Editing Dili (section)

===Initial Portuguese settlement===
[[File:PT Dili 1952-1975 COA.svg|thumb|left|upright|Former coat of arms]]
Dili has played a central role in the history of Timor-Leste.<ref name="Moxham"/>{{rp|6–8}} However, early records about Timor, especially before the 1700s, are sparse.<ref name="Thomaz2017">{{cite journal |last1=Thomaz |first1=Luís Filipe F. R. |title=La chronologie historique de Timor Oriental |journal=Archipel |date=2017 |volume=93 |issue=93 |pages=199–217 |doi=10.4000/archipel.416 |hdl=10400.14/35931 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/archipel/416 |language=fr |hdl-access=free |access-date=21 July 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416194819/https://journals.openedition.org/archipel/416 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|199}} The tumultuous history of the city has resulted in a great deal of information being lost; archives in the city were destroyed in 1779, 1890, 1975, and 1999.<ref name="Berlie2017"/>{{rp|7}}

The island of Timor was possibly known as a source for [[sandalwood]] in the 15th century.<ref name="Carter2001">{{cite book |url=https://www.timorleste.tl/wp-content/uploads/formidable/4/Carter-etal-2001_development-of-tourism-policy-strategic-planning-in-TL.pdf |title=Development of Tourism Policy and Strategic Planning in East Timor |last1=Carter |first1=R. W. |last2=Prideaux |first2=Bruce |last3=Ximenes |first3=Vicente |last4=Chatenay |first4=Adrien V. P. |publisher=Ministry of Tourism |date=2001 |access-date=21 July 2021 |issn=1 440-947X |isbn=186-499-506-8 |archive-date=21 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721172708/https://www.timorleste.tl/wp-content/uploads/formidable/4/Carter-etal-2001_development-of-tourism-policy-strategic-planning-in-TL.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|10}} The first recorded Portuguese voyage to the island from [[Portuguese Malacca]] occurred in 1516, returning with sandalwood. In 1521, sandalwood was left out of a list of products under royal monopoly, leaving most trade with Timor in the hands of private enterprises.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|201–202}} Portuguese and Spanish interest in the island increased in the 1520s, with regular trade established by 1524.<ref name="Carter2001"/>{{rp|10}} In the late 1500s, administrative officials began to be appointed to nearby [[Solor]] with jurisdiction over that island and Timor, signifying increasing state interest in Portuguese activities there.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|203}}

The Netherlands began to compete for control of the island in 1613, especially in the west.<ref name="Carter2001"/>{{rp|10}} A rebellion in 1629 forced the Portuguese off the island for three years.<ref name="Carter2001"/>{{rp|10}} In 1641, a number of kings in Timor converted to Catholicism while seeking Portuguese protection. This introduced a political dimension to Portuguese influence, which had previously been primarily economic.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|206}} Timor became administratively separated from Solor in 1646, although the exact administrative structure is unknown.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|208}} It received its first dedicated governor in 1702, who resided in [[Lifau]]. This reflected the growing importance of Timor compared to nearby [[Flores]].<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|209}} 1749 saw Dutch military forces take control over large portions of the island, broadly reflecting [[Indonesia–Timor-Leste border|current borders]].<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|210}}

In 1769, as Lifau came under the increasing influence of powerful local families collectively known as the [[Topasses]], the Portuguese governor [[António José Teles de Meneses]] moved the administration and 1,200 people east to establish a new capital.<ref name="Berlie2017">{{cite book |last1=Berlie |first1=Jean A. |title=East Timor's Independence, Indonesia and ASEAN |date=1 October 2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319626307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6EQ4DwAAQBAJ |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326152317/https://books.google.com/books?id=6EQ4DwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|4–5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Telkamp |first1=Gerard J. |editor1-last=Van Anrooij |editor1-first=Francien |title=Between People and Statistics |date=1979 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-009-8846-0 |page=72 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-009-8846-0 |chapter=The Economic Structure of an Outpost in the Outer Islands in the Indonesian Archipelago: Portuguese Timor 1850–1975 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-8846-0_6 |doi=10.1007/978-94-009-8846-0_6 |access-date=2 August 2021 |archive-date=28 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228142027/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-009-8846-0 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was originally intended that the administration be set up at [[Vemasse Administrative Post|Vemasse]] further east, but perhaps because of the favourable geography, a settlement was established at Dili instead.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|17}} This was at the time part of the Motael kingdom, whose leader was friendly with the Portuguese authorities. The governor occupied an existing fortified structure, and with the assistance of the Motael leader began to construct a new settlement. The area surrounding the settlement was [[wetland]]s fed by rivers from the mountains and proved conducive to [[rice]] cultivation. A wall was built to separate the coastal city from wetlands to its south. The initial settlement was divided between three populations, one mainly Portuguese, one of [[Mestiço]]s and locals from other Portuguese colonies (which became [[Bidau Santana|Bidau]]), and one for troops from a kingdom thought to be in [[Flores]].<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|25}} 

