Battle of Penfui

Battle of Penfui
Date9 November 1749
Location
Penfui, modern Kupang
10°10′01″S 123°39′30″E / 10.1670°S 123.6582°E / -10.1670; 123.6582
Result

Dutch victory

  • Decline of the Topasses
  • Decline of Portuguese influence in Timor
Belligerents
Topasses
Timorese allies		 Dutch East India Company
Timorese allies
Commanders and leaders
Gaspar da Costa † Ensign Christoffel Lipp
Strength
20,000+[1]
2,800 with firearms[2]		 ~500 (exc. allies)[3]
Casualties and losses
2,000+ dead[2] 22 dead[2]

The Battle of Penfui took place on 9 November 1749 in the hillside of Penfui, near modern Kupang. A large Topass army was defeated by a numerically inferior Dutch East India Company force following the withdrawal of the former's Timorese allies from the battlefield, resulting in the death of the Topass leader Gaspar da Costa. Following the battle, both Topass and Portuguese influence on Timor declined, eventually leading to the formation of a boundary between Dutch and Portuguese Timor which precipitated into the modern border between West Timor and East Timor.

  1. ^ Hägerdal 2012, p. 364.
  2. ^ a b c Andaya 2010, p. 413.
  3. ^ Andaya 2010, p. 415.