Rutland Island

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

Rutland Island is an island located across the Macpherson Strait from Port Blair, the capital of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands on South Andaman Island. As one of the Andaman Islands, Rutland I forms the southernmost main island of the closely-situated Great Andaman archipelago. The island spans an area of approximately 109.3 km², and has a coastline measuring some 60 km ^[1].

It is rich in marine life with the shallow waters near the island having a good representation of smaller fish and coral. The island also offers an ideal base for training open water divers. The vegetation of Rutland Island is similar to that of North Sentinel Island with dry sandy soils. Although hilly, the island is overgrown with fairly open jungle and brush.

The island was formerly home to the Jangil, one of the indigenous Andamanese groups. The Jangil (also called "Rutland Jarawa" since they were thought to have been related to the Jarawa of South Andaman) occupied much of the interior of the island according to mid-1800s British accounts, however their interactions with outsiders were few and far between. Up to the early 20th century there are only a handful of documented encounters with Jangil individuals. The last documented encounter was in 1907, and when in the 1920s a more extensive expedition to the island's interior was conducted, no traces of their active habitation were found; the Jangil had become extinct^[2].

From time to time other indigenous Andamanese, such as the Onge from Little Andaman Island to the south and Great Andamanese tribes to the north had also set up fishing communities on Rutland. However, with the great reduction in numbers of these peoples, and their (enforced) relocations to more restricted areas, the island is presently without any permanent indigenous settlement.