Oecusse

Oecusse (also variously Oecussi, Ocussi, Oekussi, Oekusi, Okusi, Oé-Cusse), also known as Oecusse-Ambeno (Oé-Cusse Ambeno; Oecussi Ambeno) and formerly just Ambeno, officially the Special Administrative Region Oecusse-Ambeno (Região Administrativa Especial Oé-Cusse Ambeno), is an exclave, municipality (formerly a district) and the only Special Administrative Region (SAR) of East Timor. Located on the north coast of the western portion of Timor, Oecusse is separated from the rest of East Timor by West Timor, Indonesia, which is part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara. West Timor surrounds Oecusse on all sides except the north, where the exclave faces the Savu Sea. The capital of Oecusse is Pante Macassar, also called Oecussi Town, or formerly, in Portuguese Timor, Vila Taveiro. Originally Ambeno was the name of the former district and Oecussi its capital. Oecusse is the traditional name of Pante Macassar, the present day capital of the Special Administrative Region, and its environs. The location of today's capital was also the seat of the second traditional kingdom of the area, based at Oesono. The historic Timorese empire that occupied most of the territory of the present day SAR was known as Ambeno, and was centred in Tulaica and Nunuhenu. The portmanteau "Oe-Kussi", from which "Oecusse" is derived, has its origins in the local Baikeno variant of the Uab Meto language. "Oe" means "water", but there are differing interpretations for "Kussi". The word is often equated with the name of a certain type of traditional clay jug, so "Oe-Kussi" would mean something like "water pot". There is a legend about the provenance of this name, relating to a stone, the "Cussi", in the suco of Banafi. Other sources state that Kussi was a native ruler of Ambeno. The name "Ambeno" is derived from "Ambenu", which is similarly a portmanteau of two words. "Ama" or "am" means "father" or "king", and "Benu" is the name of two legendary rulers of the region. In the Portuguese colonial period, "Oecusse" and "Ambeno" were both already being used as synonyms referring to the exclave.