(rising tone)
(echoing note)
- [Narrator] Very few parts of the world remain untouched
and unexplored.
Even rarer are areas where groups
of people live without any contact with the outside world.
Today, it is believed that there are less
than a hundred groups who live uncontacted.
But when contact is made
with these isolated and remote civilizations,
it can result in disastrous consequences.
What is up, EWU crew?
Today, we are talking
about one of these rare indigenous groups
the extraordinary case of a man determined to meet them
and the ensuing tragedy that shocked the world.
Let's get into it.
John Allen Chau was born on December 18th, 1991 in Alabama
but went on to grow up as an adventurous kid
in Vancouver, Washington
where he was always out in the wilderness
with his family camping and hiking.
Early on, John's sense of adventure
drew him to document his outdoor escapades
and he eventually started a blog called Rugged Trail
where he wrote about his ventures meeting cougars,
slipping down dangerous cliffs
and eating bright colored berries
to the point of making himself sick.
He wrote on his blog that his personal motto was to
"make the most of every good opportunity today
because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."
But no one could ever have predicted
just how far his sense of adventure would lure him.
By all accounts, John was a good kid.
Though he struggled a bit with making close connections
with other people, as well as finding his own identity
as the youngest of three kids.
In 2008, while in junior high,
John went on a school mission trip to Mexico
and so began his passion for missions
and a sense of purpose that he would latch onto
as a piece of his core identity.
Growing up his role models, who he deeply admired,
included the missionaries David Livingston
as well as Jim Elliot, who became famous
after he had died at only 28 after being speared
to death while preaching and Ecuador to the Waorani people.
John did more than admire these men.
In fact, he sought to be just like them
even to the gruesome end.
To fulfill his desires to give back to others,
John became a soccer coach and eventually worked
at a nonprofit organization called More Than a Game
and AmeriCorps.
As he grew older, John began to participate
in more frequent Christian missionary trips
as he felt the call to spread his religious beliefs
across the globe, as well as participate in volunteer work.
This internal drive took him
to Mexico, India, Israel, South Africa and Kurdistan.
After a few years feeling lost,
John finally began to believe that he had found his vocation
and purpose in life and spent almost all of his time
volunteering and preaching abroad.
Starting in 2015, John spent time on the Andaman islands
in the Indian ocean where he discovered
what would become his newest passion.
Something that would ultimately
become a consuming obsession.
While there, John learned
about the nearby North Sentinel Island
where an indigenous tribe known as the Sentinelese lived.
In order to understand the extraordinariness
of today's case, some background information is necessary.
Though extremely rare,
the Sentinelese are considered uncontacted,
meaning that they live as an isolated group
without interaction with anyone
from the world beyond their island.
Since their discovery in the mid-1800s
they have consistently rejected all opportunities
to meet anyone from outside of their tribe.
In fact, they are known to respond with violence
any time people get near them.
Even shooting arrows at planes that fly overhead.
Some reports describe the tribe
as using deadly poison arrows
as part of their weaponry as well.
Allegedly, in the late 1800s
British explorers kidnapped a group of Sentinelese
who later lost their lives to disease.
It isn't hard to imagine why this tribe might be wary
of outsiders.
Since 1956, the North Sentinel Island has been declared
by the government of India to be a reserve.
To protect their unique culture and way of life
it became illegal to go near the Sentinelese
and any visit to the island is strictly forbidden.
Almost no one but their own tribe has ever stepped foot
on the island.
Passing boats are required to stay three nautical miles away
from the shore in order to make sure
that no one disturbs the tribe.
Even photography isn't allowed anymore
and any photos of the tribe were taken
before the ban or illegally.
In order to deter any visitors curious to have a look
at the Sentinelese, an armed patrol frequents the area
without disturbing the Sentinelese themselves.
Because no one is allowed to go near the tribe,
it is unsure even how many of them exist.
But guesses say the tribe is made
up of between 15 to 500 people.
The Sentinelese have fascinated
many who are eager to study their way of living,
especially since the only known information
about them indicates
that they haven't evolved their practices
beyond what we categorize as the Stone Age.
They are hunter gatherers who use bows and spears,
living semi-naked in the forest.
There is a persistent rumor
that the Sentinelese practice cannibalism,
but so far there is no evidence to support this belief.
