Gaspar da Costa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gaspar da Costa (d. Penfui, West Timor, 9 November 1749) was the leader or tenente geral (lieutenant general) of the Portuguese-speaking Topasses, a Eurasian group that dominated much of the politics on Timor in the early modern period. He was largely responsible for the dramatic collapse of Portuguese power in West Timor, a process that laid the foundations for the modern division of Timor in an Indonesian and an independent part.
His exact parentage is not known, but he might have been the son of the former tenente general Domingos da Costa (d. 1722). He appeared as tenente general in 1732, shortly after the conclusion of a treaty between the Topasses and the official Portuguese governor of Timor. There had been a state of intermittent warfare between the two Portuguese factions since 1702, but during the time of Gaspar da Costa, there was a lull in the hostilities.. He supported the foundation of a priest seminar on Timor, but at the same time dominated large parts of Timor without caring about the governor. His main seat of residence was Animata in the present Oecussi-Ambeno enclave, close to Lifau at the north coast, where the governor resided. Animata was described as an extensive settlement with circa 1,800 houses.[1]
The son of Gaspar da Costa
In 1748, Gaspar da Costa sent his eldest son, Baltazar, together with a Dominican priest to France for educational purposes. In the next year, the boy and his preceptor arrived in Lorient in France. The priest, however, disappeared with the goods and left Baltazar to fend for himself. The latter pursued the rest of his life as a ship's cook and a humble relief-seeker. His plight was noted by some French persons of standing, who presented him to the public as the "Prince of Timor", but Baltazar eventually died poor and forgotten, sometime after 1778.[2]