Havelock Island is the largest of the islands with an area of 113.93 km2 which comprise Ritchie's Archipelago, a chain of islands to the east of Great Andaman in the Andaman Islands. Havelock is situated 57 km North East of Capital City Port Blair. The population numbered 5,354 as of the census of 2001.[1]
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The island is named after Henry Havelock, a British general active in India. The island's current population consists of Bengali settlers.
It is one of the few places that the administration of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India has permitted and encouraged development of tourism, with a focus on promoting eco-tourism.
Havelock Island avoided much of the devastation which was visited upon most of the shores affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and its resultant tsunami, and there were no documented casualties.
In May 2010, a 25-year-old North-American was snorkeling in the crystalline waters near Radhanagar Beach when a massive saltwater crocodile closed its jaws upon her, dragging her down beneath the surface. Her body was discovered two days later. According to Indian government statistics, there have been 24 crocodile attacks on humans in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands over the past 25 years, including four fatalities. All previous attacks have been in inland creek areas and the attack on the American tourist was the first ever in open sea[2][3]
Beach No. 7 on the western coast, better known as "Radha Nagar" Beach, is one of the most popular beaches on Havelock and was named "Best Beach in Asia" by Time in 2004.[4] Other notable beaches include Elephant Beach on the northwest coast and Vijaynagar Beach (No. 5), Beach No. 3 and Beach No. 1 on the east coast.
The five villages are Govinda Nagar, Bejoy Nagar, Shyam Nagar, Krishna Nagar and Radha Nagar.