Topasses

Topasses (Tupasses, Topas, Topaz) were a group of people led by the two powerful families – Da Costa and Hornay – that resided in Oecussi and Flores.

It partly overlapped with the Dutch concept mardijker, "free men", who also usually had a Portuguese cultural background, but had no European ancestry.

In 1641, their leader Francisco Fernandes led a Portuguese military expedition to weaken the power of the Muslim Makassarese who had recently made inroads in Timor.

When he marched on Kupang with a considerable force he was routed and killed at the Battle of Penfui, after which the Dutch expanded their control of western Timor.

Between 1847 and 1913 the Portuguese had to mount more than 60 armed expeditions to subdue the Timorese in the interior of the island; a few of these revolts occurred in the old Topasses part, west of East Timor.

Hornay and Da Costa's descendants continued to govern locally as rajas (or liurais) of Oecussi up to modern times.