East Timor :: essays research papers

The tiny southerly pacific nation of East Timor has had a long and tumultuous history. sequence it has been touted as the first independent country of the 21st carbon, the government primarily declared its independence in November of 1975. East Timor had spent over ccc years down the stairs Portugese rule and the colonial influences did much to shape Timorese culture and society. As a result East Timor developed very differently from its neighbours and had little in common with the former Dutch colonisation that became Indonesia. Portugese rule over East Timor was, like that in other colonies, autocratic and exploitive. The Portugese assumed a paternal role over the inhabitants of East Timor, regarding their have culture as superior. Rebellions were brutally suppressed and Portugese customs, and values along with the Portugese wrangle were imposed on the Timorese. Despite this oppression independence movements in the village remained strong. Political parties, once they w ere legalized, quickly formed and groups advocating independence won encompassing spread support. Following the trend towards decolonization is South East Asia Portugal allowed governmental parties as a step towards indpendence and democracy in East Timor. unless the Portugese failed to ensure the security of East Timor. The was result was that nine days afterwards it had declared its independence from Portugal, East Timor was invaded by neighbouring Indonesia. What followd was a quarter century of brutal oppression in which saw a quarter of the Timorese population lose their lives at the hands of Indonesian troops. The failure of the Portugese decolonization policies cleared the way for the genocide which occurred in East Timor.Until the 1880s Portugese influnece in East Timor was strong, but not complete and the Timorese had been able to obtain their distinct cultural and religious heritages well into the nineteenth century. At this time Portugal was rapidly falling behind it s colonial rivals both economically and militarily and thus sought to more fully exploit the economic authority of East Timor. In 1887, using the assassination of the colonial governor as a pretext, the Portugese government instituted harsh new economic programs designed to break the existing Timorese clan system, and bring the entire colony under the control of the colonial government. These plicies led to much resentemtn of the Portugese by the Timorese mickle and culminated in a massive uprising beginning 1910. The revolt lasted devil years and was finally put down by Portugese troops in 1912.