What may be the most fascinating about the Sentinelese
is not their refusal to make contact with the outside world
but where they may have come from.
As they are considered to be a Stone Age tribe,
the Sentinelese may have been living
in isolation on their island for over 60,000 years.
Or they may have come from a group
that chose to leave another area
and self isolate some time in the past.
John began working with the Christian organization
All Nations whose teachings led him to believe
that he needed to meet the Sentinelese
and convert them to Christianity.
The island fell within an area referred
to by Christian missionaries as the 10/40 window.
Also known as the Resistant Belt
which is a region of Africa spanning to Asia
where missionaries have difficulty converting people.
John spent much of his time
as a missionary specifically within these areas
and he had begun to believe that it was his purpose
in life to convert as many people in that area as he could.
Apparently, John had first heard
of the isolated group of the Sentinelese
while attending a private Christian high school.
But it wasn't until visiting the area
that he seemed to become obsessed with meeting them.
John soon came to believe
that the uncontacted people were the last
of Satan's stronghold on earth
as they had not heard of Christianity.
He told those around him that he wanted
to preach to them to save them.
For about three years,
John obsessed over the tribe
and he started to refer to the Sentinelese
as his calling and mission
and claimed that his visit to the island was essential
because "the eternal lives of this tribe is at hand."
He only told those who were part
of All Nations about his plans
as knowing the many dangers,
his loved ones would have tried to talk him out of it.
Finally in 2018, when he was 26 years old,
John had secured a plan to contact the Sentinelese
though it was completely illegal to do so
which he knew well.
To prepare for his expedition,
John got all of the necessary vaccinations
and took medical and linguistic training.
Even though he did his best to prepare,
he never alerted the Indian authorities
about his intentions,
nor even tried to get permission to go to the island.
With all of his experience as an adventurer,
it seemed that John wasn't afraid
of anything that could happen to him.
In late October, he went to Port Blair
near the North Sentinel Island where he self-quarantined
for a few days in a safe house
in an attempt to protect the Sentinelese from disease.
This action indicates that John was very aware
about the risk he posed to the tribe.
On November 15th, John bribed five local fishermen
by paying them 25,000 Indian rupees
to illegally bring him close to the island.
At first, the men hesitated
but John eventually convinced them to help him.
Yet when their boats arrived
at about 1600 feet from the shore,
they stopped and refuse to go any closer.
In 2006, the Sentinelese had killed two men
who accidentally drifted ashore on their island.
The tribe had placed their bodies
on bamboo stakes on the shore
for all to see as a warning.
The fishermen cautioned John
that he should observe the Sentinelese
from the safety of their decks,
but John wasn't convinced.
After all he had come this far
and he felt this was his greatest mission yet.
Armed with a waterproof Bible,
John took a canoe and went to shore alone.
Once there, he was almost immediately met
with some of the Sentinelese men
who approached him equipped with bows and arrows.
John reportedly shouted over to them.
"My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you."
Though he tried to give the men some
of the gifts he brought, they were suspicious and hostile.
When they began to string their bows, ready to fire at him,
he was forced to retreat back to the fishermen's boats.
John was not deterred and tried it again right away,
this time approaching the Sentinelese
while singing worship songs to them
and speaking to them in Xhosa, which is a Bantu language.
Apparently they responded to hearing Xhosa
with confusion and silence,
refusing to engage with John at all.
Again, John wasn't swayed
and just came back again the next day.
During other attempts to make contact,
the tribe seemed to be amused by John
and would burst into laughter
anytime he tried to speak with them,
especially when he tried
to parrot their language back at them.
John guessed that they thought he was funny
because he was repeating bad words or insults to them.
As one of the few people to get so close
to the Sentinelese, John's notes
and his journal have been extremely helpful
for anthropologists curious about how they communicate.
John wrote that the tribe used lots
of high pitched sounds and gestures when speaking.
For three days, John tried everything to make contact
and have the Sentinelese accept him.
But he was now growing frustrated and disheartened.
No matter what he did, they either raised their bows
in a threat to him, laughed, or ignored him entirely.
But even after so many unsuccessful attempts,
John wasn't going to give up.
