Colonial rivalry on Timor between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Portuguese began in 1613, conditioned by the desire to control the sandalwood trade in the region.
[1] In 1653 they founded a fortress in Kupang in West Timor, Fort Concordia, and made it their main regional base in 1657.
The territory controlled by the VOC on Timor was originally restricted to the vicinity of Kupang, the so-called sespalen gebied.
After 1749 large parts of West Timor fell under Dutch suzerainty, and a major contract was made by the diplomat Johannes Andreas Paravicini with the various rulers in 1756 to bind them to the VOC sphere.
The last Dutch Resident A. Verhoef handed over his powers to a new Indonesian administration in late 1949.