Timor

Timor (Indonesian: Pulau Timor; Portuguese: Ilha de Timor; Tetun: Illa Timór) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The name is a variant of timur, Malay for "east"; it is so called because it lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Mainland Australia is less than 500 km away, separated by the Timor Sea. The island covers an area of 30,777 square kilometres (11,883 square miles). With a population of over 3 million people, the island is divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the western part. The Indonesian part, known as West Timor, is inhabited by around 2 million people and constitutes part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Timor-Leste, previously under Indonesian control from 1975 to 1999, has a population of around 1.3 million. Within West Timor lies an exclave of Timor-Leste called Oecusse District. The island had previously been divided between the Dutch and Portuguese colonial empires.