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Geography and politics: Sample country fact boxes
East Timor
National name: Repúblika Demokrátika de Timor Leste/Democratic Republic of East Timor
Area: 14,874 sq km/5,743 sq mi
Capital: Dili
Major towns/cities: Ainaro, Bacau, Maliana, Suai, Viqueque
Major ports: Dili, Carabela, Com
Physical features: comprises the largely mountainous eastern half of the island of Timor in the Malay Archipelago, together with two islands, Atauro and Jaco, and an enclave around Ocusse on the northwest coast
Government
Head of state: Xanana Gusmão from 2002
Head of government: Mari Alkatiri from 2002
Political system: emergent democracy
Political executive: parliamentary
Administrative regions: 13 districts divided into 65 sub-districts
Political parties: Frente Revolucionária do Timor Leste Independente (Fretilin; Revolutionary Front of an Independent East Timor), nationalist; Partido Democrático (PD; Democratic Party), left-wing; União Democrática Timorense (UDT; Timorese Democratic Union), centrist
Armed forces: Defence Force consisting of 1,500 regulars and 1,500 reservists drawn from the former guerrilla army, Falintil; United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET) due to remain in place until May 2003 with 5,000 troops and 1,250 police officers
Economy and resources
Currency: US dollar
GDP: (US$) 380 million (2001 est)
GNI: (US$) 390 million (2001 est)
GNI per capita: (US$) 459 (2001 est)
Consumer price inflation: (% change on previous year) 3 (2001 est)
Unemployment: 6% (2001)
Major trading partners: Indonesia, Australia
Resources: coffee, rice, maize, livestock, fishing, offshore oil and gas fields due to be exploited from 2004
Industries: textiles, coffee processing, water-bottling, soap, perfumes, processed food; there are also craft industries.
Exports: coffee, marble, potential for oil exports
Imports: rice and other foodstuffs, petroleum products, construction materials
Arable land: 40% (2001 est)
Agricultural products: coffee, maize, cassava, copra, rice, sweet potatoes, cotton, tobacco
Population and society
Population: 794,000 (2001 est)
Population growth rate: 3.9% (2000–05)
Population density: (per sq km) 55.7 (2001 est)
Urban population: (% of total) 23.5 (2001 est)
Age distribution: (% of total population) 0–14 44%, 15–59 51%, 60+ 5% (2001 est)
Ethnic groups: 78% Timorese (comprising 12 ethnic groups and including mixed-race), 20% Indonesian, 2% Chinese
Language: Tetum (national language), Portuguese (official language)
Religion: Roman Catholic (86%), Islam, Animism
Literacy rate: (as % of age 15 and over) 43.1% (men); 42.8% (women) (2001)
Labour force: (% of total workers) 73.2% agriculture; 4.8 % industry; 22% services (2001 est)
Life expectancy: 56 (men); 59 (women) (2001)
Child mortality rate: (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 144 (2001)
Physicians: 160 (1998), but approximately 130 left as a result of the civil conflict in 1999
Transport
Airports: two international airports and eight grass runways
Railways: none
Roads: 1,414 km/878.6 mi paved
Practical information
Visa requirements: not yet announced
Time difference: GMT+9
Major holidays: not yet announced
Chronology
1520: Portuguese traders first land in Timor looking for the sandalwood tree.
1860: The Dutch secure control of West Timor, leaving the Portuguese in control of East Timor.
1974: Nicolau Lobato forms the Timorese Social Democratic Association, which becomes the communist Frente Revolucionária do Timor Leste Independente (Fretilin; Revolutionary Front of an Independent East Timor) in September 1975, to fight for independence.
1975: Fretilin seizes control of East Timor and declares independence, pre-empting a planned Portuguese withdrawal. Indonesia reacts by invading in early December. An estimated 100,000–200,000 Timorese, out of a total population of around 650,000, are killed in the military crackdown and the subsequent spread of famine and disease. However, resistance, led by Fretilin, continues.
1976: The Indonesian president, T N J Suharto, signs the Bill of Integration incorporating East Timor as Indonesia's 27th province, Timor Timur. The United Nations (UN) refuses to recognize the annexation and calls for Indonesia's withdrawal.
1990: The Indonesian government rejects proposals for unconditional peace negotiations by Xanana Gusmão, commander-in-chief of Fretilin's army, the Falintil.
1991: The Indonesian army kills between 100 and 180 peaceful pro-independence demonstrators during the funeral ceremony for a separatist sympathizer at Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, and subsequently executes a further 60–100 'subversives'.
1992: Fretilin leader Gusmão is arrested and taken to Jakarta, where he is tried and, in 1993, found guilty of conspiracy and rebellion and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
1994: Under UN auspices, Fretilin Secretary for International Relations, José Ramos-Horta, meets Indonesia's foreign minister, Ali Alatas, for the first time in inaugural official talks on the island's status.
