Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor

Douglas Kammen has written a detailed and at times fascinating narrative of Maubara, an obscure outpost in the remote former Portuguese colony of East Timor, wrapped in a somewhat less approachable academic discussion of mass violence.

Maubara doesn't emerge into the historical record until 1726 when it was mentioned in the context of assistance provided by the local ruler to the Portuguese in putting down a rebellion. It passed into Dutch hands soon after – the Portuguese only having a tenuous hold on Timor in the 18th century–and back to the Portuguese again in the mid-19th century.