[2] Prior to the arrival of European colonial powers, the island of Timor was part of the trading networks that stretched between India and China and incorporating Maritime Southeast Asia.

By the end of the colonial administration in 1974, 30 percent of Timorese were practising Catholics while the majority continued to worship spirits of the land and sky.

[11] In 1702, António Coelho Guerreiro was appointed Governor and Captain General of the islands of Timor and Solor and other regions in the South[12] by Caetano de Melo e Castro, the Viceroy of Goa, ending the autonomy of the Dominican missions.

[3] Direct European presence was limited to a handful of individuals, and only one or two ships made the trip between Lifau and Macau each year.

[13]: 43 In 1716 the Viceroy of Macau, César de meneses, banned the sale of Timorese sandalwood to non-Portuguese areas, creating tension with the Topasses.

In 1755 the Dutch began a concerted effort to increase their influence in Solor and Timor, and in June 1756 nobles from 77 polities signed contracts with the VOC representative in Kupang, including Maubara.

[13]: 47–48 Continuing struggles led to the killing of Portuguese Governor Dionísio Gonçalves Rebelo Galvão [de] in Lifau in 1766.

[10] Shortly after, Portuguese administration shifted East, when Governor António José Teles de Meneses moved to the Kingdom of Motael due to the Topasse threat.

[15] The definitive border was established by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1914 and ratified in 1916; it remains the international boundary between East Timor and Indonesia.

Further military battles occurred over succeeding years, until 1888 when the thirteen kingdoms of the island's east swore fealty to Portugal.

There was a small renaissance in the sandalwood trade in the 1850s, including wood smuggled across the border in order to obtain valuable Dutch currency.

[3] José Celestino da Silva became Governor in 1894 and sought to establish "full and effective control" in the colony in line with international norms arising from the Berlin Conference.

[10] While at first proposing to sell the colony due to its underdevelopment, da Silva quickly shifted towards reforms, and sought complete autonomy from Macau.

This killing increased the desire of Portugal to properly control the territory, and to da Silva began further brutal campaigns alongside local allies.

Many Portuguese males who gained control of coffee plantations married local women, leading to a growing mestiço population.

A drop in the years afterwards led to Governor Raimundo Enes Meira [pt] banning all sandalwood harvesting and export on 15 February 1925.

[8]: 94  In 1929 a localised easing of this ban was issued by Governor Teófilo Duarte for Oecusse, a response to slightly better existing stock, smuggling to Dutch Timor, and a lack of control of the exclave.

The joint-venture effectively controlled imports and exports into the island by the mid-1930s and the extension of Japanese interests greatly concerned the British, Dutch and Australian authorities.

[20] Although Portugal was neutral during World War II, in December 1941, Portuguese Timor was occupied by a small British, Australian and Dutch force, to preempt a Japanese invasion.

In post-war Portuguese Timor, primary and secondary school education levels significantly increased, albeit on a very low base.

Although illiteracy in 1973 was estimated at 93 percent of the population, the small educated elite of Portuguese Timorese produced by the Church in the 1960s and 1970s became the independence leaders during the Indonesian occupation.

[23]: 411 Following a 1974 coup (the "Carnation Revolution"), the new Government of Portugal favoured the immediate decolonisation process for Portuguese territories in Asia and Africa.

The Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) was dedicated to preserving Portuguese Timor as a protectorate of Portugal, and in September announced its support for independence.

Fretilin, formed by trade unionists and anti-colonialists,[10] endorsed "the universal doctrines of socialism", as well as "the right to independence",[26] and later declared itself "the only legitimate representative of the people".

On 28 November 1975, Fretilin unilaterally declared the colony's independence, as the Democratic Republic of East Timor (República Democrática de Timor-Leste).

Lemos Pires and his staff then left Atauro, embarked on the Portuguese warships, and headed to Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The João Roby and Afonso Cerqueira were ordered to continue patrolling the waters around the former Portuguese Timor, in preparation of possible military action to respond to the Indonesian invasion, constituting the naval task force UO 20.1.2 (latter renamed FORNAVTIMOR).

The Portuguese warships would continue in the region until May 1976, when the remaining NRP Oliveira e Carmo left, going back to Lisbon, at a time when a military action to expel the Indonesian forces was clearly seen as unviable.

The United Nations, however, did not recognise the annexation, continuing to consider Portugal as the legal Administering Power of what under international law was still Portuguese Timor.

Following the end of Indonesian occupation in 1999, and a United Nations administered transition period, East Timor became formally independent 20 May 2002.