[TimorLesteStudies] New books on Timor-Leste by Frederic Durand

[Jennifer Drysdale]

Friends,
I recently purchased this wonderful atlas (highly 
recommended as a resource for teachers and 
lecturers) from Asia Bookroom 
(www.asiabookroom.com) in Canberra for $72.95 
(elsewhere you will pay $100). The Atlas is now 
featured on our home page as well (www.etstudies-aust.org).

Frederic writes "I have also just finished a new 
book (although still only available in French!) 
about the history of cartography and travel (to 
both East and West Timor), which is somehow the 
historical complement of the atlas (see file and 
details below). I am also vice-president of 
France-Timor Leste, one of the French 
associations to foster cooperation 
(<http://timor-france.blogspot.com>http://timor-france.blogspot.com)."

EAST TIMOR
A Country at the Crossroads of Asia and the Pacific
A Geo-historical Atlas
Frédéric Durand

ISBN-13: 978-974-9575-98-7
ISBN-10: 974-9575-98-9
2006. 198pp, 290x210mm, full-color maps throughout
On 20 May 2002, rising out of a history fraught with tragedy, East
Timor acceded to independence under the name of Timor Leste or Timor
Lorosa’e: Sunrise Timor. This insular ethno-linguistic mosaic wedged
between Southeast Asia and Oceania had been a colony of Portugal for
four centuries before it was invaded by Indonesian forces in December
1975. It was not until 30 August 1999, however, that more than 78
percent of the population voted for independence, 
thus ending twenty- five years of Indonesian occupation.

This atlas highlights the specific features and 
characteristics of the new country of East Timor. 
Using statistical documentary resources available 
since the colonial period, its 136 colorful maps 
show how material constraints and local, 
regional, and world stakes have shaped Timor's destiny, both past and present.

Frederic Durand teaches geography at Toulouse 
Il-Le Mirail University, France. Author of 
several works on Southeast Asia, the Malay world, 
and Indonesia, he published the French version of 
this geo-historical atlas of East Timor in 2002, 
and the book, Catholicisme et Protestantisme dans 
lle de Timor: 1556-2003, in 2004.

---

Timor 1250-2005, 750 years of cartography and 
travel (For a picture of the cover visit the 
publications page of 
<http://timor-france.blogspot.com>http://timor-france.blogspot.com)
By Frederic Durand

Timor Island, at the crossroads of Asia and the 
Pacific, figures as a speck on the globe. It was, 
however, at the core of many expeditions: the 
quest for precious wood by Chinese merchants in 
the 13th century, Magellan's first voyage around 
the world from 1519 to 1521, the Bounty epic in 
1789 as well as the discovery of Australia 
towards the end of the 18th century. Timor was 
also at the centre of colonial conquests, the 
Pacific War, the Cold War and the expansionist 
ambitions of Indonesia under General Suharto.
While very ancient archives of both East and West 
Timor have for the most part been destroyed, the 
contours of a history, believed to be lost, can 
be retraced through maps, drawings, engravings 
and the testimony of travelers over the years. At 
the end of the 20th century, the East Timorese 
resistance, on its part, had to establish maps in 
order to defend its territory, and some of these 
were drawn by President Xanana Gusmao himself.
This book traces the passage of time and some 
founding myths through contacts with the external 
world, on the increase and more frequent, that 
have led to conflicts and historical ruptures. 
Illustrated abundantly with 300 maps, engravings 
and photographs, the book is based on numerous 
narrations and documents, some of them unknown or 
unpublished. They represent invitations to 
voyage, to go on an immobile travel where the 
apparent movement consists of explorations and 
peregrinations in this island, depicted as the 
body of an old crocodile by native legends....

Arkuiris Editions/IRASEC, 2006.
520 pages, 231 maps and figures, 62 photos.
ISBN: 2-9520184-4-8
Price: 35 €

Summary
1 - Former features of the "Big Crocodile"
2 - Timor in old Asian network
3 - Discovery of Timor by Iberians 1512-1540
4 - A diversifying Timorese cartography
5 - Timor by Godinho de Eredia 1558-1623
6 - Rivalry between Netherlands and Portugal
7 - Towards a separate peace and the beginning of 
an original Dutch cartography
8 - The English seafarers discover Timor
9 - Start of territorial control and Timorese fights
10- The first battles for Timor hinterland
11 - Pierre Poivre and the desperate quest for spices in Timor
12 - The great travellers, from Bougainville to James Cook and La Pérouse
13 - Timorese epic of the Bounty in 1789
14 - Timor on the route to Australia for adventurers and explorers
15 - French encylopaedic vision of Timor in the early 19th century
16 - Between life whalers and shipwrecks, a testimony from the Oecussi enclave
17 - Naturalists discover Timor, from Wallace to Forbes
18 - Geographic colonisation of Timor by the white man
19 - Sea and highlands battles in the context of scientific cartography
20 - A changing world seen through the eyes of 
sailaing boats around the world : from Joshua Slocum to Alain Gerbault
21 -Travellers in quest of exotic
22 - First flying  machines in the  Timor sky: 
from Ross Smith to Amelia Earhart, 1919-1937
23 - Aerial photographs, topographic cartography and ethnologic approaches
24 - Economic studies and thematic syntheses 
during the third quarter of the 20th century
25 - Official tours in Timor, beginning of  Tourism and Political Journalism
26 - Map at wars
27 - Images, voyages
 fragile hopes for peace
28 - Maps for the future
29 - When Grand-father crocodile stirs dreams and  imaginary voyages...

Bibliography
Chronology with relation to cartography, travel and Timorese policy.
Index