Historical Spotlight: North Sentinel Island

Throughout history, indigenous people have had to fight against colonization, indoctrination, and violence to preserve their natural way of life. This struggle has often come from entire bloodlines and tribes being completely eradicated. Similar to how the Native American Indians were forced onto specific reservations in the United States, people around the world have been wiped out by forces trying to take over and impose their will. Join me as we shine a Historical Spotlight on the people of North Sentinel Island, one of the most distinct indigenous people that have never taken an L. 

North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. It is a protected area of India and is home to an indigenous tribe called the Sentinelese, who practice voluntary isolation. They have used violence to defend their island and maintain their home from the outside world. The island itself is only about 5 miles long, 4.5 miles wide, and about 23 square miles. 

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation 1956 restricts travel to the island and any unauthorized approach closer than five nautical miles. The idea behind the restriction is to protect the tribal community from coming into contact with infectious diseases that they have no acquired immunity against. 

While the area is patrolled by the Indian Navy, Indian authorities respect the islanders’ wishes to be left alone and only remotely monitor the area by boat and sometimes air from a reasonably safe distance. With this hands off approach, the locals take protecting their island seriously and won’t hesitate to take matters into their own hands. The Government of India also refuses to prosecute the Sentinelese for killing outsiders they deem to be a threat. 

There are numerous stories of the people on North Sentinel Island viciously killing outsiders and anyone who attempts to make contact. They attack on sight and don’t care if outsiders are intentionally trying to visit the island or just so happen to get lost. They’ve been observed shooting arrows at boats and low-flying helicopters and many of the attacks have led to injury and death. 

In 2006, two fishermen were killed after their boat drifted ashore and, more recently, in 2018, John Chau, a 26-year-old American Christian missionary was killed after illegally trying to make contact with the islanders three separate times. He paid local fishermen to take him to the island in hopes of converting them to Christianity. Not only did he break the law, but he also lost his life by not respecting the wishes of the people of North Sentinel Island. 

The weather on the island is nice yearlong with an average summer temperature of 86.4° Fahrenheit and an average winter temperature of 73° Fahrenheit. There isn’t much known about the Sentinelese because they haven’t been studied or observed due to their voluntary isolation.

It is suspected that the people have inhabited the island for a very long time. There are even records that date back to 1867 of an Indian merchant ship getting wrecked near the island and the 106 surviving passengers and crewmen had to fend off attacks by the Sentinelese before being found by a Royal Navy rescue party. There’s also records as far back as 1771 that describe “a multitude of lights” seen when a survey vessel passed the island on a voyage. 

An expedition by a government official was led in January 1880 to research the natives and their customs. The group found a network of pathways and several small, abandoned villages. After a few days of exploring, an elderly couple with four children were taken to Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where the couple died after succumbing to a very rapid sickness. The kids, who also suffered from the sickness but didn’t die, were sent back home with gifts. 

Throughout history, there have been numerous attempts to establish friendly relations with the people on the island that haven’t gone over well, but the very first peaceful contact happened on January 4, 1991 by a director of the Anthropological Survey of India. He was able to successfully make repeated friendly contact by dropping coconuts and other gifts to the islanders, but no progress was made in understanding the Sentinelese language. He was also shooed off if visits lasted too long, before they stopped completely in 1997. 

The people on North Sentinel Island not only put their lives on the line to protect their home, but they are extremely resilient people who have withstood natural disasters like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and have learned how to adapt over time. The island is surrounded by coral reefs, lacks natural harbours, and is heavily forested. 

It is suspected that the Sentinelese rely on Indian boar as a major food source in their regular diets. North Sentinel Island is also considered an important habitat for coconut crabs and a diversity of birdlife because of the lack of interference. The marine ecosystem surrounding the island remains a mystery, but there’s evidence of a substantial coral reef, mangroves, sea turtles, dolphins, and sharks. 

The people of North Sentinel Island continue to fight to keep their way of life intact and not disrupted by outsiders. They aren’t afraid of using force to protect themselves and their family units. They are truly a self-sustaining group of people that haven’t been disturbed by colonization, infiltration, mass disease, or brutal force. 

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Signed, 

Jessica Marie