Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste, also called East Timor, is a Southeast Asian country on the eastern half of Timor, north of Australia across the Timor Sea. Dili on the north coast is the capital and largest city, and Portuguese and Tetun are the official languages, with about 30 local languages also spoken. The territory includes the exclave of Oecusse, surrounded by Indonesian West Timor, and the island of Atauro.

Papuan and Austronesian peoples settled Timor in several waves, and by the 14th century its sandalwood, honey and wax reached Chinese and Indian traders. Driven from other islands by the Dutch, the Portuguese moved to Lifau in today's Oecusse, and in 1769 they founded Dili. A ruling of 1914 fixed the border with the Dutch west, which still stands. Portugal later promoted coffee exports with little lasting effect.

Fretilin declared independence on 28 November 1975, and Indonesia then held the territory until 1999. In an August 1999 vote under UN supervision, the Timorese chose independence. Independence came on 20 May 2002 with Xanana Gusmão as first president. It is a semi-presidential republic in which the directly elected president and a prime minister chosen through the National Parliament divide executive power.

The country covers 15,007 km² (5,794 sq mi), and its mountainous interior rises to 2,963 m (9,721 ft) at Tatamailau, also called Mount Ramelau. Offshore oil and gas from the Timor Sea pay for most of the state budget through the Petroleum Fund set up in 2005, while the Bayu-Undan field is running down and Greater Sunrise remains undeveloped. Coffee is the main export besides fuel, and many families live partly from subsistence farming. Nearly the whole population is Catholic, women weave tais textiles by hand, and the country was admitted to ASEAN as its 11th member in 2025.