Lifau is a village and suco in the

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-weste ...

exclave of

Oecusse District Oecusse (also variously ''Oecussi'', ''Ocussi'', ''Oekussi'', ''Oekusi'', ''Okusi'', ''Oé-Cusse''), also known as Oecusse-Ambeno (; ) and formerly just Ambeno, officially the Special Administrative Region Oecusse-Ambeno (), is an exclave, mun ...

. The village is located west of the mouth of the

Tono River The Tono River ( pt, Ribeira de Tono or , tet, Mota Tono) is the principal river of Oecusse, an exclave of East Timor. The river and its major tributaries flow generally north, through the centre of the exclave, into the Savu Sea, reaching the ...

. 1,938 people live in the suco.

History

Lifau was the first European settlement on the island of

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...

. Dominican brothers carried on missionary work on the north coast of Timor after 1556. In 1641 they arrived at Lifau and baptized the royal family of

Ambeno The Ambeno was a traditional kingship on the north coast of Timor, among the Atoni people. Its area is now in the Oecusse district (former ''Oecussi-Ambeno'') of East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democr ...

. A permanent Portuguese settlement arose in the 1650s, as many Portuguese moved from their old colonial seat Larantuka on

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

to Timor in response to the Dutch colonial settlement in

Kupang Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...

in westernmost Timor (1653). Lifau remained the centre for Portuguese colonial activities for more than a century, and was headed by a governor after 1702. In 1769 the colonial capital was moved to

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 in ...

due to military aggression from the Eurasian

Topasses Topasses (Tupasses, Topas, Topaz) were a group of people led by the two powerful families – Da Costa and Hornay – that resided in Oecussi and Flores. The Da Costa families were descendants of Portuguese Jewish merchants and Hornay were Dutch ...

who opposed the politics of the governor. After this date the place lost its significance, since the Topasses preferred to keep their residence in

Pante Macassar Pante Macassar ( pt, Pante Macassar, ) is a city in the Pante Macassar Administrative Post, Pante Macassar administrative post on the north coast of East Timor, to the west of Dili, the nation's capital. It has a population of 4,730 (Stand ...

further to the east.

References

*C.R. Boxer (1947), ''The Topasses of Timor''. Amsterdam: Indisch Instituut te Amsterdam. *Wheeler, T. (2004) ''East Timor.'' Footscray, VIC: Lonely Planet. {{Sucos of East Timor Populated places in Oecusse Populated places established in the 1650s Oecusse Sucos of East Timor 1656 establishments in the Portuguese Empire