Editing West Timor (section)

=== Portuguese ===
The first European colonization of Timor was in the 16th century. In 1512 (other sources mention 1509 or 1511), the Portuguese navigator [[António de Abreu]] was the first European to discover the island of Timor in search of the [[Spice islands|Spice Islands]].<ref name="RICKLEFSp24">{{cite book |last=Ricklefs |first=M.C. |title=A History of Modern Indonesia since c.1300 |publisher=Macmillan |year=1991 |isbn=0-333-57689-6 |edition=2nd |location=London |page=24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hannard |first=Willard A. |title=Indonesian Banda: Colonialism and its Aftermath in the Nutmeg Islands |publisher=Yayasan Warisan dan Budaya Banda Naira |year=1991 |location=[[Bandanaira]] |pages=7–8}}</ref> When the first Portuguese reached Timor, they found the population divided into many small kingdoms ([[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]: kerajaan) that were relatively independent of each other. The centre of the island was dominated by the [[Wehali|Wehale (Wehali) kingdom]] with its allies among the tribes of the Tetum, Bunak and Kemak ethnic groups. The Tetum formed the core of the kingdom. The capital [[Laran (indonesia)|Laran]] village on the territory of today's West Timor formed the spiritual centre of the entire island at that time.<ref>L. de Santa Catharina (1866), ''História de S. Domingos, Quatra parte''. Lisboa: Panorama, p. 300.</ref> Following the Wehale model, a second kingdom arose in West Timor, that of the [[Sonbai|Sonba'i]] kingdom.<ref>H. G. Schulte Nordholt (1971), ''The political system of the Atoni of Timor'', pp. 262-74.</ref>

In 1556, the [[Dominican Order]] founded the village of [[Lifau]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Heuken |first=Adolf |title=A History of Christianity in Indonesia |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-17026-1 |editor-last1=Aritonang |editor-first1=Jan Sihar |pages=73–97 |chapter=Chapter 4: The Solor-Timor mission of the Dominicans, 1562-1800 |volume=35 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctv4cbgb1.9 |editor-last2=Steenbrink |editor-first2=Karel |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1163/j.ctv4cbgb1.9.pdf}}</ref> six kilometres west of today's [[Pante Macassar]], to secure the sandalwood trade. Portugal initially established few garrisons and trading posts on Timor. Only when the threat from the Dutch increased did the Portuguese begin to expand their positions. Dutch traders first reached Timor in 1568.

To extend their control to the interior of the island, the Portuguese began a large-scale invasion in 1642 under [[Francisco Fernandes (commander)|Francisco Fernandes]]. However, this action was justified by the protection of the [[Christianization|Christianised]] rulers of the coastal region. The previous Christianisation supported the Portuguese in their quick and brutal victory, as their influence on the Timorese had already weakened the resistance. Fernandes first moved through the Sonba'i area and then quickly conquered the kingdom of Wehale, which was considered the religious and political centre of the island.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |title=History of Timor |url=http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~cesa/History_of_Timor.pdf |journal=[[Technical University of Lisbon]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324213447/http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~cesa/History_of_Timor.pdf |archive-date=24 March 2009 }}</ref> After the victory, the immigration of the [[Topasses]] continued to increase. They were [[mestizo]]s whose ancestors were inhabitants of the islands of [[Solor]] and [[Flores]] and Portuguese. The centre of the Topasses became Lifau, the main Portuguese base on Timor. Later, the Topasses also settled inland at the present-day villages of [[Kefamenanu]] and [[Niki-Niki]]. They were given land by the local rulers and soon formed their own local kingdoms, such as [[Noimuti]], and became a power on the island.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Resture |first=Jane |title=Jane's Oceania - Timor |url=http://www.janesoceania.com/timor/index.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109075501/http://www.janesoceania.com/timor/index.htm |archive-date=9 January 2018}}</ref> Two clans, the ''Hornay'' and the ''Costa'', at times controlled large parts of Timor, which was not without conflict between them.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Durand |first=Frédéric |title=Three centuries of violence and struggle in East Timor (1726-2008) |url=https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence}}</ref>