East Timor (officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste) is a country in
Southeast Asia
. It comprises the eastern half of the island of
Timor
, the nearby islands of
Atauro
and
Jaco
, and
Oecussi-Ambeno
, an
exclave
on the northwestern side of the island, within
Indonesian
West Timor
. The small country of , km²
(, sqmi) is located about km ( mi) northwest of
Darwin, Australia
.
East Timor was colonized by
Portugal
in the th century, and was known as
Portuguese Timor
until Portugal's decolonization of the country. In late East Timor declared its independence but was invaded and
occupied
by Indonesia later that year, and declared that country's th province the following year. In , following the
United Nations
-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory and East Timor became the first new
sovereign state
of the twenty-first century on
May
,
. Alongside the
Philippines
, East Timor is one of only two predominantly
Roman Catholic
countries in
Southeast Asia
.
At
US$
,
the
per capita
GDP
(
purchasing power parity
adjusted) of East Timor is one of the lowest in the world. Its
Human Development Index
(HDI), however, corresponds to a medium degree of human development and places East Timor
nd
among the world's nations. |