Lifau is a village and suco in the

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 ...

exclave of Oecusse District. The village is located west of the mouth of the Tono River. 1,938 people live in the suco.

History

Lifau was the first European settlement on the island of

Timor 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 ...

. Dominican brothers carried on missionary work on the north coast of Timor after 1556. In 1641 they arrived at Lifau and baptized the royal family of Ambeno. A permanent Portuguese settlement arose in the 1650s, as many Portuguese moved from their old colonial seat Larantuka on

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

to Timor in response to the Dutch colonial settlement in

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 ...

in westernmost Timor (1653). Lifau remained the centre for Portuguese colonial activities for more than a century, and was headed by a governor after 1702. In 1769 the colonial capital was moved to

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 ...

due to military aggression from the Eurasian Topasses who opposed the politics of the governor. After this date the place lost its significance, since the Topasses preferred to keep their residence in

Pante Macassar Pante Macassar (, , ) is a city in the Pante Macassar Administrative Post, Pante Macassar administrative post on the north coast of East Timor, Timor-Leste, to the west of Dili, the nation's capital. It has a population of 4,730 (Stand 2006) ...

further to the east.

References

*C.R. Boxer (1947), ''The Topasses of Timor''. Amsterdam: Indisch Instituut te Amsterdam. *Wheeler, T. (2004) ''East Timor.'' Footscray, VIC: Lonely Planet. {{Sucos of East Timor Populated places in Oecusse Populated places established in the 1650s Oecusse Sucos of Timor-Leste 1656 establishments in the Portuguese Empire