resulting in the deaths of 3,000 East Timorese.

Although Portugal was neutral during World War II, in December 1941, Portuguese Timor was occupied by Australian and Dutch forces, which were expecting a Japanese invasion. Thousands of Japanese occupied Timor, in February 1942, and the borders of the Dutch and Portuguese were overlooked with Timor island being made a single Japanese army 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 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 World War II, 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 East 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 per cent of the population, the small educated elite of East Timorese produced by the Church in the 1960s and 70s, became the independence leaders during the Indonesian occupation.