Manatuto (district)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Manatuto (, ) is one of the
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
(formerly districts) of
East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of 45,541 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,783.3 km2. The capital of the municipality is also named
Manatuto Manatuto is a city in Manatuto Municipality, East Timor. Manatuto Vila has 3,692 inhabitants (Census 2015) and is capital of the subdistrict and district Manatuto. It is on the north coast of Timor, (about as the crow flies) east of Dili ...
. It is the least populated
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
of East Timor.


Etymology

The word ''Manatuto'' has been said to be a Portuguese approximation of the local Tetum and
Galoli language The Galoli, or Galolen, are a people of East Timor with a population of about 50,000, primarily along the northern coast of the district of Manatuto. To the west lies the Mambai people. There is an old colony on the southern coast of Wetar isla ...
word ''Manatutu'', which means 'pecking birds'. According to another source, the word is a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
of the Tetum words ''Mana'' and ''tutu'', which mean 'old woman' and 'peak' or 'summit', respectively. The legend goes that two groups of people were each living on the summit of a hill, one of them named Sau Raha (now Soraha) and the other Sau Lor (now Saulidun). The two groups were engaged separately in their own daily activities, but each was accompanied by one of two
Liurai Liurai is a ruler's title on Timor. The word is Tetum language, Tetun and literally means "surpassing the earth". It was originally associated with Wehali, a ritually central kingdom situated at the south coast of central Timor (now included in I ...
, who were brothers.


Geography

The borders of the municipality of Manatuto are identical to those of the council of
Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor () was a Portuguese colony on the territory of present-day East Timor from 1702 until 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the regio ...
with the same name. The municipality borders the municipalities of
Baucau Baucau (, ) is the second-largest city in Timor-Leste, after Dili, the capital, which lies to its west. Baucau has about 16,000 inhabitants, and is the capital of Baucau municipality, located in the eastern part of the country. In the time ...
and
Viqueque Viqueque (, ) is a city in the south-east of Timor-Leste, 183 km from Dili, the national capital. Viqueque is the capital of Viqueque Municipality and Viqueque Administrative Post, and has five '' sucos'' under its control. They are: ...
to the east and
Manufahi Manufahi (, ) is one of the municipalities of East Timor. It has a population of 53,691 (2015 census) and an area of 1,323 km2. The capital of the municipality is Same. Etymology The present name of the municipality, ''Manufahi'', is ...
,
Aileu Aileu is the main township in Aileu District, East Timor. It is located 47 km (29 mi) southwest of Dili, the national capital, and had a population of 2,788 in 2015. In Portuguese Timor, the city was known as Vila General Carmona ...
, and
Dili Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...
to the west. It reaches both the south and north coasts of the island, and is only one of two municipalities to do so (the other is Lautém in the far east), and has the most geographical diversity. To the north is the Strait of Wetar, to the south is the
Timor Sea The Timor Sea (, , or ) is a relatively shallow sea in the Indian Ocean bounded to the north by the island of Timor with Timor-Leste to the north, Indonesia to the northwest, Arafura Sea to the east, and to the south by Australia. The Sunda Tr ...
.


History

According to a list prepared by , governor of the colony of Portuguese Timor from 1859 to 1863, Manatuto was one of 47 kingdoms in that colony at the time.


Administrative posts

The municipality's administrative posts (formerly sub-districts) are: * Barique-Natarbora (pop. 4,900) *
Laclo Laclo, officially Laclo Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Manatuto municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administrat ...
(pop. 6,400) *
Laclubar Laclubar is the main locality in Laclubar Administrative Post, Manatuto Municipality, East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises ...
(pop. 10,100) * Laleia (pop. 3,200) *
Manatuto Manatuto is a city in Manatuto Municipality, East Timor. Manatuto Vila has 3,692 inhabitants (Census 2015) and is capital of the subdistrict and district Manatuto. It is on the north coast of Timor, (about as the crow flies) east of Dili ...
(pop. 11,500) *
Soibada Soibada is a town in the Soibada Administrative Post, Manatuto District of East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the easter ...
(pop. 2,950) The administrative posts are divided into 29 sucos ("villages") in total.


Demographics

In addition to the official languages of East Timor (
Tetum Tetum may refer to: * Tetum language, an Austronesian language ** Tetum alphabet, used to write the Tetum language * Tetum people, an ethnic group of East Timor and Indonesia {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
and
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
), a large part of the population of the municipality speaks the
Malayo-Polynesian language The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...
Galoli The Galoli, or Galolen, are a people of East Timor with a population of about 50,000, primarily along the northern coast of the district of Manatuto. To the west lies the Mambai people. There is an old colony on the southern coast of Wetar isla ...
, which is designated as a "national language" by the constitution.


Notable people

The municipality is known as the birthplace of
Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. He has served as the 6th prime minister of East Timor since 2023, previously serving in that position from 2007 to 2015. A former rebel, he also served as E ...
, later to become the nation's first president. He was born in the village of Laleia (19 km East of Manatuto town).


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * *


External links

* – official site (in Tetum with some content in English) * – information page on Ministry of State Administration site {{Authority control Municipalities of Timor-Leste