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Dili became the capital of Portuguese Timor in 1769, when the colonial administration relocated here from the interior under pressure. It has since been invaded by Japan, bombed by Allied aircraft, annexed by Indonesia, and nearly levelled in the violence that followed the 1999 independence vote, when 120,000 people fled and buildings were systematically destroyed. The city that stands today is extraordinarily young as a result: most of it dates from after 2002, which gives Dili an unusual quality of existing simultaneously in deep history and raw newness.

The Cristo Rei of Dili, a 27-metre statue of Christ on the Fatucama peninsula, was built by Indonesia in 1996 and now serves as a Sunday gathering point for Timorese families and the start of a popular walking trail above the sea.

The Motael Church, the oldest in the country, saw an Indonesian massacre of mourners in 1991 that became one of the flashpoints of international pressure for independence. These two structures, a few kilometres apart, hold the contradictions of the city's recent history in compact form.