A lesser known Asian country: East Timor

Learn, Share, Subscribe ------------------------------------------------ Watch the Asian series here: Here is the European Series: Follow: blinder00 ------------------------------------------------ In this brief video you can find seven little known facts about East Timor. More information about the video content bellow: 1. The first new nation of the 21st century is located in Southeast Asia, just north of Australia. A Portuguese colony from the 17th century until 1975, Timor-Leste shares the island of Timor with Indonesia. When the Portuguese left in 1975, Indonesia invaded and annexed East Timor. The United Nations condemned Indonesia’s occupation and in 1999 a UN-organized referendum guided East Timor to independence on May 20, 2002. 2. Dili is Timor-Leste’s capital city and largest city. Located on the island’s northern coast, Dili was settled as a port city by Portuguese traders in 1520. Dili became the capital of Portuguese Timor in 1864, and has remained the capital of Timor-Leste. 3. “Timor” comes from the Malay word timur, which means “east” – so the name East Timor can be translated to “east east.” The East Timorese often call their country Timor Lorosa’e. Lorosa’e means “rising sun”. 4. Due to its past as a colony of Portugal, East Timor is today one of only two Asian countries with a Christian majority (the other one being the Philippines). About 97% of Timorese are Roman Catholics and around 2% are Protestants. 5. East Timorese creation myth has it that an aging crocodile transformed into the island of Timor as part of a debt repayment to a young boy who had helped the crocodile when it was sick. As a result, the island is shaped like a crocodile and the boy’s descendants are the native East Timorese who inhabit it. 6. The economy of East Timor is in shambles, neglected under Portuguese rule, and deliberately sabotaged by occupation troops during the war for independence from Indonesia. As a result, the country is among the poorest in the world. Close to half of the population lives in poverty, and as many as 70 per cent face chronic food insecurity. 7. To look at a map of Timor-Leste, it is easy to think that the people of Timor-Leste might have descended from the Indonesians, because of its proximity. This would be incorrect; they are descended from the aboriginal people of Australia and Sri Lanka. However the first signs of homo-sapiens are about 42 thousand years old! More Info: Music: Bensound - Energy Images: of East Timor (3).JPG (Southeast_Asia_centered).svg/2000px-East_Timor_on_the_globe_(Southeast_Asia_centered). ,_Maubisse,_East_Timor_(314065283).jpg east Intro: Creation by Shaheen Jonjass Designs Intro Music: DJ Goodman – Japanese Flute (Dubstep Mix)