I would like to thank all the friends who have read and commented on this thread. Today, we shall travel to one of the newest countries in the world, East Timor. East Timor, the newest country in the world, was formally born on May 20, 2002, which experienced a series of tumultuous struggle in the hands of various foreign forces. In the 16th century, the Portuguese and Dutch traders made the first western presence in East Timor. Portuguese and Dutch in the western end of the island battled for influence in Kupang until the present day border was set in 1915. Japan occupied the island from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War. In 1941, the Australian and Dutch forces had briefly occupied East Timor. When the Japanese landed there and drove the Australian and Dutch forces out of Dili, there was a guerrilla war, which resulted in 40,000 to 70,000 deaths. Portuguese control was reinstated following the end of the War. In 1974, there was a military coup in Lisbon which led to rapid decolonization of its colonies like Mozambique, Angola including Portuguese Timor. East Timor unilaterally declared independence on November 28, 1975, but nine days later, Indonesian forces invaded and occupied it before this could be internationally recognized. Indonesia alleged that the popular East Timorese Fretilin party as being communist. US, losing Vietnam war, supported Indonesia along with Australia. The Indonesian occupation was characterised by brutal suppression of the East Timorese people. Estimate of the number of Timorese who lost their lives to violence and hunger during the Indonesian occupation range from 100,000 to 250,000. Following a UN-sponsored agreement between Indonesia, Portugal and the US, on August 30, 1999, a United Nations-supervised popular referendum was held, the East Timorese voted for full independence from Indonesia which was 78% with 98.6% turnout. On May 20, 2002, East Timor was declared independent and joined UN September 27 of that year. Hence, the youngest nation, East Timor was born. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor http://www.historyofnations.net/asia/easttimor.html Map source: http://www.etan.org/timor/graphics/areamap.gif