North Sentinel Island
Categories: India geography stubs | Indian Ocean atolls | Islands of India | Andaman and Nicobar Islands
North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It lies to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island; geographic coordinates: 11°33′ N 92°14′ E.
North Sentinel Island is home to a tribe of indigenous people, the Sentinelese, whose present numbers are uncertainly estimated to be anywhere between 50-400 individuals. They refuse any contact with other people and are among the last people who have remained virtually untouched by modern civilisation. The local government has recently stated that there are no intentions of interfering with their lifestyle and habitat.
Although the Andaman Islands suffered seriously from the effects of the December 2004 tsunami, the survival of the Sentinelese was confirmed when several days after the event an Indian government helicopter sent to the island to investigate observed several of them (who proceeded to fire off a few arrows at the hovering aircraft to repel it).
External links
- "Lonely islands: The Andamanese", comprehensive online documentation by George Weber
- "The Last Island of the Savages", in-depth article by Adam Goodheart
- Brief factsheet about the indigenous people of the Andaman Islands, by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration
- "The Andaman Tribes - Victims of Development"
- Sentinelese have survived the December 2004 tsunami
- Administration in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands has finally decided upon a policy of minimal interference