Etymology In the 13th century, the name of Andaman appears in Late
Middle Chinese as
ʔˠanH dɑ mˠan (, pronounced
yàntuómán in modern
Mandarin Chinese) in the book
Zhu Fan Zhi by
Zhao Rukuo. In Chapter 38 of the book,
Countries in the Sea, Zhao Rukuo specifies that going from Lambri (
Sumatra) to Ceylon, an unfavourable wind makes ships drift towards the Andaman Islands. In the 15th century, Andaman was recorded as "Andeman Mountain" (安得蠻山, pronounced
āndémán shān in modern Mandarin Chinese) during the
voyages of Zheng He in the
Mao Kun map of the
Wu Bei Zhi.
Early inhabitants The oldest archaeological evidence for the habitation of the islands dates to the
1st millennium BC. Genetic evidence suggests that the indigenous
Andamanese peoples share a common origin, and that the islands were settled sometime after 26,000 years ago, possibly at the end of the
Last Glacial Period, when sea levels were much lower, reducing the distance between the Andaman Islands and the Asian mainland, with genetic estimates suggesting that the two main linguistic groups diverged around 16,000 years ago. Andamanese peoples are a genetically distinct group highly divergent from other Asians., who were depicted in a "book of wonders" produced in Paris in the early 15th century.
Chola empire Rajendra I took over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He used the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a strategic naval base to launch an expedition against the
Sriwijaya Empire. The
Cholas called the island Ma-Nakkavaram ("great open/naked land"), found in the
Thanjavur inscription of 1050
CE. European traveller
Marco Polo (12th–13th century) also referred to this island as 'Necuverann' and a corrupted form of the Tamil name Nakkavaram would have led to the modern name Nicobar during the British colonial period.
British colonial era In 1789, the
Bengal Presidency established a naval base and
penal colony on
Chatham Island in the southeast bay of
Great Andaman. The settlement is now known as
Port Blair (after the
Bombay Marine lieutenant
Archibald Blair who founded it). After two years, the colony was moved to the northeast part of Great Andaman and was named Port Cornwallis after Admiral
William Cornwallis. However, there was much disease and death in the penal colony and the government ceased operating it in May 1796. In 1824, Port Cornwallis was the rendezvous of the fleet carrying the army to the
First Burmese War. In the 1830s and 1840s, shipwrecked crews who landed on the Andamans were often attacked and killed by the natives and the islands had a reputation for
cannibalism. The loss of the
Runnymede and the
Briton in 1844 during the same storm, while transporting goods and passengers between India and Australia, and the continuous attacks launched by the natives, which the survivors fought off, alarmed the
British government. In 1855, the government proposed another settlement on the islands, including a
convict establishment, but the
Indian Rebellion of 1857 forced a delay in its construction. However, because the rebellion led to the British holding a large number of prisoners, it made the new Andaman settlement and prison urgently necessary. Construction began in November 1857 at Port Blair using inmates' labour, avoiding the vicinity of a salt swamp that seemed to have been the source of many of the earlier problems at Port Cornwallis. The
Battle of Aberdeen was fought on 17 May 1859 between the
Great Andamanese tribe and the British. Today, a memorial stands in Andaman water sports complex as a tribute to the people who died in the battle. Fearful of British intentions and with help from an escaped convict from
Cellular Jail, the Great Andamanese attacked the British settlement, but they were outnumbered and soon suffered heavy casualties. Later, it was identified that an escaped convict named
Dudhnath Tewari had changed sides and informed the British about the tribe's plans. In 1867, the
merchantman Nineveh was
wrecked on the reef of North Sentinel Island. The 86 survivors reached the beach in the ship's boats. On the third day, they were attacked with iron-tipped spears by naked islanders. One person from the ship escaped in a boat and the others were later rescued by a
British Royal Navy ship. For some time, sickness and mortality were high, but
swamp reclamation and extensive forest clearance continued. The Andaman colony became notorious with the murder of the Viceroy
Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, on a visit to the settlement (8 February 1872), by a
Pathan from
Afghanistan,
Sher Ali Afridi. In the same year, the two island groups Andaman and
Nicobar, were united under a chief commissioner residing at Port Blair. From the time of its development in 1858 under the direction of James Pattison Walker, and in response to the mutiny and rebellion of the previous year, the settlement was first and foremost a repository for
political prisoners. The Cellular Jail at Port Blair, when completed in 1910, included 698 cells designed for solitary confinement; each cell measured with a single ventilation window above the floor. The Indians imprisoned here referred to the island and its prison as
Kala Pani ("black water"), named for
kala pani, the Hindu proscription against travelling across the open sea. Incarceration on the Andamans thus threatened prisoners with the loss of their
caste, and resultant social exclusion; a 1996 film set on the island took that term as its title,
Kaalapani. The number of prisoners who died in this camp is estimated to be in the thousands. Many more died of harsh treatment and the strenuous living and working conditions in this camp. The Viper Chain Gang Jail on
Viper Island was reserved for extraordinarily troublesome prisoners and was also the site of hangings. In the 20th century, it became a convenient place to house prominent members of India's independence movement.
