The Mambai (Mambae, Manbae) people are the second largest ethnic group after the Tetum Dili people in

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 ...

. Originally, they were known as the Maubere by the Portuguese. ''Maubere'' or ''Mau Bere'' is a widespread male first name among the Mambai people.

Settlement area

The Mambai number about 80,000Clifford Sather and James J. Fox (eds),
Origins, Ancestry and Alliance: Explorations in Austronesian Ethnography
', ANU E Press, 2006, Chapter 7. from the interior of

Dili District Dili Municipality (, ) is one of the 14 municipalities, formerly districts, of Timor-Leste, and includes the national capital Dili. The municipality had a population of 277,279 , most of whom live in the capital city. Etymology Several expla ...

to the south coast of the territory, especially in the districts of

Ainaro Ainaro is a town in East Timor, the capital of the Ainaro suco, the Ainaro administrative post and the Ainaro Municipality, and is located in the southwest part of the country. The town of Ainaro is located 78 km south of Dili, the nati ...

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 ...

. Its principal centers are

Ermera Ermera (''Vila Ermera'') is a city in East Timor and a former capital of the East Timorese community, Ermera. ''Ermera'' in Mambai language (Timor), Mambai means "red water." It has a population of 8,907. Its geographical coordinates are , ...

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 ...

Remexio Administrative Post Remexio, officially Remexio Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Aileu municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administr ...

Turiscai Turiscai is a village in the Turiscai administrative post, Manufahi municipality of East Timor. ''Turiskai'' in Mambai language means " Turibaum". History During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor The Indonesian occupation of ...

Maubisse Maubisse (''Maubesse, Mau-Bessi, Maobisse, Maubise'') is a historic town in the hills 70 km south of Dili, in Ainaro Municipality, East Timor. It is a popular tourist destination and a weekend visiting spot for people from the capital. T ...

and

Same, East Timor Same () is a town in the Same administrative post in the interior of Timor-Leste, south of Dili, the national capital. Same has a population of 7,413 and is the capital of Manufahi municipality, which was known as Same District in Portugues ...

. Among the East Timorese exiles in Australia, the Mambai people are one of the main groups. Mambai

Culture

The Mambai language belongs to the

Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages The Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (CEMP) languages form a proposed branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages consisting of over 700 languages (Blust 1993). Distribution The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken in the Lesser Sun ...

of the

Timoric languages The Timoric languages are a group of Austronesian languages (belonging to the Central–Eastern subgroup) spoken on the islands of Timor, neighboring Wetar, and (depending on the classification) Southwest Maluku to the east. Within the grou ...

branch. It is the second most common mother tongue in

with 195,778 speakers. Circular houses with conical roofs are typical dwellings, and the Mambai cultivate

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, and

root vegetables Root vegetables are underground plant parts eaten by humans or animals as food. In agricultural and culinary terminology, the term applies to true roots, such as taproots and tuberous root, root tubers, as well as non-roots such as bulbs, corms, ...

Notable people

Ethnically Mambai politicians include

Francisco Xavier do Amaral Francisco Xavier do Amaral (3 December 1937 – 6 March 2012) was an East Timorese politician. A founder of the ''Frente Revolucionária de Timor Leste Independente'' (Fretilin), Amaral was sworn in as the first President of East Timor wh ...

Manuel Tilman Manuel Tilman (born 20 August 1946 in Maubisse) is an 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 Tim ...

,International Crisis Group, Asia Briefing N°65, 13 June 2007

Lúcia Lobato Lúcia Maria Brandão Freitas Lobato (born 7 November 1965
(Portuguese).) ...

,East Timor Legal Information Site, 2007
and Fernando de Araújo.

Settlement area

Culture

Notable people

References

Further reading