East Timor (province)

Common card · No. 221973

East Timor (Indonesian: Timor Timur) was a province of Indonesia between 1976 and 1999, during the Indonesian occupation of the country. Its territory corresponded to the previous Portuguese Timor and to the present-day independent country of Timor-Leste. It gained its independence as a UN-recognised sovereign state in September of 2002. From 1702 to 1975, East Timor was an overseas territory of Portugal, called "Portuguese Timor". In 1974, Portugal initiated a gradual decolonisation process of its remaining overseas territories, including Portuguese Timor. During the process, a civil conflict between the different Timorese parties erupted. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and formally annexed the territory in 1976, declaring it Indonesia's 27th province and renaming it "Timor Timur". The United Nations, however, declared this occupation illegal, continuing to consider Portugal as the legitimate administering power of East Timor. East Timor voted for independence in UN-sponsored referendum...

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