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The south-east Asian nation of
Timor-Leste consists of the eastern side of the island of Timor and the enclave of Oecussi. The island is shared between
Timor-Leste and the Indonesian province of West Timor.
Timor-Leste was a Portuguese colony from the early 16th century until 1975, when political upheaval in Portugal led to the liberation of
the Portuguese colonies around the world.
In November 1975, nationalists fighting for Timor-Leste's freedom briefly declared an independent republic before Indonesian troops invaded
the country, annexing Timor-Leste as an Indonesian province.
A referendum held in Timor-Leste in August 1999, overwhelmingly
expressed the nation's desire for independence.
The current national flag was officially adopted and flown for the
first time at Timor-Leste's independence celebrations on the 20th of May 2002.
The design of the Timor-Leste national flag is a modified version of an earlier independence flag flown in 1975.
Both flags are based on the flag of Fretilin (the Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor-Leste), the nationalist political party that led the fight for Timor-Leste's independence and whose leader, Xanana Gusmao, became the country’s first democratically elected president in May 2002. |
