Etymology The earliest extant references to the name "Nicobar" is in the
Sri Lankan
Pali Buddhist chronicles, the
Dipavamsa (c. 3rd or 4th century CE) and the
Mahavamsa (c. 4th or 5th century), which state that the children of the followers of the legendary founder of the Sri Lankan Kingdom, Vijaya, landed on
Naggadipa (the island of the children, from the Pali
nagga meaning 'naked'). In the ninth century, the Persian explorer
Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī referred to the Nicobar Islands as Lanjabālūs. The modern name is likely derived from the
Chola dynasty name for the islands,
Nakkavaram (may be referring to open/naked land or naked man's land in
Tamil), which is inscribed on the
Thanjavur (Tanjore) inscription of 1050 CE.
Marco Polo (12th-13th century) also referred to this island as 'Necuverann'. In the 15th century, Great Nicobar Island was recorded as "Cui Lan island" (翠蘭嶼) during the
voyages of Zheng He in the
Mao Kun map of the
Wu Bei Zhi.
Prehistory , The Nicobar Islands are believed to have been inhabited for several thousands of years. Six indigenous Nicobarese languages are spoken on the islands, which are part of the
Austroasiatic language family, which include
the Mon,
Khmer, and
Vietnamese languages of
Southeast Asia, as well as the
Munda languages of India. An indigenous tribe living at the southern tip of Great Nicobar, known as the Shompen, may be of
Mesolithic Southeast Asian origin.
Italy attempted to buy the Nicobar Islands from Denmark between 1864 and 1865. The Italian Minister of Agriculture and Commerce,
Luigi Torelli, started a negotiation that looked promising but failed due to the unexpected end of his office and the
second La Marmora Cabinet. The negotiations were interrupted and never brought up again.
Denmark's presence in the islands ended formally on 16 October 1868 when it sold the rights to the Nicobar Islands to the United Kingdom,
26 December 2004 tsunami On 26 December 2004, the coast of the Nicobar Islands was devastated by a
tsunami following the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. At least 6,000 people were killed on the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands with reports putting the death toll on
Katchal Island alone at 4,600. Several islands were heavily damaged with initial reports of islands broken in two or three pieces and coral reefs moved above water. Teressa Island was said to have been split into two pieces and Trinkat Island into three pieces. Some estimates said that the islands were moved as much as by the earthquake and tilted.
Indira Point subsided and the lighthouse there was damaged. ==Geography==