Timor, an island of the Indian archipelago, between Flores and Timor-Laut, extending N. E. and S. W. nearly 300 m., with a general breadth of about 50 m.; area, about 11,500 sq. m.; pop. about 200,000. It lies between lat. 9° 30' and 11° 40' N., and Ion. 123° 20' and 127° 10' E. The native chiefs on the W. and S. coasts acknowledge the supremacy of the Dutch, who have their principal settlement at Kupang or Coepang; while those in the E. and N. parts pay tribute to the Portuguese, who have established themselves at Dilli. The coasts are but slightly indented, but the harbors of Kupang and Dilli are safe and commodious. The shores are lined in many places by rocks and sand banks; and several islets intervene between Timor and the island of Flores to the west and Timor-Laut to the east, which are respectively distant about 100 and 250 m. The island is traversed throughout its length by a mountain chain, which attains a height in the north of about G,000 ft. There are no active volcanoes, nor are there any igneous rocks of recent origin; but Timor peak, near the centre of the island, is a volcanic cone which has been quiescent since 1638. Numerous offsets extend from the main range to the coasts on both sides, so that the surface is almost entirely occupied by mountains separated by narrow valleys, though there are considerable tracts of level ground.

The rivers are short mountain torrents; many of them become dry in summer, and the water is unwholesome. The mountains are generally bare and rocky, and there are no forests in the proper sense of the word. The indigenous vegetation is described by Wallace as poor and monotonous. It consists largely of eucalypti, acacias, and sandal wood, with grass scanty on the uplands, and coarse but luxuriant in the moister districts. Rice grows abundantly in the lowlands, and wheat and coffee thrive on the higher slopes and plains. Gold, copper, and iron have been found in small quantities. The animals on the 1ST. W. side of the central range of mountains resemble those on the western islands of the archipelago, but those on the opposite side are strongly allied to the fauna of Australia, which is about 360 m. distant. Besides 15 species of bats, but seven mammals are met with in Timor; these are the common Indo-Malayan monkey,, a civet cat, a tiger cat, a species of deer, a wild pig, a shrew mouse, and an opossum. There are 118 species of birds. The common domestic animals of Europe have all been introduced. Fish are plentiful on the coasts; pearl oysters are found in some places, and a kind of coral much prized by the Japanese is procured on the reefs.

The people are of low stature, with very dark complexions and bushy hair, and resemble the Papuan type of mankind. The women weave cloth, and the only manufactures which the men engage in are the construction of canoes, and ornaments for their horses. A considerable trade is carried on, principally from Kupang, and is chiefly in the hands of the Chinese. - Timor was visited by Dampier in 1699. The region about Dilli has been occupied by the Portuguese about 300 years, but the settlement is miserably governed, poorly cultivated, and without roads. The Dutch colony is little better. The natives throughout the island are peaceably disposed toward Europeans, but belligerent among themselves, and practically independent.