| Description : In 1515, the first Portuguese ship landed on Timor, one of the
Lesser Sunda Islands ‐ in 1586, most of the island was declared a colony of Portuguese Timor. After the proclamation
of East Timor's independence in 1975, Indonesia occupied the country. East Timor's chequered history culminated in the
founding of the ‐ Portuguese‐speaking ‐ Democratic Republic of East Timor in 2002. The commemorative coin
designed by Fernando Fonseca shows a contemporary Portuguese caravel with the paw cross of the Order of Christ on
its sails and the roof of a traditional Timorese house with wooden sculptures that recall myths and legends in the context
of the animistic traditional religion. The ridge depicted stylised on the coin symbolises the story of the first inhabitants
who came from the Malay Archipelago on a boat called a "Beiro". The silhouette of a "Beiro" boat hull as well as five horses
and their riders ‐ three facing right and two facing left ‐ adorn the ridge. Given the steep mountains that
almost completely cover the island, horses were important means of transport. At the top right is the year "1515" for the
first landing and "PORTUGAL", at the bottom left "TIMOR" and the year of issue "2015". Below is the designer's signet, to
the right of the roof ridge "INCM" the mint mark of the Portuguese mint Imprensa Nacional‐ Casa da Moeda S.A.
in Lisbon. |
