East Timor is part of Indonesia
The core idea stands, but key numbers or details have changed.
TaughtThe eastern half of the island of Timor is an Indonesian province.
NowTimor-Leste became fully independent on 20 May 2002, the first new sovereign state of the twenty-first century, after a UN-supervised transition.
What actually happened
Portugal ruled the territory for centuries and withdrew abruptly in 1975; Indonesia invaded days later and annexed it, an annexation most of the world never recognized. The occupation lasted 24 years and the death toll from violence, famine, and disease is estimated in the range of 100,000 to 180,000 people out of a population well under a million.
A UN-sponsored referendum in 1999 produced a 78% vote for independence, followed by a campaign of violence that destroyed much of the country's infrastructure. A UN transitional administration governed until formal independence in May 2002. The country's official names are Timor-Leste and Timór Lorosa'e, both meaning "East East," and it uses Portuguese and Tetum as official languages. It joined ASEAN in 2025.
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Sources
- United Nations: List of past peacekeeping operations (UNTAET, East Timor)peacekeeping.un.org
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Timor-Lestebritannica.com
Who was taught this
Still standard through 2002, so anyone who finished school between 1950 and 2002 learned the earlier version.