In the 16th century, the Portuguese started trading with East Timor, and by the end of the century, East Timor had become a Portuguese colony. The Dutch and the British managed to take power for short spells of time in subsequent centuries, but the Portuguese managed to win the colony back. It was not until 1975 that East Timor became independent. After two decades of violent struggle with neighboring Indonesia, and East Timor finally formalized its status as an independent country in 2002. In effect, the Portuguese ruled over East Timor…
