Aims and objectives
Timor-Leste has a long and complex history of colonial entanglements with the Portuguese dating back to the 16th century. For three centuries, Timor-Leste was organised into multiple Indigenous kingdoms, comprising around 40-50 polities. In the 1910s, the Portuguese dismantled these structures, but their heritage remained important to Timorese communities. Over the centuries, descendants of the kingdoms’ ruling houses preserved a wealth of old Portuguese documents known as lulik (sacred) heirlooms. These manuscripts include letters patent, correspondence, treaties and governance-related records. Recent violence in Timor-Leste has severely damaged this heritage. EAP1582 will survey the Portuguese-language manuscripts (dating from 1700 to 1913) in rural communities of Timor-Leste. This project will document these indigenous archives by identifying the manuscripts and investigating the potential for a follow-up digitisation project.
