East Timorese Coins

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Pre-Colonial History
The earliest evidence of human civilisation on the island of Timor is 3,000 years old. The people who lived there were relatively reclusive and based mainly on the inland of the island. However, they did trade products, especially sandalwood, with Chinese, Indian and Malaysian merchants. Surprisingly little is known of the history of natives of Timor, because their history tended to be passed down orally, rather than in written form, and was thus corrupted over the years and transformed into mythology.

Portuguese Colonisation
Portuguese explorers arrived in the area searching for areas known to grow valuable spices. The first Portuguese settlement was founded in 1515. The Portuguese had other colonies in the Indonesias but they were eventually pushed out by the Dutch except in East Timor.
The tribal system of the natives was left largely intact, but the Portuguese taxed and traded with the local population. The Portuguese also sold guns to the natives and allowed them to hire Portuguese soldiers as mercenaries in their battles with rival tribes.
This method of colonial administration may have contributed to the fact that today; only 30% of the East Timorese population is catholic, rather than a majority, as is the case in many other long-standing Portuguese and Spanish colonies.

End of Portuguese Rule and the Beginning of Indonesian Occupation
Following the Carnation Revolution that brought down the die-hard imperialist Estado Novo regime in Portugal in 1974, Portugal moved to dismantle its overseas Empire as quickly as possible, and East Timor declared its independence the following year.
Prior to the end of Portuguese rule, Indonesia maintained that it did not have territorial ambitions in East Timor, but there were some, even within East Timor itself, who had doubts about the viability of the country as an independent state. The newly-established country did not enjoy independence to contemplate this for long however, and Indonesia invaded and annexed it as its 27th Province.

Indonesian Rule and United Nations intervention
Indonesian rule of East Timor was harsh and brutal. The United Nations refused to recognise the annexation, although many western countries (including Britain) supported Indonesia for economic reasons.
Over the years of Indonesian rule, a semi-covert war against independence activists claimed tens of thousands of lives as well as many more human rights abuses. However, it wasn't until the 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre of 1991, in which 250 people died, that the atrocities occurring under Indonesian rule were really brought to the world's attention.
Years of international pressure and the fall of the Indonesian dictator Suharto in 1998 made possible the holding of a referendum in 1999 on independence. The vote was overwhelmingly for independence, although clashes between pro and anti-independence militias resulted in further bloodshed and a deluge of refugees flooding out of the worst affected areas.
An Australian led UN mission to restore and maintain order was sent into East Timor, which although vastly-scaled down in recent years, continues to this day.

Coins of East Timor
During much of the Portuguese colonial period, Spanish currency, often in the form of Spanish 8 Reale pieces predominated, due to the huge level of trade that existed in the silver-rich Spanish colonies in the South Americas. After the collapse of the Spanish Empire, Mexican Pesos and other Spanish Dollar descended South American coins predominated, alongside other dollar-based colonial issues from Britain and other places.
The Pataca, based on the dollar, was the first currency issued specifically for use in Portuguese Timor and Macau. This currency was divided into 100 avos, and coins of 10, 20, 50 avos were introduced, although no pataca coin was issued until 1951.
The Pataca was replaced by the Portuguese Timorese Escudo in 1958 Coins of 10, 20, 50 centavos supplemented the 1, 2½, 5 and 10 escudo issues. This currency was replaced in 1976 by the Indonesian Rupiah following the invasion and occupation of the previous year.
Following the evacuation of Indonesia from East Timor in 2000, the US Dollar was introduced as East Timor's official currency. In 2003 The East Timorese Centavo (equal to 1 US cent) was introduced and has circulated alongside US currency ever since. 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 Centavo pieces are issued for use in circulation.

For Sale and Wanted
If you are interested in coins from East Timor please see our product index:-
East Timorese Coins

Gold Coins
We also have gold coins from East Timor on our taxfreegold website:-
East Timorese Gold Coins