The history of East Timor began with the arrival of Australoid and Melanesian peoples. The Portuguese began to trade with the island of Timor in the early 16th century and colonized it in mid-century. Portugal ceded the western portion of the island to the Dutch in 1859. Imperial Japan occupied East Timor from 1942 to 1945.

East Timor declared itself independent from Portugal in 1975 and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later. An unsuccessful campaign of pacification followed over the next two decades, during which an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 individuals lost their lives.

In 1999 an overwhelming majority of the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia. During the next few weeks, anti-independence militias commenced a large-scale, scorched-earth campaign of retribution. Peacekeeping troops of the International Force for East Timor brought the violence to an end. In 2002, East Timor was internationally recognized as an independent state.