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-west ...

, officially the ''Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste'', is a country in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. It comprises the eastern half of 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 divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...

, the nearby islands of

Atauro Atauro ( pt, Ilha de Ataúro, Tetum and Indonesian: ''Pulau Atauro'' or ''Ata'uro''), also known as Kambing Island ( id, Pulau Kambing), is an island and municipality ( pt, Município Ataúro, links=no, tet, Munisípiu Atauro, links=no or ...

and Jaco, and

Oecusse 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 ...

, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

West Timor West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ...

. East Timor was a

Portuguese colony The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...

, known as

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the ...

, until 28 November 1975.

First stamps

The first Portuguese colonial issues for Portuguese Timor were overprinted on stamps of Macau in 1884. A definitive set was issued in 1886.

Indonesian occupation

During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999, Indonesian stamps were in use.

United Nations administration

Following the outcome of the

East Timor Special Autonomy Referendum An independence referendum was held in East Timor on 30 August 1999. The referendum's origins lay with the request made by the President of Indonesia, B. J. Habibie, to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 27 January 1999, for ...

, United Nations transitional administration was established in 1999 until East Timor's independence on 20 May 2002. During the transition period, 2 stamps were issued in 2000, one for domestic mail and one for international mail. File:UNTAET East Timor postage stamps.png, UNTAET East Timor domestic and international postage stamps File:UNTAET East Timor first day cover.png, UNTAET East Timor first day cover 29 April 2000

Independence

The first stamps of independent East Timor were issued on 20 May 2002 and were produced by Australia Post.

References

External links

http://www.eryx.it/dentelli/text.htm The first stamps of Timor Leste
Communications in East Timor