Lautém Municipality Explained

Lautém
Settlement Type:Municipality of East Timor
Image Blank Emblem:Lautem municipio.png
Blank Emblem Type:Official map
Blank Emblem Size:250px
Blank Emblem Alt:Official map
Map Alt:Map of East Timor highlighting the Municipality
Image Map1:
Frame-Width:250
Zoom:8
Map Alt1:Map of the Municipality
Coordinates:-8.5167°N 129°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Parts Style:para
Seat Type:Capital
Seat:Lospalos
Unit Pref:Metric
Area Rank:3rd
Population Rank:7th
Population Density Km2:auto
Population Density Rank:12th
Demographics1 Title2:Rank
Demographics1 Info2:7th
Iso Code:TL-LA
Blank Name Sec2:HDI (2017)
Blank Info Sec2:0.607[1]
· 7th

Lautém (Portuguese: Município Lautém,) is one of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Timor, at the eastern end of the country. It has a population of 64,135 (census 2010) and an area of 1,813 km2. Its capital is Lospalos, which lies 248 km east of the national capital, Dili.

Etymology

The word Lautém is a Portuguese approximation of the local Fataluku language word Lauteinu.[2] That word, in turn, is a portmanteau of the Fataluku words lau ('cloth') und tein ('sacred'), ie 'sacred cloth'.[2] [3] The mythical ancestors of today's municipal population were known as Lauteinu or Lauteira.[4]

Geography

To the west the municipality borders the municipalities of Baucau and Viqueque. To the north lies the Banda Sea, and to the south the Timor Sea. The municipality also includes the easternmost point of the island, Cape Cutcha in the administrative post of Tutuala, and the small island Jaco.

The borders of the municipality of Lautém are identical to those of the council of the same name in Portuguese Timor. At that time, many of the localities had Portuguese names, such as Vila Nova de Malaca (today Lautém), Nova Nazaré (Com), Nova Sagres (Tutuala) and Nova Âncora (Laivai).

Lautém has beautiful sand beaches and a wild, mountainous, and raw rugged unspoilt landscape. Many of the endemic birds of East Timor live here. Near the city of Lautém there are cave drawings. Numerous stone sarcophagi and animistic shrines are found throughout the district.

Lautém municipality is known for its birding (birds of East Timor). Its municipal flag has the head of a yellow-crested cockatoo.

Administrative posts

The municipality's administrative posts (formerly sub-districts) are:

Demographics

In addition to the official languages of Portuguese and Tetum, in the municipality there are 30,000 speakers of the Papuan language Fataluku, mainly in the east of the district, many of whom do not speak a second language.

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab. hdi.globaldatalab.org. en. 2018-09-13.
  2. Hull . Geoffrey . Geoffrey Hull . The placenames of East Timor . Placenames Australia: Newsletter of the Australian National Placenames Survey . June 2006 . 6–7 . 25 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180713140153/http://www.anps.org.au/upload/June_2006.pdf . 13 July 2018 . live.
  3. Web site: English and Fataluku word list . www.fataluku.org . 25 April 2022.
  4. Web site: Perfil: 2. Toponímia . Profile: 2. Toponymy . Lautém Municipality . 18 July 2022 . tet .