North Sentinel Island lies to the west of the other Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
It is a small island with an area of only about 23 square miles (59.7 sq. km.).
It is mostly covered by a forest that gives way to a narrow beach that encircles the island.
The island is also surrounded by coral reefs and dark blue water rich with fish and other
sea life.
What makes North Sentinel Island different from other tropical islands is its unusual
inhabitants, who we will discuss in this episode of The Infographics Show, “The Untouched
Tribe – North Sentinel Island.”
Walking around naked except for some leaves, string fibers, and other decorations, the
indigenous people of North Sentinel Island, the Sentinelese, have lived in almost complete
isolation from the rest of the world for nearly 60,000 years.
According to a documentary about North Sentinel Island, they are “thought to be direct descendants
of the first humans who emerged from Africa.”
They have been isolated for so long that the language they speak has been forgotten by
the rest of the world.
Another concern is that their extreme isolation has made them vulnerable to modern-day diseases.
They do not have immunity to them and could become seriously ill or even die as a result
of being exposed to them.
Although modern civilization is only about 31 miles (50 km) away at the city of Port
Blair, the Sentinelese lag far behind modern times.
They do not even know how to make fire.
The only time that they have fire is when it is “produced spontaneously” according
to one article, such as when lightning strikes a tree.
The Sentinelese have no knowledge of agriculture.
They live off the land and the sea, hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants.
They also eat coconuts that wash up on the shore.
They use simple tools such as harpoons, flatbows, and arrows not only to hunt for food but also
to safeguard their isolation.
The Sentinelese isolate themselves by choice.
They have a long history of using violence to drive outsiders away from their island
home.
Over the years, nearly everyone who has ventured too close to or landed on North Sentinel Island
has been attacked and/or killed by the Sentinelese.
Most of them suffered these negative outcomes whether their visits to the island were accidental
or intentional.
For instance, in 1896, one unlucky Indian convict survived a dangerous prison escape
from Port Blair only to be killed by the Sentinelese shortly after landing on their beach.
According to one source, a British party recovered his body and found that the convict was “pierced
in several places by arrows and his throat was cut.”
In 1974, a team of anthropologists trying to film a documentary, a National Geographic
photographer, and some police officers were greeted by a shower of arrows from the Sentinelese.
One of the arrows hit the director of the documentary in the left thigh.
In 1981, crew members of the cargo ship MV Primrose were attacked by the Sentinelese
after their ship became stranded on the reef surrounding the island.
They had to fight the Sentinelese with “flare guns, axes and lengths of pipe” in order
to live long enough to be rescued a week later.
The only friendly encounter outsiders had with the Sentinelese occurred in January 1991
when an Indian contact expedition visited the island.
There is some video footage of members of the expedition presenting the Sentinelese
with gifts of coconuts thrown into the water, which the tribespeople quickly gathered.
There is also video footage showing some smiling Sentinelese interacting with members of the
expedition and even touching them out of curiosity.
Unfortunately, this one encounter turned out to be more like a truce rather than an end
to the isolated tribe’s war with outsiders.
Later visits to the island were met with the usual hostile greetings of weapons drawn or
arrows fired.
The last encounter occurred in 2006.
Two fishermen drifted too close to the island, and the Sentinelese killed them and buried
them in shallow graves.
Authorities attempted to recover the bodies of the fishermen but were unsuccessful because
of what one source calls a “customary hail of arrows.”
They ended up leaving the bodies there and leaving the Sentinelese to live in peace.
Like the other Andaman Islands, North Sentinel Island is under the jurisdiction of the Indian
government.
Over the years, India has allowed the Sentinelese to manage their own affairs with minimal government
intrusion.
In 1991, it placed a 3 mile (5 km) exclusion zone around North Sentinel Island to keep
outsiders such as tourists and poachers away from it.
Will more outsiders become target practice for the Sentinelese?
Will these isolated tribespeople, whose estimated population ranges from 15 to 500, be wiped
out because tourists will expose them to diseases that they have no immunity to?
Only time will tell.
If someone gave you a free trip to North Sentinel Island, would you go there?
Why or why not?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called What If Animals Went To World War With
Humans?!
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See you next time!