Baucau (, ) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

, and was formerly a district, of

East Timor East Timor (), also known as 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 exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-we ...

, on the northern coast in the eastern part of the country. The capital is also called Baucau (formerly Vila Salazar). The population of the municipality is 111,694 (census 2010) and it has an area of 1,506 km².

Etymology

The word ''Baucau'' is derived from the word "Akau", which means "pig" in the local Waimoa language. During the Portuguese colonial era, the name of the district was transformed, first into ''Macau'' and finally into ''Baucau''. An alternative name for the Baucau community is ''Wailia-Wailewa'', meaning the "great water spring of Wai Lia". In the

Wai Lia Wai or WAI may refer to : Places * Wai, Maharashtra, a small town in India ** Wai (Vidhan Sabha constituency), a Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constituency centered around the town * Wao State (Vav, Wai, Way), a former princely state in Bana ...

area (part of the '' suco'' of ), a large spring is located under large trees; it is both an animist and Christian holy place. In 1936, the Portuguese colonial authorities renamed what was then the district of Baucau as "São Domingos". However, that name, like other imperial-sounding names adopted in the colony at about that time, did not catch on, and a few years after World War II it was quietly abandoned.

Geography

The borders of the District of Baucau during the colonial era were the same as they are now. The north edge of the municipality is to the Wetar Strait; it also borders the municipalities of Lautém to the east, Viqueque to the south, and Manatuto to the west. Baucau also has a wide coastline with sandy beaches, ideal for swimming and other watersports. In the administrative post of Venilale are tunnels that the Japanese built during their occupation during the Second World War. Also in this administrative post is an ongoing project to reconstruct and renovate the Escola do Reino de Venilale (School of the Kingdom of Venilale).

Administrative posts

The municipality's administrative posts (formerly sub-districts) are: * Baguia * Baucau * Laga *

Quelicai Quelicai, officially Quelicai Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Baucau municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional admin ...

Vemasse Vemasse, officially Vemasse Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Baucau municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional admini ...

* Venilale (formerly known as Vila Viçosa).

Demographics

Besides the national official languages of Tetum and Portuguese, most of the inhabitants speak the

Papuan language The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...

Makasae. While most of the inhabitants are

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, a few Muslims also live there.

Economy

Baucau has the most highly developed agriculture in East Timor. Besides the staples

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

and

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

, Baucau produces

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes t ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato ('' Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young ...

es,

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...

candlenut ''Aleurites moluccanus'', the candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as candleberry, Indian walnut, ''kemiri'', varnish tree, ''nuez de la India'', ''buah keras'', ''godou'', kukui nut tree, and ''rata ...

and

manioc ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

. It also raises

buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the tr ...

and

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

. A shortage of transportation links and the unpredictability of energy availability stymie the development of emerging industries.

Infrastructure

Baucau has the country's longest airport runway, in

Cakung Airport Baucau Airport ( pt, Aeroporto de Baucau, , ), formerly Cakung Airport, is an unattended and mostly unused airport near Baucau, East Timor. It is the largest airport in East Timor, and has a much longer runway than Dili's Presidente Nicolau Lo ...

, as currently,

Dili Dili ( Portuguese/ Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed ...

's Nicolau Lobato International Airport can only serve small airliners like the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two ...

. The airport is located six km from the city of Baucau. It served as the country's principal airport before the Indonesian invasion in 1975, when it was taken over by the Indonesian military.

Bucoli Bucoli is a suco (municipality) in Baucau Subdistrict, Baucau District, East Timor and also a settlement in the Bucoli Suco. As of 2010 there were 2179 inhabitants and 372 households in Bucoli Suco. 85% in Bucoli speak the Waima'a language a ...

, a village with symbolic role in the East Timorese resistance movement, is located in the subdistrict of Baucau.

Notable people

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo SDB, commonly known as Carlos Belo or Ximenes Belo (born 3 February 1948) is an East Timorese prelate of the Catholic Church. He became a bishop in 1988 and served as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of ...

Mário Viegas Carrascalão Mário Viegas Carrascalão (May 12, 1937 – May 19, 2017) was an East Timorese politician and diplomat. Carrascalão, a founder of the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) in 1974 and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 2000, served as the governor ...

Aurélio Sérgio Cristóvão Guterres Aurélio Sérgio Cristóvão Guterres (born 27 July 1966) is an East Timorese academic and politician, and a member of the Fretilin political party. From September 2017 to June 2018, he was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in the V ...

Olinda Guterres Olinda Guterres (born 1955) is a politician in East Timor. She has been a member of the National Parliament (East Timor), National Parliament for the Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan, KHUNTO party since 2017. Early life and education ...

Vicente Guterres Vicente da Silva Guterres (born 22 January 1956 in Baguia, Portuguese Timor) is a politician from East Timor, a member of the National Parliament of East Timor and its vice-president since 2007. Parliamentary role In the June 2007 parliament ...

Maria Fernanda Lay Maria Fernanda Lay (born 1954) is a politician in East Timor. She has been a member of the National Parliament of East Timor since 2007. In 2023, she was elected as president of the National Parliament, becoming the first woman to lead the body. ...

Adaljiza Magno Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno (born 7 January 1975) is an East Timorese politician and diplomat, and a member of the Fretilin political party. She is the incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, serving since June 2020 in ...

* Mauk Moruk *

Taur Matan Ruak José Maria Vasconcelos (born 10 October 1956), popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak (Tetum for "Two Sharp Eyes"), is an East Timorese politician who has served as the prime minister of East Timor since 22 June 2018. He was also President of Ea ...

Aurora Ximenes Aurora Ximenes (born June 13, 1955) is an East Timorese politician. She is a member of the FRETILIN party. From 1975, the year of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, Ximenes was a member of the ''Organização Popular de Mulheres Timorense'' ...

Mariana Diaz Ximenez Mariana Diaz Ximenez, (born December 13, 1983, in Baucau), is an East Timorese athlete who specialises in the marathon. A resident of Dili, she fled her home in 1999 after East Timor's declaration of independence from Indonesia, and the ensuing ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* – official site (in Tetum with some content in English) * – information page on Ministry of State Administration site {{Authority control Municipalities of East Timor