Dili is the capital and largest city of East Timor. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountains. The climate is tropical, with distinct wet and dry seasons. The city has served as the economic hub and chief port of what is now East Timor since its designation as the capital of Portuguese Timor in 1769. It also serves as the capital of the Dili Municipality, which includes some rural subdivisions in addition to the urban ones which make up the city itself. Dili's growing population is relatively youthful, being mostly of working age. The local language is Tetum, however residents include many internal migrants from other areas of the country.
Politics of East Timor takes place in a framework of a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of East Timor is the head of government and the President of East Timor exercises the functions of head of state. East Timor has a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the president and the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The East Timorese constitution was modelled on that of Portugal, though the president is less powerful than the Portuguese counterpart. The country is still in the process of building its administration and governmental institutions. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated East Timor a "flawed democracy" in 2019.
The Timor Leste Defence Force is the military body responsible for the defence of East Timor. The F-FDTL was established in February 2001 and comprises two infantry battalions, small naval and air components and several supporting units.
The languages of East Timor include both Austronesian and Papuan languages. The lingua franca and national language of East Timor is Tetum, an Austronesian language influenced by Portuguese, with which it has equal status as an official language. The language of the Ocussi exclave is Uab Meto (Dawan). Fataluku is a Papuan language widely used in the eastern part of the country. Both Portuguese and Tetum have official recognition under the Constitution of East Timor, as do other indigenous languages, including: Bekais, Bunak, Galoli, Habun, Idalaka, Kawaimina, Kemak, Lovaia, Makalero, Makasae, Mambai, Tokodede and Wetarese.
Baucau is a municipality, and was formerly a district, of East Timor, on the northern coast in the eastern part of the country. The capital is also called Baucau. The population of the municipality is 111,694 and it has an area of 1,506 km².
Manatuto is one of the municipalities of East Timor, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of 45,541 and an area of 1,78 km². The capital of the municipality is also named Manatuto.
Same is a city in the Same Subdistrict in the interior of East Timor, 81 kilometres (50 mi) south of Dili, the national capital. Same has a population of 7,413 and is the capital of Manufahi District, which was known as Same District in Portuguese Timor.
Makasae is a Papuan language spoken by about 100,000 people in the eastern part of East Timor, in the districts of Baucau and Viqueque, just to the west of Fataluku. It is the most widely spoken Papuan language west of New Guinea.
Baucau is the second-largest city in East Timor, after Dili, the capital, which lies 122 km (76 mi) east of Dili.
Aileu is the main township in Aileu District, East Timor. It is located 47 km (29 mi) southwest of Dili, the national capital, and had a population of 2,788 in 2015. In Portuguese Timor, the city was known as Vila General Carmona, after the Portuguese dictator António Óscar Carmona, but after World War II it was renamed. Aileu means "bent tree" in Mambai.
The Bunak people are an ethnic group that live in the mountainous region of central Timor, split between the political boundary between West Timor, Indonesia, particularly in Lamaknen District and East Timor. Their language is one of those on Timor which is not an Austronesian language, but rather a Papuan language, belonging to the Trans–New Guinea linguistic family. They are surrounded by groups which speak Malayo-Polynesian languages, like the Atoni and the Tetum.
The Kemak people are an ethnic group numbering 80,000 in north-central Timor island. They primarily live in the district of Bobonaro, East Timor, while the rest live in the East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia.
Kawaimina is a syllabic abbreviation used to refer to four languages or dialects of East Timor:
The Catholic Church in East Timor is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Since its independence from Indonesia, East Timor became only the second predominantly Catholic country in Asia, a legacy of its status as a former Portuguese colony. About 98.3%of the population is Catholic in East Timor as of 2006, which means over 900,000 faithful.
The National Unity of Timorese Resistance is a political party in East Timor founded in 2005. Cornelio Gama, a former FALINTIL commander and former member of the National Parliament, has served as the party's leader since its creation.
East Timor or Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island surrounded by Indonesian West Timor. Australia is the country's southern neighbour, separated by the Timor Sea. The country's size is 15,007 square kilometres (5,794 sq mi). Dili is its capital.
Basílio do Nascimento Martins was the East Timorese Roman Catholic Bishop of Baucau.
Oecusse, also known as Oecusse-Ambeno and formerly just Ambeno, officially the Special Administrative Region Oecusse-Ambeno, is a municipality and the only Special Administrative Region of East Timor.
Ilda Maria da Conceição, whose resistance names were Lalo Imin and Wairaha Gae Imin, is a politician from East Timor. She is a member of the FRETILIN party.
