Atapupu is a port town in the Indonesian part of

Timor Island Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

(

West Timor West Timor () is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The capital as well ...

, in Kakuluk Mesak District of Belu Regency in

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara (; ) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the north, with a total land area of 47,238.07 km2. It cons ...

Province. It is located on the northernmost part of West Timor, close to the border with

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 ...

History

Prior to the 18th century, Atapupu was a port under influence of the Portuguese, but Dutch influence reached the area by 1797. While the Portuguese seized Atapupu during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, the district of Atapupu was later returned to the Dutch, but border disputes continued. Dutch forces attacked Atapupu in 1817 and 1818. The latter of the two attacks occurred on 20 April 1818, when 30 soldiers overcame the town's Portuguese garrison and replaced the Portuguese

ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

with Dutch ones. As part of Dutch Timor, Atapupu was the region's second port after

Kupang Kupang (, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census, it had a population of 442,758;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as o ...

, being connected by road to the larger port settlement. It was the seat of Dutch administration for what is today the Belu Regency, until the seat was moved to

Atambua Atambua is the regency seat of Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The town stretches 8.5 km from north to south and 5 km from east to west, and is in the north of the western half of Timor Island. The town is located at an alt ...

in 1916. During the

Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. In May 1940, Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, occupied the Netherlands, and ma ...

, Atapupu was used as a staging point for barges and was heavily damaged by Australian bombing. In the late 2010s, the Indonesian government began to designate Atapupu's port as a transit point for goods exported to

by sea.

Town

The

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy (, TNI-AL) is the Navy, naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol Indonesia's lengthy coastline, to enforce and patrol the territorial waters and Exclus ...

operates a naval post at Atapupu.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in East Nusa Tenggara Port cities and towns in Indonesia