Manufahi Municipality
Manufahi Municipality
Main page
1885529

Manufahi Municipality

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Manufahi Municipality

Manufahi (Portuguese: Município Manufahi, Tetum: Munisípiu Manufahi) is one of the municipalities of Timor-Leste. It has a population of 53,691 (2015 census) and an area of 1,323 km2. The capital of the municipality is Same.

The municipality's current name, Manufahi, is said to be derived from Maun Fahe, the Tetum language expression for 'divided brothers'. According to legend, there was a fight between two related tribes, or a group of siblings. Eventually, the protagonists agreed to subject themselves to a single ruler.

During the Portuguese colonial era, the then district bore the name of its main town, Same. The present name was adopted on the basis of the divided brothers legend. However, it was misspelled, and the Tetum language meaning of the misspelled name is 'pig chicken'.

Efforts are being made to correct the name. However, there is another legend that in the suco of Daisula [de] a rooster once flew down from a mountain, landed on the back of a pig, and then travelled with the pig to many places before returning home.

Manufahi extends from the central highlands of Timor-Leste to its south coast, on the Timor Sea. It is bordered by Manatuto to the east, Ainaro to the west, and Aileu to the north.

According to a list prepared by Afonso de Castro [de], governor of the colony of Portuguese Timor from 1859 to 1863, Manufahi was one of 47 kingdoms in that colony at the time.

During its time as a Portuguese colony, the municipality was called Same, after the capital city. It was the epicentre of the Great Rebellion of 1910–12. During the Indonesian occupation the then subdistrict of Hato-Udo was split off from the then district of Manufahi and joined to Ainaro, and the then subdistrict of Turiscai, previously in Ainaro, was moved to Manufahi.

Manufahi's administrative posts (formerly sub-districts) are:

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.