North Sentinel Island
 Detail of 2003 NASA image of North Sentinel Island; the island's protective fringe of coral reefs can be seen clearly. |
|
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 11°33′N 92°14′E / 11.55°N 92.233°ECoordinates: 11°33′N 92°14′E / 11.55°N 92.233°E |
| Archipelago | Andaman Islands[1] |
| Area | 72 km2 (27.8 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 122 m (400 ft)[2] |
| Country | |
| Union Territory | Andaman and Nicobar Islands |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 250 to 300[3] (as of 2005) |
| Ethnic groups | Sentinelese[1] |
North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It lies to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island.[1] Most of the island is forested.[4] Because it is small, located away from the main settlements on Great Andaman, surrounded by coral reefs, and lacks natural harbors, it was never settled by Europeans.[5]
A group of indigenous people, the Sentinelese, live on North Sentinel Island. They speak the Sentinelese language[6] and their present numbers are estimated to be anywhere between 50 and 400 individuals. They reject any contact with other people, and are among the last people to remain virtually untouched by modern civilization.[5]
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[edit] History
[edit] Early history
The Onge were aware of North Sentinel Island's existence and their traditional name for it is Chia daaKwokweyeh.[1][7] They also have strong cultural similarities with the Sentinelese.[7] However, Onge who were brought there by the British during the 19th century could not understand the native language, so a considerable time of separation is likely.[1][7]
[edit] British exploration
The earliest known recorded mention of North Sentinel Island was made in 1771 by the British surveyor John Ritchie, who observed "a multitude of lights" from an East India Company hydrographic survey vessel, the Diligent, as it passed by the island.[1][7][5] Homfray, an administrator, traveled to the island in March 1867.[8]
An expedition led by Maurice Vidal Portman, a government administrator who hoped to research the natives and their customs, accomplished a successful landing on North Sentinel Island in January 1880. The group found a network of pathways and several small, abandoned villages. After several days, six Sentinelese were captured and taken to Port Blair. They soon became sick, however, and two of them died. The other four were returned to the island.[5][1][8]
A second landing was made by Portman on August 27, 1883 after the eruption of Krakatoa was mistaken for gunfire and interpreted as the distress signal of a ship. A search party landed on the island and left gifts before returning to Port Blair.[1][8] Portman visited the island several more times between January 1885 and January 1887.[8]
[edit] Indian expeditions
Indian exploratory parties under orders to establish friendly relations with the Sentinelese made brief landings on the island every few years beginning in 1967.[1] In 1975, Leopold III of Belgium, on a tour of the Andamans, was brought by local dignitaries for an overnight cruise to the waters off North Sentinel Island.[5] The cargo ships MV Rusley and MV Primrose ran aground on coastal reefs in the summer of 1977 and August 1981 respectively. The Sentinelese are known to have scavenged these wrecks for iron. Settlers from Port Blair also visited the sites to recover cargo. In 1991, salvage operators were authorized to dismantle the ships.[9]
The first peaceful contact with the Sentinelese was made by Trilokinath Pandit, a director of the Anthropological Survey of India, and his colleagues on January 4, 1991.[10][11] Indian visits to the island ceased in 1997.[1]
[edit] Recent history
On August 2, 1981, the ship Primrose grounded on the North Sentinel Island reef. A few days later, crewmen on the immobile vessel observed that small black men were carrying spears and arrows and building boats on the beach. The captain of the Primrose radioed for an urgent airdrop of firearms so the crew could defend themselves, but did not receive them. Heavy seas kept the islanders away from the ship. After a week, the crew were rescued by an Indian navy helicopter.
Parts of the island were tilted by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, sinking some of the surrounding coral reefs and raising others.[12] The survival of the Sentinelese was confirmed when, three days after the event, an Indian government helicopter observed several of them, who shot arrows and threw stones at the hovering aircraft with the apparent intent of repelling it.[7][13][1] The coastline of the island has changed completely, and although the fishing grounds of the Sentinelese were disturbed, they appear to have adapted to the island's current conditions.[14]
On January 26, 2006, two fishermen were killed by Sentinelese when their boat drifted near the island.[15]
[edit] Geography
North Sentinel Island is densely forested with an area of 72 km².[1] It is level at 122 meters high and its shape is roughly square.[2][16] Reefs extend around the island for about a mile from the shore.[16]
[edit] Political status
Officially, the island has been administered by India as part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory since 1947.[17] However, because there has never been any treaty with the people of the island, nor any record of a physical occupation whereby the people of the island have conceded sovereignty, the island exists in a curious state of limbo under established international law and can be seen as a sovereign entity under Indian protection. It is, therefore, one of the de facto autonomous regions of India.
The government of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has recently stated that they have no intention to interfere with the lifestyle or habitat of the Sentinelese and are not interested in pursuing any further contact with them.[3]
| Census | Population estimate[18] |
|---|---|
| 1901 | 117 |
| 1911 | 117 |
| 1921 | 117 |
| 1931 | 70 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l George Weber. "The Andamanese - Chapter 8: The Tribes". pp. part 6. The Sentineli. http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter8/text8.htm#sentineli. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ a b National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (2005) pp. 226.
- ^ a b Subir Bhaumik. "Extinction threat for Andaman natives" March 5, 2005.
- ^ George Weber. "The Andamanese - Chapter 2: They Call it Home" Retrieved October 12, 2011
- ^ a b c d e Adam Goodheart. "The Last Island of the Savages". American Scholar. Autumn 2000.
- ^ Christopher Moseley. (Routledge, 2007) ISBN 9780700711970 "Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages". pp 289, 342. Accessed October 7, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Pandya (2009) pp. 362.
- ^ a b c d Ratha; Pfeffer; Behera (1997) pp. 288.
- ^ Pandya (2009) pp. 342.
- ^ Ratha; Pfeffer; Behera (1997) pp. 289.
- ^ Tim McGirk (1993). "Islanders running out of isolation: Tim McGirk in the Andaman Islands reports on the fate of the Sentinelese". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-1-25.
- ^ Pandya (2009) pp. 347.
- ^ Buncombe, Andrew (February 6, 2010). "With one last breath, a people and language are gone". The New Zealand Herald. The Independent. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10624531. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- ^ "The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami" Retrieved October 8, 2011
- ^ Peter Foster (2006). "Stone age tribe kills fishermen who strayed on to island". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
- ^ a b Great Britain, Hydrographic Dept (1887) pp. 257.
- ^ George Weber. "The Andamanese - Chapter 1: Contact" Retrieved October 8, 2011.
- ^ Venkateswar (2004) pp. 120.
[edit] Bibliography
- Ratha, S. N.; Pfeffer, Georg; Behera, Deepak Kumar (1997). Contemporary Society: Developmental issues, transition, and change. Concept Publishing Company.
- Pandya, Vishvajit (2009). In the forest: visual and material worlds of Andamanese history (1858-2006). University Press of America.
- Venkateswar, Sita (2004). Development and ethnocide: colonial practices in the Andaman Islands. IWGIA.
- National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (2005). Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 India & Bay of Bengal Enroute. ProStar Publications.
- Great Britain, Hydrographic Dept (1887). The Bay of Bengal pilot.
[edit] External links
- "Lonely islands: The Andamanese", comprehensive online documentation by George Weber
- "The Last Island of the Savages", in-depth article by Adam Goodheart
- Brief factsheet about the indigenous people of the Andaman Islands, by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration (archived 10 April 2009)
- "The Andaman Tribes - Victims of Development"
- video clips from Survival International
