Manufahi (, ) is one of the

municipalities of East Timor 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 ...

. It has a population of 53,691 (2015 census) and an area of 1,323 km². The capital of the municipality is Same.

Etymology

The present name of the municipality, ''Manufahi'', is derived from ''Maun Fahe'', the Tetum language expression for 'divided brothers'. The name originated in a legend that tells of a fight between two related tribes, or a group of siblings. Eventually, the protagonists agreed to subject themselves to a single ruler. During the Portuguese colonial era, the then district bore the name of its main town, Same. The present name was adopted on the basis of the divided brothers legend. However, it was misspelled, and the Tetum language meaning of the misspelled name is 'pig chicken'. Efforts are being made to correct the name. However, there is also a legend that in the '' suco'' of a rooster once flew down from a mountain, landed on the back of a pig, and then travelled with the pig to many places before returning home.

Geography

Manufahi extends from the central highlands of East Timor to its south coast, on the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs, ...

. It is bordered by

Manatuto Manatuto is a city in Manatuto Municipality, East Timor. Manatuto Vila has 3,692 inhabitants (Census 2015) and is capital of the subdistrict and district Manatuto. It is on the north coast of Timor, (about as the crow flies) east of Dili, t ...

to the east,

Ainaro Ainaro is a town in East Timor, the capital of the Ainaro suco, the Ainaro administrative post and the Ainaro Municipality, and is located in the southwest part of the country. The town of Ainaro is located 78 km south of Dili, the nat ...

to the west, and Aileu to the north.

History

During its time as a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

colony, the municipality was called Same, after the capital city. It was the epicentre of the Great Rebellion of 1910–12. During the Indonesian occupation the then subdistrict of

Hato-Udo Hato-Udo (''Hatu Udo, Hotudo''), officially Hato-Udo Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Ainaro municipality, East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the ...

was split off from the then district of Manufahi and joined to

, and the then subdistrict of Turiscai, previously in Ainaro, was moved to Manufahi.

Administrative posts

Manufahi's administrative posts (formerly sub-districts) are: * Alas *

Fatuberlio Fatuberliu is a town in the Fatuberlio Subdistrict, Manufahi 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 ...

* Same *

Turiscai Turiscai is a village in the Turiscai administrative post, Manufahi municipality 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 c ...

Demographics

Besides the national official languages of

Tetum , nativename=Tetun , states= Indonesia East Timor , speakers=, mostly in Indonesia , date=2010–2011 , ref=e18 , speakers2=50,000 L2-speakers in Indonesia and East Timor , familycolor=Austronesian , fam2=Malayo-Polynesian , fam3= Central–East ...

and

, the Malayo-Polynesian language

Mambai Mambai may refer to: * Mambai people, a people group also known as Mambae, Manbae or Maubere from Timor-Leste * Mambai language (Timor) Mambai, also called Mambae or Manbae, is a language spoken by the Mambai people, the second largest ethn ...

is also spoken.

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