Timor Leste: contru o duma identidade

This article consists of the first chapters of the thesis entitled: “The principle of selfdetermination, the case of East Timor” and deals with history and identity of this country. The objective is to underline how diffivult is to build a national identity in such a territory. The article focuses also on the strong relation between East Timor and Portugal, especially on a linguistic point of view.