1995: Serious rioting in Dili, involving Timorese Roman Catholics and Muslim immigrants from Indonesia, is defused through the intervention of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Dili, Carlos Belo.
1996: Ramos-Horta and Belo are jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for their efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the East Timor conflict.
1998: The Indonesian president, B J Habibie, who on 21 May had replaced the autocratic and unpopular T N J Suharto, ending his 32 years in power, offers partial autonomy to East Timor, but rules out independence.
1999: Following UN-brokered talks, Indonesia agrees to hold a referendum in August, offering the East Timorese voters the choice between 'special autonomy' within Indonesia or independence. The East Timorese vote overwhelmingly (79%) for independence. Pro-Indonesian militias, opposed to the vote, embark on weeks of violence. An Australian-led peacekeeping force, the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET), arrives to liberate East Timor from Indonesia and restore order. The Indonesian government eventually concedes.
2000: INTERFET is replaced by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the handover being completed on 28 February. However, 150,000 East Timorese remain in refugee camps in West Timor. An eight-member power-sharing provisional government, composed half of UNTAET officials and half of East Timorese is formed.
2001: A large voter turnout marks East Timor's first democratic elections. Fretilin wins 55 of the 88 seats in East Timor's constituent assembly.
2002: East Timor's assembly approves a draft constitution envisaging a government run along parliamentary lines. East Timor and Indonesia sign two agreements aimed at easing relations. Xanana Gusmão is elected as president, and on 20 May, East Timor celebrates its formal independence.
Portugal
National name: República Portuguesa/Republic of Portugal
Area: 92,000 sq km/35,521 sq mi (including the Azores and Madeira)
Capital: Lisbon
Major towns/cities: Porto, Coimbra, Amadora, Setúbal, Funchal, Braga, Vila Nova de Gaia
Major ports: Porto, Setúbal
Physical features: mountainous in the north (Serra da Estrêla mountains); plains in the south; rivers Minho, Douro, Tagus (Tejo), Guadiana
Government
Head of state: Jorge Sampaio from 1996
Head of government: José Manuel Durão Barroso from 2002
Political system: liberal democracy
Political executive: dual executive
Administrative divisions: 18 districts and two autonomous regions
Political parties: Social Democratic Party (PSD), moderate left of centre; Socialist Party (PS), left of centre; People's Party (PP), right wing, anti-European integration
Armed forces: 44,700 (2000)
Conscription: 4–18 months
Death penalty: abolished in 1976
Defence spend: (% GDP) 2.2 (2000)
Education spend: (% GDP) 5.5 (1999)
Health spend: (% GDP) 5.2 (1998)
Economy and resources
Currency: euro (escudo until 2002)
GDP: (US$) 103.9 billion (2000)
Real GDP growth: (% change on previous year) 2.6 (2000)
GNI: (US$) 110.7 billion (2000)
GNI per capita (PPP): (US$) 16,880 (2000)
Consumer price inflation: 2.3% (1999)
Unemployment: 4.9% (1998)
Major trading partners: EU (principally Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium–Luxembourg), USA, Japan
Resources: limestone, granite, marble, iron, tungsten, copper, pyrites, gold, uranium, coal, forests
Industries: textiles and clothing, footwear, paper pulp, cork items (world's largest producer of cork), chemicals, petroleum refining, fish processing, viticulture, electrical appliances, ceramics, tourism
Exports: textiles, clothing, footwear, pulp and waste paper, wood and cork manufactures, tinned fish, electrical equipment, wine, refined petroleum. Principal market: Germany 19.9% (1999)
Imports: foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, crude petroleum, natural gas, textile yarn, coal, rubber, plastics, tobacco. Principal source: Spain 24.8% (1999)
Arable land: 20.5% (1998)
Agricultural products: wheat, maize, rice, potatoes, tomatoes, grapes, olives, fruit; fishing (1993 sardine catch was the world's largest at 89,914 tonnes)
Population and society
Population: 10,033,000 (2001 est)
Population growth rate: 0.1% (2000–05)
Population density: (per sq km) 109 (2001 est)
Urban population: (% of total) 64 (2000 est)
Age distribution: (% of total population) 0–14 17%, 15–59 62%, 60+ 21% (2001 est)
Ethnic groups: most of the population is descended from Caucasoid peoples who inhabited the whole of the Iberian peninsula in classical and pre-classical times; there are a number of minorities from Portugal's overseas possessions and former possessions
Language: Portuguese (official)
Religion: Roman Catholic 97%
Education: (compulsory years) 9
Literacy rate: 95% (men); 90% (women) (2000 est)
