The Remote World of the Sentinelese
Far out in the Indian Ocean lies North Sentinel Island, home to the Sentinelese, one of the most isolated indigenous tribes on Earth. For millennia, the Sentinelese have resisted contact with the outside world, turning away expeditions and sometimes responding violently to protect their way of life. Their steadfast independence has made North Sentinel Island legendary as the most hostile place to outsiders. But the real story behind this remote island reveals a people shaped by isolation, not hostility.
An Island Untouched
North Sentinel Island is located in the Bay of Bengal between India and Myanmar. The coral reefs surrounding the 23-square-mile island act as a natural barrier. The small tropical island lies over 1000 miles from mainland India.
Experts believe the Sentinelese have inhabited the island for as long as 60,000 years.
Almost nothing is known of the Sentinelese language, beliefs, or customs. They have fiercely prevented any substantial contact by the outside world. Even neighboring indigenous Andaman Islanders have barely interacted with the Sentinelese over centuries. Their complete isolation makes them unique among uncontacted peoples.
Early Encounters: 1880s-1970s
The Sentinelese first became known to the wider world during British colonial rule of India. In 1880, explorer Maurice Vidal Portman led an expedition to North Sentinel Island. When his party approached the island, the Sentinelese hid in the jungle.
After days of searching, Portman’s men captured and kidnapped an elderly couple and some children. The older Sentinelese soon died of illness. The outraged British thought it wise to return the orphaned children with gifts. This likely introduced devastating disease and cemented the Sentinelese mistrust of outsiders.
People sporadically attempted to contact the reclusive inhabitants over the next century. In 1967, the reclusive inhabitants attacked a documentary crew after their grounded vessel drifted onto the reefs surrounding the island. The director took an arrow to his thigh while unloading film equipment.
This did not deter further contact efforts. In 1974, a National Geographic film crew was met with another barrage of arrows. The following year, vessels dropped coconuts as peace offerings, which the Sentinelese buried in the sand.
India’s Troubled Contact Program
When India gained independence from Britain in 1947, North Sentinel Island came under Indian control. The government launched an ambitious program to make peaceful contact with the Sentinelese. This program will reveal the most hostile island in the world.
From the late 1960s through the 1990s, Indian anthropologist TN Pandit led “gift-dropping” expeditions to the island. Teams would approach North Sentinel in vessels loaded with coconuts, bananas, pigs, dolls, and other goods to demonstrate their friendly intent. But the Sentinelese seldom welcomed these overtures.
During Pandit’s 1976 expedition, 35 islanders launched arrows and threw spears at the visiting vessel. Some even squatted in a provocative manner to express their scorn. Pandit’s group made brief contact in 1991 when 28 Sentinelese cautiously emerged, but tensions quickly rose again.
Survival International, an indigenous rights organization, protested India’s contact efforts as insensitive and reckless. The group argued leaving the Sentinelese alone was the only ethical course. Bowing to criticism, India finally ended the gift drops in the mid-1990s.
Recent Incidents and an Uncertain Future
In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two Indian fishermen who illegally encroached on the island. The men were apparently drunk when they allowed their boat to drift onto the reefs during the night. Indian authorities declined to prosecute the tribe, respecting their isolation.
Several years later, an American Christian missionary named John Allen Chau met the same fate when he illegally traveled to North Sentinel seeking to convert the tribe. His diary reveals misguided religious zeal, not understanding of Sentinelese customs.
These violent encounters have brought the Sentinelese to global attention. It has given the island the title of the most hostile island in the world. But some anthropologists argue their hostility does not reflect innate aggression – they are defending their home and way of life against invasion.
Nonetheless, modern threats from climate change, disease, and exploitation leave the Sentinelese future uncertain. Their desire to remain isolated poses challenges between cultural preservation and governance. For now, North Sentinel Island remains sealed off to preserve the Sentinelese culture perhaps thousands of years old.
The World Knows Little About Their Culture
The extreme isolation of the Sentinelese means the outside world knows next to nothing about their language, beliefs, and customs. From a distance, some basic observations have been made of how the tribe lives:
- Settlements include communal huts and temporary shelters along the coastline. They likely live in small kinship bands.
- Fishing in canoes, gathering wild plants, and hunting are main subsistence activities, using simple tools and weapons like bows and arrows.
- They craft shallow outrigger canoes for fishing in the coastal waters and gathering seafood like clams.
- Coconut palms and other tropical foliage provide building materials for rudimentary thatched dwellings.
- They appear healthy, active, and thriving in their traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
But beyond these rudimentary details gleaned from afar, the Sentinelese culture remains a mystery cloaked by the island’s isolation. Their language and rituals are unknown, lost to the world outside their remote shoreline home.
Policies Protect The Sentinelese Isolation
The Indian government currently enforces strict protections and exclusions zones around North Sentinel Island to preserve the Sentinelese way of life. The laws aim to deter intruders and prevent exploitation. It is also there to prevent any violent encounters on the most hostile island in the world.
Legislation prohibits going within 5 nautical miles of the island, photographing the tribe, or attempting to make contact. The Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation of 1956, amended periodically, provides the main legal framework protecting indigenous islanders like the Sentinelese.
However, some argue the isolation policies still don’t give the Sentinelese true self-determination or ability to engage the outside world on their terms. Survival International contends that granting the most isolated indigenous tribes rights to their surrounding seas and coasts allows them to control their own destiny.
But with deep mistrust of outsiders and no resistance to modern diseases, contact comes with real risks. The Sentinelese must navigate preserving their culture amidst changing times under policies made for them, but not by them. Their future, like their island, remains isolated.
Attempting Contact Through History
- 1880s: British colonial officer Maurice Vidal Portman kidnaps an elderly Sentinelese couple and children after landing on the island. They soon die from illness. The outraged British return the orphaned children with gifts.
- 1967: A documentary crew is attacked with arrows after their grounded boat drifts onto the island’s reef.
- 1974: A National Geographic film crew is met with another volley of arrows while attempting to film a documentary on the most isolated indigenous tribes.
- 1975: An expedition from India drops coconuts and gifts on the island that are buried in the sand by the Sentinelese.
- 1970s-1996: Teams led by TN Pandit make regular “gift dropping” trips to the island in attempts at friendly contact. The Sentinelese largely respond with hostility.
- 1991: 28 Sentinelese cautiously approach one of Pandit’s landed vessels in a rare peaceful encounter. But tensions soon arise again.
- 2006: Two Indian fishermen are killed by the Sentinelese after their illegal encroachment on the island.
- 2018: American missionary John Allen Chau meets the same fate when visiting the island to proselytize Christianity against the law.
Additional Facts
571
The number of islands in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago of India in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. 37 of these islands are inhabited. Which is the reason why it is the home of the most isolated indigenous tribes.
Defense Command
The Andaman and Nicobar Command is India’s sole joint tri-service command, with rotating three-star chiefs from the Army, Navy, and Air Force reporting to the Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman.
The Sea Cow
The gentle sea cow, known as the dugong, is the state animal of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
