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Island, southern Malay Archipelago. It is the easternmost of the
Lesser Sunda Islands. Indonesian-Malay peoples live along the
coast and Melanesian aboriginals in the mountains. They speak
dozens of Papuan and Malayan languages, as well as Portuguese in
the east and Indonesian in the west. The Portuguese began
trading with Timor c. 1520. In 1613 the Dutch settled at the
island's southwestern tip, and the Portuguese moved to the north
and east. Treaties in 1860 and 1914 divided the island between
them. The island was occupied by the Japanese during World War
II. In 1950 Netherlands Timor (West Timor) was transferred to
Indonesia. East Timor was held by the Portuguese until 1975,
when Indonesian troops invaded and annexed the area; it achieved
full sovereignty in 2002. This entry comes from Encyclopædia
Britannica Concise. For the full entry on Timor, visit
Britannica.com.