Labour force: 13.7% agriculture, 31.5% industry, 54.8% services (1997)
Life expectancy: 73 (men); 80 (women) (2000–05)
Child mortality rate: (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 11 (1995–2000)
Physicians: 1 per 333 people (1996)
Hospital beds: 1 per 244 people (1996)
TV sets: (per 1,000 people) 560 (1999)
Radios: (per 1,000 people) 304 (1997)
Internet users: (per 10,000 people) 2,494.1 (2000)
Personal computer users: (per 100 people) 29.9 (2000)
Transport
Airports: six international airports; domestic services operate between these; total passengers carried: 7.3 million (1999)
Railways: total length: 3,038 km/1,888 mi; total passenger journeys: 164 million (1999)
Roads: total road network: 68,732 km/42,710 mi, of which 86% paved (1999 est); passenger cars: 321 per 1,000 people (1998 est)
Practical information
Visa requirements: UK: visa not required for a stay of up to three months. USA: visa not required for a stay of up to two months
Embassy in the UK: 11 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PP. Tel: (020) 7235 5331/4; fax: (020) 7245 1287
British embassy: Rua de São Bernardo 33, 1200 Lisbon. Tel: (1) 396 1191; fax: (1) 397 6768
Chamber of commerce: Confederação do Comércio Português, Rua dos Correeiros 79, 1o Andar, 1100 Lisbon. Tel: (1) 301 0192; fax: (1) 301 0626
Office hours: 0900–1300 and 1500–1900 Mon–Fri
Banking hours: generally 0830–1500 Mon–Fri
Time difference: GMT +/–0
Chief tourist attractions: mild climate; historic town of Lisbon; summer resorts in the Algarve; winter resorts on Madeira and the Azores
Major holidays: 1 January, 25 April, 10 June, 15 August, 5 October, 1 November, 1, 8, 24–25 December; variable: Carnival, Corpus Christi, Good Friday
Chronology
2nd century BC: Romans conquered Iberian peninsula.
5th century AD: Iberia overrun by Vandals and Visigoths after fall of Roman Empire.
711: Visigoth kingdom overthrown by Muslims invading from North Africa.
997–1064: Christians resettled northern area, which came under rule of Léon and Castile.
1139: Afonso I, son of Henry of Burgundy, defeated Muslims; the area became an independent kingdom.
1340: Final Muslim invasion defeated.
15th century: Age of exploration: Portuguese mariners surveyed coast of Africa, opened sea route to India (Vasco da Gama), and reached Brazil (Pedro Cabral).
16th century: 'Golden Age': Portugal flourished as commercial and colonial power.
1580: Philip II of Spain took throne of Portugal.
1640: Spanish rule overthrown in bloodless coup; Duke of Braganza proclaimed as King John IV.
1668: Spain recognized Portuguese independence.
1755: Lisbon devastated by earthquake.
1807: Napoleonic France invaded Portugal; Portuguese court fled to Brazil.
1807–11: In the Peninsular War British forces played a leading part in liberating Portugal from the French.
1820: Liberal revolution forced King John VI to return from Brazil and accept constitutional government.
1822: First Portuguese constitution adopted.
1828: Dom Miguel blocked the succession of his niece, Queen Maria, and declared himself absolute monarch; civil war ensued between liberals and conservatives.
1834: Queen Maria regained the throne with British, French, and Brazilian help; constitutional government restored.
1840s: Severe disputes between supporters of radical 1822 constitution and more conservative 1826 constitution.
late 19th century: Government faced severe financial difficulties; rise of socialist, anarchist, and republican parties.
1908: Assassination of King Carlos I.
1910: Portugal became republic after a three-day insurrection forced King Manuel II to flee.
1911: New regime adopted liberal constitution, but republic proved unstable, violent, and corrupt.
1916–18: Portugal fought in World War I on Allied side.
1926–51: Popular military coup installed Gen António de Fragoso Carmona as president.
1933: Authoritarian 'Estado Novo' ('New State') constitution adopted.
1949: Portugal became founding member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
1974: Army seized power to end stalemate situation in African colonial wars.
1975: Portuguese colonies achieved independence.
1976: First free elections in 50 years.
1986: Soares became the first civilian president in 60 years; Portugal joined the European Community (EC).
1989: The Social Democrat government started to dismantle the socialist economy and privatize major industries.
1995: Antonio Gutteres was elected prime minister in the legislative elections.
1996: Jorge Sampaio was elected president.
2001: Sampaio was re-elected president. A cattle slaughter programme was instituted to combat the growing threat of mad cow disease (BSE). A bridge over the River Douro collapsed, killing 70 and prompting the resignation of the public works minister.
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