[[File:Dili map.jpg|thumb|alt=Hand-drawn map showing Dili as a small settlement|An old map of Dili, showing the old city separated from Lahane to the south by marshes]]
From 1788 to 1790, a civil war broke out between the governor in Dili and an official based in [[Manatuto]], which was resolved upon the arrival of a new governor. In response to Dutch provocations, a permanent military force was established in 1818.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|210}}  Some Europeans settled in [[Lahane]] to the south, beyond the wetland area. Significant construction was undertaken under governor {{ill|José Maria Marques|de}}, who arrived in 1834 and rebuilt the settlement along a grid. This saw expansion along the coast, but also southwards as the wetlands between the original city and Lahane were [[Channelization (rivers)|channelised]] and drained. A road extended to Lahane and [[Dare, Timor-Leste|Dare]].<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|17, 25}} The rebuilding saw the settlement being centred on its port, with the immediate port area containing trade facilities, church buildings, military buildings, government buildings, the residence of the governor and his deputy, a residence for a representative of the Motael kingdom, and a residence for the Queen of Manatuto. Of these, only the church and the Finance Deputy's house used [[masonry]]. To the east of this core was Bidau and a Chinese settlement, to the west was the main settlement of the Motael kingdom.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|26}}

In 1844 Timor, along with Macau and Solor, was removed from the jurisdiction of [[Portuguese India]], with the three areas becoming a new Portuguese province. A few years later in 1850, [[Portuguese Timor]] was removed from the jurisdiction of the governor of Macau, before being returned to the jurisdiction of Portuguese India in 1856.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|212–215}} When English naturalist and explorer [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] visited in the 1860s, he wrote that the governor's house was "merely a low whitewashed cottage", and that all other buildings appeared to be mud and thatch. At the time swamps and mudflats surrounded the town, which did not extend to the mountains surrounding it.<ref name="Adams2013">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Kathleen M. |editor1-last=Bishop |editor1-first=Ryan |editor2-last=Phillips |editor2-first=John |editor3-last=Wei Wei Yeo |title=Postcolonial Urbanism: Southeast Asian Cities and Global Processes |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136060502 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S4nUNKK9_lwC |chapter=The Ambivalent Allure of the Urban Jungle |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327140727/https://books.google.com/books?id=S4nUNKK9_lwC |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|49}} More permanent buildings of one or two stories were constructed throughout the late 19th century.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|26}} A new church building was built in 1877.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|29}}

[[File:Dilly's Port and City Plan, Second Edition, 1895.jpg|thumb|alt=Hand-drawn map showing the coast of Dili and some offshore waters|1895 port and city plan]]
A revolt to the east led to the city being isolated in 1861; however, the revolt was defeated by the Portuguese and their Timorese allies.<ref name="Damaledo2018">{{cite book |last1=Damaledo |first1=Andrey |title=Divided Loyalties: Displacement, belonging and citizenship among East Timorese in West Timor |date=27 September 2018 |publisher=ANU Press |isbn=9781760462376 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ld90DwAAQBAJ |access-date=5 April 2022 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327140745/https://books.google.com/books?id=ld90DwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|26}} In 1863, Dili was declared a city (although the news may not have arrived to the city until the next year), and East Timor became directly subordinate to the Lisbon government. In 1866 the territory was again put under the jurisdiction of Macau. An 1887 mutiny in Dili led to the death of the governor at the time. The territory was separated from Macau for the last time in 1896, again coming directly under the jurisdiction of Lisbon, and becoming a full province in 1909.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|212–215}} Another [[East Timorese rebellion of 1911–1912|notable revolt]] took place in the years after the [[5 October 1910 revolution|1910 republican revolution]] in Portugal.<ref name="Carter2001"/>{{rp|11}} The republican government downgraded the status of its overseas provinces to colonies.<ref name="Thomaz2017"/>{{rp|215}} A civil government was established in 1913.<ref name="Weatherbee1966">{{cite journal |last1=Weatherbee |first1=Donald E. |title=Portuguese Timor: An Indonesian Dilemma |journal=Asian Survey |date=1966 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=684–687 |doi=10.2307/2642194 |jstor=2642194 |s2cid=154903837 |url=https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=poli_facpub |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714140641/https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=poli_facpub |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|685}}

[[File:DiliMercadoMunicipal.jpg|thumb|[[Municipal Market of Dili|Former Market Hall]] built by the Portuguese]]
Permanent structures in Portuguese style continued to be constructed into the 20th century.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|30-32}} A new town hall was built from 1912 to 1915. The main church was demolished in 1933, and a new cathedral opened in its place in 1937.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|29}} (This cathedral was later destroyed by Allied bombing in the Second World War.)<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|60}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://doublereds.org.au/forums/topic/424-the-old-dili-cathedral-%E2%80%93-prime-target-in-the-bombing-war/ |title=The Old Dili Cathedral – Prime Target in the Bombing War |author=Edward Willis |publisher=2/2 Commando Association of Australia |date=14 August 2023 |access-date=4 July 2024}}</ref> Four distinct residential districts developed around the city core. Bidau was the largest, and Benamauc joined it on the eastern side. Caicole developed to the south between the city and Lahane. [[Colmera]] developed as a commercial area to the west with a large number of Muslim traders. Motael continued to develop, becoming the site of the city's lighthouse. [[Motael Church]] began to be built in 1901. Inland to the southwest, a Chinese cemetery was established, and beyond that a military area known as Taibesse.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|32–39}} Lahane also saw significant development in the early 20th century, with its east and west side separated by a river.<ref name="Miranda2015"/>{{rp|40}} As the administrative structures developed, Dili became part of the Dili municipality in 1940, the first municipal administration to be created. At the time the municipality was larger, including what is now the [[Aileu Municipality]].<ref name="AdministrativeDivision">{{cite web |url=http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?lang=en&p=91 |title=Administrative Division |publisher=Government of Timor-Leste |access-date=30 June 2021 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182920/http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?lang=en&p=91 |url-status=live}}</ref>