Japanese occupation The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were
occupied by Japan during
World War II. The islands were nominally put under the authority of the
Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind (Provisional Government of Free India) headed by
Subhas Chandra Bose, who visited the islands during the war, and renamed them as
Shaheed (Martyr) & Swaraj (Self-rule). On 30 December 1943, during the Japanese occupation, Bose, who was allied with the Japanese, first raised the flag of Indian independence. General
Loganathan, of the
Indian National Army, was Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which had been annexed to the Provisional Government. According to Werner Gruhl: "Before leaving the islands, the Japanese rounded up and
executed 750 innocents."
Post-World War II At the close of World War II, the British government announced its intention to shut down the penal settlement. The government proposed to employ former inmates in an initiative to develop the island's fisheries, timber, and agricultural resources. In exchange, inmates would be granted return passage to the Indian mainland, or the right to settle on the islands.
J H Williams, one of the Bombay Burma Company's senior officials, was dispatched to perform a timber survey of the islands using convict labor. He recorded his findings in 'The Spotted Deer' (published in 1957 by
Rupert Hart-Davis). The penal colony was eventually closed on 15 August 1947 when India
gained independence. It has since served as a museum to the
independence movement. Most of the Andaman Islands became part of the
Republic of India in 1950 and was declared as a
union territory of the nation in 1956, while the
Preparis Island and
Coco Islands became part of the
Yangon Region of
Myanmar in 1948.
Late 20th Century – 21st century Outside visits In April 1998, American photographer John S. Callahan organised the first surfing project in the Andamans, starting from
Phuket in Thailand with the assistance of Southeast Asia Liveaboards (SEAL), a UK owned dive charter company. With a crew of international professional surfers, they crossed the Andaman Sea on the yacht
Crescent and cleared formalities in Port Blair. The group proceeded to Little Andaman Island, where they spent ten days surfing several spots for the first time, including Jarawa Point near Hut Bay and the long right reef point at the southwest tip of the island, named Kumari Point. The resulting article in
Surfer Magazine, "Quest for Fire" by journalist Sam George, put the Andaman Islands on the surfing map for the first time. Footage of the waves of the Andaman Islands also appeared in the film
Thicker than Water, shot by
documentary filmmaker
Jack Johnson. Callahan went on to make several more surfing projects in the Andamans, including a trip to the Nicobar Islands in 1999. In November 2018,
John Allen Chau, an American
missionary, traveled illegally with the help of local fishermen to the
North Sentinel Island off the Andaman Islands chain group on several occasions, despite a travel ban to the island. He is reported to have been killed. Despite some relaxation introduced earlier in 2018 to the stringent visit permit system for the islands, North Sentinel Island was still highly protected from outside contact. Special permission to allow researchers and anthropologists to visit could be sought. Chau had no special clearance and knew that his visit was illegal.
Natural disasters On 26 December 2004, the coast of the Andaman Islands was devastated by a tsunami following the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which is the longest recorded earthquake, lasting for between 500 and 600 seconds. Strong oral tradition in the area warned of the importance of moving inland after a quake and is credited with saving many lives. In the aftermath, more than 2,000 people were confirmed dead and more than 4,000 children were orphaned or had lost one parent. At least 40,000 residents were rendered homeless and were moved to relief camps. On 11 August 2009, a magnitude 7 earthquake struck near the Andaman Islands, causing a tsunami warning to go into effect. On 30 March 2010, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck near the Andaman Islands. ==Geography and geology==