East Timor Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

East Timor: population, cities

Population

According to Countryaah website, East Timor had around 1.1 million residents in 2010.

Compare the

Federal Republic of Germany (81.9 million),

Austria (8.3 million), the

USA (314.2 million),

PR China (1.3 billion),

India (1.2 billion) and

Egypt with approx. 80.5 million residents.

Ethnic composition

78% Timorians, 20% Indonesians, 2% Chinese

Religion

95% of the population are Catholics, the rest is made up of Muslims, Protestants, Buddhists and Hindus.

National language

In East Timor, the official languages are Portuguese and Tetum. In addition, however, English and Indonesian as well as some Indian-Malay languages are often spoken.

After its independence in 2002, the country had to choose its first official language. Although the vast majority speak Tetum, Tetum did not become the new language as it is not a written language. The choices were English, Indonesian and Portuguese. Portuguese was only dominated by a small, educated elite. Due to the occupying forces, Indonesian was fairly widespread, especially in the educational system.

The English language was ruled out quite quickly, as they didn’t want to become too dependent on Australia. Indonesian was not accepted because of the recent past. So the choice fell on Portuguese.

Capital/cities

The capital of East Timor is Dili, with a population of around 200,000. According to Abbreviation Finder, RTL stands for East Timor in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Other large cities are: Bacau with a population of around 105,000 on the northeast coast and Ermera with 104,000 residents.

Compare

New York (8 million) in the USA,

Sao Paulo (> 17 million) in Brazil,

Berlin (3.4 million) in Germany,

London (7.2 million) in England and Great Britain,

Beijing (City 6 million) in China,

Mexico City in Mexico, the most populous city on earth (over 20 million),

Tokyo (11.8 million) in Japan.

East Timor: Geography

East Timor, including the Oecussi-Ambeno enclave, covers a land area of around 14,604 km². Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of East Timor.

National borders

East Timor has a 228 km long border with Indonesia.

Coastline

East Timor has a sea coast with a length of around 706 km.

The island is surrounded by the following seas:

In the north lies the Banda Sea, in the northeast the Sawu Sea and in the south the Timor Sea. For more information, see the end of this article

Longitude and latitude

East Timor extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = 8º 10 ‘south to 9 ° 30’ south Δλ = from around 125º east to 127 ° 30 ‘east

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

For East Timor, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without summer time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:

Δt (CET) = + 8 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Dili

Dili, the capital of the country, is located at a southern latitude of around φ = 09 ° and thus in the middle of the tropics.

If the declination δ of the sun has the value 09 ° South, and the sun’s image point is thus exactly above the city, the sun is perpendicular to the city. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 23 days before March 21st and 23 days after September 21st.

Attention

If the image point of the sun and thus the declination is north of the latitude of Dili, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

(For further information see position of the sun)

Mountains

Mount Tatamailau

The highest mountain in the country is Mount Tatamailau, also called Gunung Tatamailau, with a height of 2,963 m.

Mt. Matebiam

Another high mountain is Mt. Matebiam, also called Gunung Malobou, with a height of 2,351 m.

Rivers

Most rivers dry up during the dry season.

Laclo

The longest river in the country that flows all year round is the Laclo with a length of around 485 km.

Other rivers in East Timor are the Loes and the Seica

Lakes

Ira Lalaro

The largest lake is the Ira Lalaro with an area of about 2,200 ha = 22 km².

Islands

Atauro

The island covers an area of 7,865 km² with around 8,000 residents. The island is about 23 km north of East Timor and forms the western border of the Wetar Strait.

Jaco

The island is located on the east coast and only about 1 km from East Timor. The approximately 8 km² island is densely forested and part of the Nino Konis Santana National Park established in 2007

Sawu Lake, Banda Sea, Timor Sea

In the north-west of East Timor lies the Sawu Sea, north the Banda Sea and south the Timor Sea, which extends to Australia. The Strait of Wetar is located between East Timor and the Indonesian island of Wetar.

Sawusee

The Sawusee extends in the west from the island of Sumba to the island of Atauro (East Timor), the end of the Strait of Wetar.

In the north it is bordered by the island of Flores. The Indonesian island of Sawu forms the southern limit.

Banda Lake

The Banda Sea is one of the marginal seas of the Pacific. It is surrounded by numerous islands that give it an almost oval shape. In the south it is bordered by East Timor up to the Tanimba Islands. While in the north the islands Taliabu and Mangole and in the east the Kai Islands and the small islands Gorong, Kasiui, Kur or Taam represent its border. In the west it extends to Sulawesi and from there further south to the Floresee. The Banda Sea extends roughly between a latitude of 2 ° to 8.5 ° south and a longitude of 123 ° to 132 ° east. The Banda Sea has its deepest point at 7,440 in the eastern part – the so-called Webertief (5 ° 50` South, 130 ° 35` East).

Timor Sea

The Timor Sea covers an area of around 61,500 km² and is a tributary of the Indian Ocean. The maximum depth of the Timor Sea is around 3,300 m. This marginal sea extends in a north-west-south-east direction between Timor and the north coast of Australia. In the east the Timor Sea borders the Arafura Sea. The Timor Trench, which is up to 3,000 m deep, runs in the Timor Sea.

East Timor Population