Where The Stone Age Still Exists
Credit: Atlas & Boots Travel Blog
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are India’s most southeastern administrative area. There are less than 900 islands in this area, which lie closer to Indonesia and Myanmar than to mainland India, with approximately 420,000 inhabitants in 2021. The climate is tropical and humid, but moderated by sea breezes, and (perhaps as a result) the tourism industry in the islands is growing. However, the capital city of Port Blair (where an organised government is involved in malaria prevention and tsunami relief) is not where this article takes it focus. Rather, just 25 kilometers from Port Blair lies a populated, off-limits island where evidence of even agriculture has yet to be found.
We know extremely little about North Sentinel Island and the people who live there. In fact, we don’t even know how many people live there at all. A 2011 census, combined with anthropological efforts, posit that the likely number sits between 80 and 150, though less conservative estimates place it between 15 and 500. What we do know for certain is that the North Sentinelese are extremely hostile to foreign attempts at contact - attacking and killing those who come to the island even accidentally, including two fishermen that drifted ashore while illegally harvesting crabs in 2006.
What exactly explains the violence that the Sentinelese show to any outsiders?
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
The first non-Sentinelese to visit the island were British explorers seeking to expand the Empire’s territory and wealth. As with many post-Columbian exchanges, however, the explorers also brought diseases that the native population were biologically unequipped to deal with. Perhaps more importantly, in the late 1880s, a British naval officer by the name of Maurice Vidal Portman kidnapped six people - two elderly and four children - from the island to be studied in Port Blair. While the condition of the elderly rapidly declined until death, the four children survived (despite also falling ill) before being returned to North Sentinel. It is unknown whether the children's’ illness was spread on to other islanders. Nearly one hundred years later, in 1974, most of the tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar had been contacted and (at least partially) assimilated to modernity. But a group of anthropologists attempting to do the same with the Sentinelese (by bringing gifts of dolls, coconuts, and a live pig) was attacked, before having the gifts speared and buried in the sand.
The definitive nature and reasons behind the islanders’ hostility, however, is unknown at this time. National Geographic, however, identifies the first woman to contact the Sentinelese (Madhumala Chattopadhyay), detailing how coconuts were floated to the island from boats at a safe distance in January 1991. Two trips of this kind were made - but by 1996, these types of excursions were forbidden by officials, citing fears over the health of the islanders. They have not been re-allowed since.
TAI Score: Degree 1. Although the North Sentinelese do not venture beyond their island, constant monitoring and patrols are carried out by the Indian navy for safety reasons. Past individuals have attempted access to the island, resulting in their deaths, and concerns over the spread of disease to the natives remain. The impact of the North Sentinelese beyond the island, however, is effectively zero.
