Sentinelese

Geography The Sentinelese live on North Sentinel Island, in the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. The island lies about west of Andaman capital Port Blair. During a 2014 circumnavigation of their island, researchers put their height between and recorded their skin colour as "dark, shining black" with well-aligned teeth. They showed no signs of obesity and had very prominent muscles. Population No rigorous census has been conducted or as high as 500. Most estimates lie between 50 and 200. The 1971 census estimated the population at around 82, and the 1981 census at 100. This survey was conducted from a distance and may not have been accurate. 2004 post-tsunami expeditions recorded counts of 32 and 13 individuals in 2004 and 2005, respectively. During a 2014 circumnavigation, researchers recorded six women, seven men (all apparently under 40 years old) and three children younger than four. A handbook released in 2016 by the Anthropological Survey of India on "Vulnerable Tribe Groups" estimates the population at between 100 and 150. Both sexes wear bark strings; the men tuck daggers into their waist belts. Usual habitations include small temporary huts erected on four poles with slanted leaf-covered roofs. There is no evidence of the Sentinelese having knowledge of metallurgy apart from cold forging to make tools and weapons, though the Andamanese scholar Vishvajit Pandya notes that Onge narratives often recall voyages by their ancestors to North Sentinel to procure metal. Residents of the island accepted aluminium cookware left by the National Geographic Society in 1974. They share common traits in body decoration and material culture. There are also similarities in the design of their canoes; of all the Andamanese tribes, only the Sentinelese and Onge make canoes. Similarities with the Jarawas have been also noted: their bows have similar patterns. No such marks are found on Onge bows, and both tribes sleep on the ground, while the Onge sleep on raised platforms. The metal arrowheads and adze blades are quite large and heavier than those of other Andamanese tribes. Language Because of their complete isolation, very little is known about the Sentinelese language, which is therefore unclassified. It has been recorded that the Jarawa language is mutually unintelligible with the Sentinelese language. Photography was prohibited. A constant armed patrol prevents intrusions by outsiders. The Sentinelese are a community of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. Designated a particularly vulnerable tribal group and a Scheduled Tribe, they belong to the broader class of Andamanese people. Along with the Great Andamanese, the Jarawas, the Onge, the Shompen, and the Nicobarese, the Sentinelese are one of the six often reclusive peoples indigenous to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. == History of contacts ==

The first peaceful contact with the Sentinelese was made by Triloknath Pandit, a director of the Anthropological Survey of India, and his colleagues, on 4 January 1991. Later, contact was made by Madhumala Chattopadhyay. Indian visits to the island ceased in 1997. An American, John Allen Chau, was killed in 2018 while visiting the island illegally as a Christian missionary. Colonial period In 1771, an East India Company hydrographic survey vessel, the Diligent, observed "a multitude of lights[...] upon the shore" of North Sentinel Island, which is the island's first recorded mention. The crew did not investigate. The man and woman died of illness shortly after their arrival in Port Blair and the children began to fall ill as well. Portman hurriedly sent the children back to North Sentinel Island with a large quantity of gifts in an attempt to establish friendly relations. photographed with Andamanese chiefs in British India In 1896, a convict escaped from the penal colony on Great Andaman Island on a makeshift raft and drifted across to the North Sentinel beach. His body was discovered by a search party some days later with several arrow-piercings and a cut throat. The party recorded that they did not see any islanders. Temple also recorded a case where a Sentinelese man apparently drifted off to the Onge and fraternised with them over the course of two years. When Temple and Portman accompanied the man to the tribe and attempted to establish friendly contact, they did not recognise him and responded aggressively by shooting arrows at the group. The man refused to remain on the island. Notably, the Sentinelese were counted as a standalone group for the first time in the 1911 census. In 1954, the Italian explorer Lidio Cipriani visited the island but did not encounter any inhabitants. T. N. Pandit (1967–1991) In 1967, a group of 20 people consisting of the governor, armed forces and naval personnel, were led by T. N. Pandit, an Indian anthropologist working for the Anthropological Survey of India, to North Sentinel Island to explore it and befriend the Sentinelese. This was the first visit to the island by a professional anthropologist. 