History UsefulNotes / TimorLeste

** Prime Minister: Taur Matan Ruak

Timor-Leste, or East Timor in English ('''Tetum:''' ''Timór-Leste''), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste ('''Portuguese:''' ''República Democrática de Timor-Leste'', '''Tetum:''' ''Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste'') is a small Southeast Asian country with just over a million people. As the name suggests, it is located in the eastern half of the island of Timor, [[RepetitiveName which itself also means "east" in Malay]] (and Leste means "east" in Portuguese). A former Portuguese colony, its population is avidly Catholic, making it one of the two Asian countries with a Catholic-majority population. In fact, East Timor is currently one of the most densely Catholic countries in the world, second only to the UsefulNotes/VaticanCity itself. These are some of the reasons its people were fiercely determined to break free from UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}, which was a former [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands Dutch]] colony and largely Muslim (though it should be noted that while West Timor is not majority Catholic, it's also not majority Muslim; while Catholics are a significant minority, Protestants are dominant there. However, East Nusa Tenggara, the province where West Timor is located, ''is'' majority Catholic if taken together[[note]]That's because some parts of said province -- namely the Flores (conveniently, Portuguese for "Flowers"), especially the area in and around Larantuka, and Solor -- were themselves Portuguese colonies at some point, but they were lost or ceded to the Dutch at various points in history. Besides Catholicism, other Portuguese cultural marks include the use of Portuguese in liturgical contexts and claims of descent from Portuguese settlers.[[/note]]).

** President: Francisco Guterres
** Prime Minister: José Maria Vasconcelos (Taur Matan Ruak)

Timor-Leste, or East Timor in English ('''Tetum:''' ''Timór-Leste''), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste ('''Portuguese:''' ''República Democrática de Timor-Leste'', '''Tetum:''' ''Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste'') is a small Southeast Asian country with just over a million people. As the name suggests, it is located in the eastern half of the island of Timor, [[RepetitiveName which itself also means "east" in Malay]] (and Leste means "east" in Portuguese). A former Portuguese colony, its population is avidly Catholic, making it one of the two Asian countries with a Catholic-majority population. In fact, East Timor is currently one of the most densely Catholic countries in the world, second only to the UsefulNotes/VaticanCity itself. These are some of the reasons its people were fiercely determined to break free from UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}, which was a former [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands Dutch]] colony and largely Muslim (though it should be noted that while West Timor is not majority Catholic, it's also not majority Muslim; while Catholics are a significant minority, Protestants are dominant there. However, East Nusa Tenggara, the province where West Timor is located, ''is'' majority Catholic if taken together).