Lospalos

Lospalos
Lospalos
City
	Sacred house in Lospalos
	Lospalos
	Coordinates: 8°31′20″S 126°59′51″E / 8.52222°S 126.99750°E
Country	East Timor
Municipality	Lautém
Administrative post	Lospalos
Area
• Total	623.93 km2 (240.90 sq mi)
Elevation	346 m (1,135 ft)
Population (2015 census)
• Total	12,665
• Density	20/km2 (53/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+09:00 (TLT)
Climate	Aw

Lospalos — sometimes erroneously written as Los Palos, assuming a nonexistent Spanish etymology — is a city in East Timor, 248 kilometres (154 mi) to the east of Dili, the national capital. Lospalos has a population of 17,186 (2006) and is the capital of Lautém Municipality and the Lospalos Administrative Post. The subdistrict has a population of 25,417 (2004).

Internationally, "Lospalos" is mistakenly spelled as Los Palos, suggesting a Spanish origin of the name. In fact, it is derived from Lohoasupala, the name in Fataluku, the local Papuan language, although nowadays Fataluku speakers use the name Lospala. The preferred spelling in English, as well as Tetum and Portuguese, the official languages of East Timor, is Lospalos.

Lospalos is the hometown of the King of Souro Tribes Cipriano Monteiro da Costa "Ratu-Mimiraka" (in 1890–1953). [He was a King with a firm and strong character. During the Portuguese Colonial period, King of Souro Cipriano was chosen as the representative of all the Kings of Lautém in the decision to make Lospalos the capital of the Lautém municipality. The reason for choosing Lospalos as the capital was his belief that "water truly flows from the mountains to the sea, rather than flowing from the sea to the mountains," meaning that water is a basic human need for survival. Therefore, they agreed to select Lospalos, which is located in the highlands, as the water source. He was a very civilized King during the Portuguese Colonial period and was recognized by the Portuguese Colonial Government as a King with great intelligence in organization and a noble soul.

Lospalos is the birth city of the Timorese combatant the Former Regional Commander of Ponta Leste in 1975-1977, José dos Santos, born on September 20, 1945, in Nanakuru, Souro Village.

Lospalos is the birth city of the co-founder and president of the party APODETI, Frederico Almeida Santos Costa.

Climate

Lospalos has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) with a dry season from August to October and a wet season covering the remaining nine months.

Climate data for Lospalos
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	29.2 (84.6)	29.0 (84.2)	29.4 (84.9)	29.3 (84.7)	28.3 (82.9)	27.5 (81.5)	27.3 (81.1)	27.9 (82.2)	29.5 (85.1)	30.9 (87.6)	31.2 (88.2)	30.4 (86.7)	29.2 (84.5)
Daily mean °C (°F)	25.8 (78.4)	25.6 (78.1)	25.6 (78.1)	25.3 (77.5)	24.4 (75.9)	23.6 (74.5)	23.1 (73.6)	23.2 (73.8)	24.3 (75.7)	25.4 (77.7)	26.4 (79.5)	26.3 (79.3)	24.9 (76.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	22.5 (72.5)	22.2 (72.0)	21.8 (71.2)	21.4 (70.5)	20.6 (69.1)	19.7 (67.5)	19.0 (66.2)	18.6 (65.5)	19.1 (66.4)	19.9 (67.8)	21.7 (71.1)	22.3 (72.1)	20.7 (69.3)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	216 (8.5)	214 (8.4)	220 (8.7)	234 (9.2)	283 (11.1)	186 (7.3)	89 (3.5)	21 (0.8)	7 (0.3)	19 (0.7)	81 (3.2)	209 (8.2)	1,779 (69.9)
Source: Climate-Data.org^[1]