1981 wreck of MV Primrose On 2 August 1981, the MV Primrose, carrying a bulk cargo of chicken feed from Bangladesh to Australia, ran aground in rough seas just off North Sentinel Island, stranding a small crew. After a few days, the captain dispatched a distress call asking for a drop of firearms and reported boats being prepared by more than 50 armed islanders intending to board the ship. Strong waves prevented the Sentinelese canoes from reaching the ship and deflected their arrows. The crew of 31 men were keeping a twenty-four-hour guard with axes, pipes, and flare guns. Nearly a week later, the crew was evacuated by a civilian helicopter contracted to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) with support from Indian naval forces. The Sentinelese scoured the abandoned shipwrecks to salvage iron for their weaponry. including the anthropologist Madhumala Chattopadhyay. This was the first time a woman was a part of a contact expedition with the Sentinelese. During a 4 January 1991 visit, the Sentinelese approached the party without weaponry for the first time. According to one report, the bodies were later put on bamboo stakes facing out to sea like scarecrows. Three days later, an Indian Coast Guard helicopter, dispatched for the purpose, found the buried bodies. When the helicopter tried to retrieve them, the Sentinelese attacked it with arrows and, according to some sources, with spears, and the mission was soon abandoned. There were contrasting views in the local community as to whether the Sentinelese ought to be prosecuted for the murder. Pandya hypothesises that the aggressive response might have been caused by the sudden withdrawal of those gift-carrying expeditions, which was not influenced or informed by any acts of the Sentinelese. He also notes that while the images of the hostile Sentinelese the helicopter sorties captured were heavily propagated in the media, the images of them burying the dead were never released. This selective display effectively negated the friendly images that circulated in the aftermath of the 1991 contact, which had already been taken out of public display, and restored the 1975 National Geographic narrative. 2018 killing of missionary In November 2018, John Allen Chau, a 26-year-old American trained and sent by the US-based Christian missionary organisation All Nations, travelled to North Sentinel Island with the aim of contacting and living among the Sentinelese He did not seek the necessary permits required to visit the island. On 15 November, Chau paid local fishermen to take him to a point from the island's shore, then continued to the island in a kayak. As he approached, he attempted to communicate with the islanders Eventually, according to Chau's last letter, when he tried to hand over fish and gifts, a boy shot a metal-headed arrow that pierced the Bible he was holding in front of his chest, after which he retreated again. On his final visit, on 17 November, Chau instructed the fishermen to leave without him. and the U.S. government confirmed that it did not ask the Indian government to press charges against the tribe. Indian officials made several attempts to recover Chau's body, but eventually abandoned those efforts. An anthropologist involved in the case told The Guardian that the risk of a dangerous clash between investigators and the islanders was too great to justify any further attempts. 2023 killing of fishermen In December 2022, three fishermen were found missing after a fishing trip. Their boat has been spotted on North Sentinel Island by the local fishermen and the A&N administration, leading to the possibility of them either being stranded on the island or killed by the "Sentinelese" tribe. 2025 landing of a YouTuber On March 29, 2025, a Ukrainian-American YouTuber from Arizona, Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, made an unauthorised landing on the island. He was subsequently arrested by the Indian Police Service with a view to prosecution. Indigenous rights organisation Survival International, which advocates for uncontacted peoples globally, condemned the illegal actions as "deeply disturbing", noting that uncontacted peoples like the Sentinelese are vulnerable to being wiped out by contact-induced diseases to which they have no immunity. Polyakov was reported to have left Diet Coke and a coconut as "offerings" to the people of the island. He later uploaded two videos to his YouTube channel as a part of a series called "The Last Island", one was a short teaser and the other an eight minute "Part 1". == Notes ==