North Sentinel Island

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Outline map of the Andaman Islands, with the location of North Sentinel Island highlighted (in red).

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.

North Sentinel Island is home to a tribe of indigenous people, the Sentinelese, whose present numbers are estimated to be anywhere between 50 and 400 individuals. They reject any contact with other people and are among the last people to remain virtually untouched by modern civilisation. The local government has recently stated that they have no intention to interfere with the Sentinelese's lifestyle or habitat.

Detail of 2003 NASA image (from the International Space Station) of North Sentinel Island; the island's protective fringe of coral reefs can be seen clearly. Note this image pre-dates the 2004 tsunami, which caused the uplift and exposure of much of the reef.

Although the Andaman Islands are likely to have suffered seriously from the effects of the December 2004 tsunami, the survival of the Sentinelese was confirmed when, some days after the event, an Indian government helicopter observed several of them, who fired arrows at the hovering aircraft to repel it.

[edit] 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"
• Administration in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands has finally decided upon a policy of minimal interference

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Coordinates: 11°33′N 92°14′E