He then recorded an incident
with the Sentinelese in his journal
where he once again tried to give them gifts,
including fish, when one of the tribe members, a young boy,
shot a metal-pointed arrow right at John's chest.
Luckily for him, he was holding his Bible against his chest
and the arrow pierced into it, saving his life.
Prying the arrow free of the Bible,
he handed it back to the boy who tried to shoot him.
Then John completely abandoned his canoe in fear
that the tribe would try again to kill him
and instead swam hastily back to the boat.
Apparently John had predicted this outcome though,
as he had brought dental forceps with him just
in case he was shot with an arrow
and had to pry it out of his body himself.
In his journal, John briefly reflects
that he should probably turn back and give up on his quest.
One of the main reasons he chooses to continue is the fact
that he's lost his passport and can't easily return anyway.
He also thought leaving meant
that he had failed his mission.
Yet with an awareness
about the possible peril he was placing himself in,
he wrote, "I think it's worthwhile
to declare Jesus to these people.
Please do not be angry at them
or at God if I get killed.
Don't retrieve my body."
On November 17th,
John told the fishermen to leave
while he once again went to shore.
He apparently believed that the reason
that the tribe had been so wary of him
and all his previous attempts
were the looming boats behind him,
and without the boats there,
he might have a better chance making meaningful contact
and then converting them to Christianity.
It isn't clear what John thought would happen
when he was left on the island,
but it appears that he may have addicted is doomed fate.
John knew the massive risk he was taking
and he was scared, writing in his journal
where he spoke directly to God.
"If you want me to get actually shot
or even killed with an arrow than so be it.
I think I could be more useful alive though.
But to you, God, I give all the glory of whatever happens.
I don't want to die.
It almost seems like certain death to stay here."
No one knows exactly what happened to John
because it was only the Sentinelese and John on the island.
We may never know what actually occurred between them.
But what we do know is
that the fishermen later returned to the area
where they saw the Sentinelese dragging John's body.
And the next day they could see
that his body had been left out on the shore
before the tribe buried him.
With no other choice, the fishermen went
to the authorities to report what had happened.
All five of the fishermen who helped John
were arrested for their actions.
John was declared to have been murdered
and a murder case was even open to investigate.
But after lengthy discussions,
that there was no point in arresting
or prosecuting the Sentinelese for John's death.
After his tragic demise,
John's story made international headlines.
His choices were highly criticized
not only because it was illegal
but also because his presence
on the island could alter the Sentinelese's way of life.
John was viewed by the media as an ignorant backpacker
or even an arrogant young man trying to be seen as a hero.
One Twitter user even called him a deluded idiot.
Attention was brought to the fact
that even with his quarantine
John may have unknowingly exposed the Sentinelese
to pathogens from the outside world
that could be deadly, especially as they hadn't been exposed
to anything beyond their island.
Exposure to something like the common cold
could have easily killed everyone in the tribe.
Many people believe that John may have been brainwashed
into a delusion, especially considering the fact
that John had no real way to have meaningful communication
with a tribe that didn't speak any language similar
to one that he spoke.
All Nations responded by saying that John was a martyr
for their cause, but John's own father criticized the group
for creating such extremism in his son
that would drive him to do something illegal
and ill-advised, especially as they knew
about his plan for years.
He calls John an innocent child
and blames the missionary community for his death.
His father even said
that his son had found a not unexpected end
with how the organization had trained him.
Allegedly, the All Nations training
for their missionaries included a mock situation
much like the one that John faced
which likely encouraged him to think
that he could handle meeting the Sentinelese.
The mock training included blindfolding the missionary
and setting up an indigenous tribe who were hostile them
by brandishing fake spears to mimic the threat.
John's body has never been recovered
but the Indian authorities attempted to get him back
on several different occasions where they were met
with extreme hostility by the Sentinelese.
A few of the times the island was approached,
the tribe was seen standing guard
on the beach with bows and arrows.
It was deemed that the effort was incredibly dangerous
for both the Sentinelese and for the authorities.
John's body has been left buried
on the island where he died.
To this day, many look to the tribe's burial of John
as a sign of respect and argue
that this has proved that their violence comes
from a place of fear rather than simply hateful aggression.
With the continuing reputation of killing
many of the people who've ever dared visit their island,
the Sentinelese may be the most isolated people
in the world.