Patrícia Jerónimo from the Portuguese African colonies than as a territory of economic colonization’ (Carneiro de Sousa 2001: 184-185). The Portuguese rule over Eastern Timor was, to some extent, a form of indirect rule, as it relied heavily on alliances with the traditional local powers, which were then allowed to ‘govern’ the peoples of Timor according to their own traditional norms and practices. Obeisance to Portuguese laws was imposed on those of the indigenous population who converted to Catholicism, but the ‘European’ and the traditional legal systems continued to coexist for the duration of the Portuguese presence in the territory (Carneiro de Sousa 2001: 189-191). ‘Demographic colonisation’ was likewise minimal. The few attempts ever made at bringing in European settlers took place in the late nineteenth century and were largely unsuccessful due to the distance from the metropolis. It is estimated that no more than 20 European settlers arrived before 1930, and only a couple of dozens more arrived in the years after that. The 1970 census reported the presence in Eastern Timor of 1,463 ‘whites’, but this number comprised the military and civil servants with temporary commissions in the territory. As noted by Thomaz (2008: 324), there were not more than 50 ‘whites’ actually resident in Eastern Timor at that time, and these were for the most part married to indigenous women, therefore in a course of miscegenation. In 1970, the reported number of ‘mestizos’ was 1939. Besides the ‘whites’, the ‘mestizos’ and the indigenous population, the inhabitants of Eastern Timor in 1970 also comprised around 20,000 Chinese ‘immigrants’, who were ‘universally perceived as foreigners’ and looked upon with distrust by the Timorese (Thomaz 2008: 326327). The Chinese presence in Eastern Timor was, however, already a few centuries old, having been actively encouraged by the Portuguese administration, from the eighteenth century onwards, as a way to foster the economic development of the territory (Figueiredo 2004: 227-229). The distinction between citizens and foreigners was never straightforward, neither in theory nor in practice (Silva 2009: 15-17, 148-149, 160-237). Until 1822, the criteria for the identification of the naturals of the kingdom of Portugal were set by the Philippine Ordinances (Ordenações Filipinas), of 1603. Per Title LV of Book 2 of the Ordinances, naturals of the kingdom were those born in the kingdom to a father5 who was a natural of the kingdom (ius solis combined with ius sanguinis a patre) and those born in the kingdom to a foreign father and a mother who was a natural of the kingdom, provided that the foreign father had his domicile and assets in the kingdom and had lived there for more than ten consecutive years (ius soli combined with ius domicilii a patre). Within the meaning of these provisions, birth in the kingdom was to be interpreted as birth in continental Portugal, in one of the adjacent islands (Azores, Madeira, Porto Santo) or (until 1815) in Brazil.6 The Portuguese possessions in Africa and Asia were not included. Therefore, the children born in Timor to a father who was a natural of the kingdom would only be considered as naturals of the kingdom if the father was in Timor in the service of the kingdom. That would clearly be the case with the military officers and the civil servants in the colonial administration; less so with the sandalwood traders and other merchants. The first Portuguese Constitution, of 1822,7 made an express mention to Timor as part of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, the territory of the ‘Portuguese 5 Or mother, if the children were born out of wedlock. Information available at http://www1.ci.uc.pt/ihti/proj/filipinas/l2p489.htm [30.09.2016]. 7 Text available at https://www.parlamento.pt/Parlamento/Documents/CRP-1822.pdf [30.09.2016]. 6 4 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/7 - © 2017 Author