Timor
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{{Infobox Islands
|name = Timor
|image name = Timor.png
|image caption = Political Division of Timor
|native name =
|native name link =
|location = [[South East Asia]]
|coordinates= {{coor dm|9|14|S|124|56|E|type:isle}}
|archipelago = [[Lesser Sunda Islands]]
|total islands =
|major islands =
|area = {{convert|11883|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}}
|highest mount = [[Mount Ramelau|Ramelau]]
|elevation = {{convert|9720|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|country = East Timor
|country admin divisions title =
|country admin divisions =
|country largest city =
|country largest city population =
|country 1 = Indonesia
|country 1 admin divisions title = Province
|country 1 admin divisions = [[East Nusa Tenggara]]
|country 1 largest city =
|country 1 largest city population =
|population = 2,900,000
|population as of = 2005
|density = {{convert|244.2|/sqmi|/km2|1|abbr=on}}
|ethnic groups =
}}
<!-- poor placement [[Image:Timor island2.png|thumb|300px|right|Timor Island from space, November 1989.]] -->
'''Timor''' is an [[island]] at the south end of the [[Malay Archipelago]], north of the [[Timor Sea]]. It is divided between the independent state of [[East Timor]], and [[West Timor]], belonging to the [[Indonesia]]n province of [[East Nusa Tenggara]].
The island's surface is 11,883 square miles (30,777 [[square kilometre|km²]]). The name is a variant of ''timur'', [[Malay language|Malay]] for “east”; it is so called because it is at the east end of a chain of islands.
==Language, ethnic groups, and religion==
{{seealso|Languages of East Timor|Tetun}}
Similar to nearby islands, most Timorese are [[Melanesian]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Schwarz |first=A. |year=1994 |title=A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s |pages=page 198|publisher=Westview Press |isbn=1-86373-635-2}}</ref> and anthropologists identify eleven distinct ethno-linguistic groups in Timor. The largest are the [[Atoni]] of western Timor, and the [[Tetum]] of central and eastern Timor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Jean Gelman |title=Indonesia: Peoples and Histories |pages=page 378|publisher=Yale University Press |year=2003 |location= New Haven and London |isbn=0-300-10518-5}}</ref> Most Timor indigenous Timorese languages belong to the [[Austronesian]] group of languages spoken through the Indonesian archipelago. The non-Austronesian languages are related to languages spoken in the [[Halmahera]] (in [[Maluku islands|Maluku]]) and [[Western New Guinea]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Jean Gelman |title=Indonesia: Peoples and Histories |pages=page 378|publisher=Yale University Press |year=2003 |location= New Haven and London |isbn=0-300-10518-5}}</ref>
The official languages of East Timor are [[Tetum]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], while in West Timor it is [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]. Indonesian is also widely spoken and understood in East Timor.
[[Christianity]] is the dominant religion throughout the island of Timor, at about 90% of the population. [[Roman Catholic]]s are the majority; they outnumber [[Protestant]]s in West Timor by about a 1.5:1 ratio, while in East Timor, Catholics are the vast majority of the population. [[Islam|Muslims]] and animists are most of the remainder, at about 5% each.
==Geography==
To the south and southeast of Timor is [[Oceania]]. To its northwest is the island of [[Sulawesi]], and to its west, the island of [[Sumba]]. To the west-northwest of Timor are the islands of [[Flores]] and [[Alor Island|Alor]], and to its northeast are the [[Barat Daya Islands]], including [[Wetar]].
Timor has older geology and lacks the volcanic nature of the [[Lesser Sunda Islands]]. The orientation of the main axis of the island also differs from its neighbors. These features have been explained as the result of being on the northern edge of the [[Indo-Australian Plate]] as it pushes into the [[South East Asia]].
==Flora and fauna==
Timor, together with the [[Lesser Sunda Islands]] to the northwest and the smaller islands to the northeast, is covered by [[Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests|tropical dry broadleaf forests]]. Many trees are [[deciduous]] or partly deciduous, dropping their leaves during the dry season. Timor, the Barat Daya Islands, and the smaller islands to the northeast of Timor constitute the [[Timor and Wetar deciduous forests]] ecoregion.
During the [[Pleistocene]] [[epoch]], Timor was the abode of extinct [[Island gigantism|giant]] [[monitor lizard]]s similar to the [[Komodo dragon]]. Like [[Flores]], [[Sumba]] and [[Sulawesi]], Timor was also once a habitat of extinct [[Insular dwarfism|dwarf]] [[stegodon]]ts, relatives of [[elephant]]s.
==History==
{{History of East Timor}}
{{seealso|History of East Timor|History of Indonesia}}
As the nearest island with a European settlement at the time, Timor was the destination of [[William Bligh]] and seamen loyal to him following the infamous [[Mutiny on the Bounty|mutiny on the ''Bounty'']] in 1789. It was also where survivors of the wrecked ''[[HMS Pandora (1779)|HMS Pandora]]'', sent to arrest the ''Bounty'' mutineers, landed in 1791 after that ship sank in the [[Great Barrier Reef]].
The island has been politically divided in two parts for centuries: [[West Timor]], which was known as Dutch Timor from the 1800s until 1949 when it became Indonesian Timor, a part of the nation of [[Indonesia]] which was formed from the old [[Netherlands East Indies]]; and [[East Timor]] which was known as [[Portuguese Timor]], a Portuguese colony until 1975. It includes the [[enclave]] of [[Oecussi-Ambeno]] in West Timor. The [[Netherlands]] and [[Portugal]] did not formally resolve the matter of the boundary until 1912.
[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] forces occupied the whole island from 1942 to 1945. They were resisted in a [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] campaign led initially by [[Australia]]n [[commando]]s. (See [[Battle of Timor (1942-43)|Battle of Timor]].)
Following the withdrawal of the Portuguese, internal unrest, and an [[Indonesian invasion of East Timor|Indonesian invasion]] in 1975, East Timor was annexed by Indonesia and became known as ''Timor Timur'' or 'Tim-Tim' for short. It was regarded by Indonesia as the country's 27<sup>th</sup> province, but this was never recognised by the [[United Nations]] or [[Portugal]]. The people of East Timor resisted Indonesian forces in a prolonged guerilla campaign. (See: [[Indonesian occupation of East Timor]]).
Following a referendum held in 1999, under a [[UN]] sponsored agreement between [[Indonesia]] and [[Portugal]], in which its people rejected the offer of autonomy within Indonesia, East Timor achieved independence in 2002 and is now officially known as [[East Timor|Timor-Leste]]. A group of people on the Indonesian side of Timor have been reported active since 2001 trying to establish a [[Great Timor]] State.<ref>[http://www.etan.org/et2005/february/20/26ofical.htm etan.org]</ref>
{{wiktionary}}
==References==
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[[Category:Islands of Indonesia]]
[[Category:Islands of East Timor]]
[[Category:Divided regions]]
[[Category:Lesser Sunda Islands]]
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