Lautém Municipality

Lautém
Lautém
Municipality of East Timor
	Município Lautém (Portuguese); Munisípiu Lautein (Tetum);
	Valu Beach, Tutuala
	Official map
	Lautém in East Timor
	OpenStreetMap
	Coordinates: 8°31′S 127°2′E / 8.517°S 127.033°E
Country	East Timor
Capital	Lospalos
Administrative posts	Iliomar; Lautém; Lospalos; Luro; Tutuala;
Area
• Total	1,816.7 km2 (701.4 sq mi)
• Rank	3rd
Population (2015 census)
• Total	65,240
• Rank	7th
• Density	36/km2 (93/sq mi)
• Rank	12th
Households (2015 census)
• Total	12,050
• Rank	7th
Time zone	UTC+09:00 (TLT)
ISO 3166 code	TL-LA
HDI (2017)	0.607; medium · 7th
Website	Lautém Municipality

Lautém (Portuguese: Município Lautém, Tetum: Munisípiu Lautein) 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. There is also a fossilized lagoon called Lua Ira, known among locals for its crystal-clear, blue-green waters. It is a 10-minute drive from the village of Com, a popular tourist area on the coast^[5].

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:^[6]

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

Notes

^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
^ ^a ^b Hull, Geoffrey (June 2006). "The placenames of East Timor" (PDF). Placenames Australia: Newsletter of the Australian National Placenames Survey: 6–7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
^ "English and Fataluku word list". www.fataluku.org. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
^ "Perfil: 2. Toponímia" [Profile: 2. Toponymy]. Lautém Municipality (in Tetum). Retrieved 18 July 2022.
^ Team, Travel Guides Genius (16 November 2024). "The 15 Best Things To Do & Places To Visit In Timor-Leste - East Timor - Travel Guide". Travel Guides Genius. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
^ Gunn, Geoffrey C (2011). Historical Dictionary of East Timor. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 118. ISBN 9780810867543.

Bibliography

Soares, Rosália E M (2015). The Textiles of Lautém, Timor-Leste. Dili: Governo de Timor-Leste. ISBN 9789898726292. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
Profile of Lautem District (PDF) (Report). March 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
Munisipio Lautém: Planu Estartejiku Desenvolvimentu Munisipal [Lautém Municipality: Municipal Strategic Development Plan] (Report) (in Tetum). Ministry of State Administration (East Timor) / Administration of Lautém Municipality. 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
Perfil Distritu Lautem [Lautém District Profile] (PDF) (Report) (in Tetum). 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2022.

External links

Media related to Lautém (Municipality) at Wikimedia Commons

Lautém Municipality – official site (in Tetum with some content in English)
Lautém Municipality – information page on Ministry of State Administration site (in Portuguese and Tetum)
Fataluku language website
Ethnologue page for Fataluku

[GlobalDataLab-1] "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 13 September 2018.

[hull_2006-06-2] Hull, Geoffrey (June 2006). "The placenames of East Timor" (PDF). Placenames Australia: Newsletter of the Australian National Placenames Survey: 6–7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2022.

[fataluku_word_list-3] "English and Fataluku word list". www.fataluku.org. Retrieved 25 April 2022.

[la_toponymy-4] "Perfil: 2. Toponímia" [Profile: 2. Toponymy]. Lautém Municipality (in Tetum). Retrieved 18 July 2022.

[5] Team, Travel Guides Genius (16 November 2024). "The 15 Best Things To Do & Places To Visit In Timor-Leste - East Timor - Travel Guide". Travel Guides Genius. Retrieved 16 November 2024.

[6] Gunn, Geoffrey C (2011). Historical Dictionary of East Timor. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 118. ISBN 9780810867543.

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