The North Sentinel Island
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If I ask you what is the dumbest way to commit suicide, you simply say, “Oh, I don’t know.” What if I just said that invading the north sentinel island of pre-Neolithic indigenous people with their own sovereignty is illegal beyond a certain number of nautical miles from the island’s shore is?
They are so aware of this that they are incredibly harsh and violent towards anyone who comes to try to make contact with them.But here is a man from the United States named John Allen Chau who got killed on this island while trying to make contact with these sentinels, who are believed to have lived on North Sentinel Island for 60,000 years.
It’s always heartbreaking to learn that someone was killed in this manner.However, in such circumstances, when your life is surely going to be in danger, you should abstain from those situations. But it was he who believed in Christianity so firmly that he decided to go there and propagate the messages of Christ to these people. Who knew that these Sentinelese, who have been showing violent repulsion towards outsiders since the mediaeval era, would have welcomed John and been converted to Christianity according to his desire? Now that the result of such daring desire is in front of the world, we can once again discuss what went wrong and what further course of action is possible.
The first thing that comes to our mind is why John had such a suicidal desire despite having a good idea of the consequences. As he already knew that going there was illegal as per Indian law, Keeping this apart, he was warned several times by those fishermen as well, who took him there in lieu of the money he offered them. Looking at the sequence of events, it’s clear that, aside from being a missionary, John was an adventure seeker. Here, his latent desire to undergo the ultimate adventure searched for a cover-up in the form of propagating Christianity.
He would have been thrilled by this idea, as he knew if he succeeded, it would be registered as one of the most remarkable achievements in missionaries’ history as well as an adventure guide book. He went there using a kayak to reach the shore of the island from a distance, where the boat was standing. At his first encounter with the natives, he was warned by them, and he had a fair chance to return without getting harmed or putting himself in a situation of direct danger to his life. However, after getting wounded by an arrow shot by one of the tribesmen, he returned to the boat, but the very next day he went there again and got killed.
When those fishermen returned the next morning to learn the fate of John, they found his body lying there on the beach, and the Senegale were preparing to bury it.
Long history of reluctance
Why are residents of North Sentinel Island so hostile to outsiders when other tribal communities in Andaman have assimilated into the mainstream of civilization?
The answer to this question can be interpreted with a look into the past. Anthropologists believe they arrived on North Sentinel Island around 60000 years ago from Africa via the Gulf, India, and Burma.It was the great explorer Marco Polo, who had passed through the area in the late 13th century, who described the Andamanese as “a most brutish and savage race, having heads, eyes, and teeth like those of dogs.”
“They are very cruel and kill and eat every foreigner whom they can lay their hands upon.”
It seems the island remained in obscurity for centuries, as it was not mentioned in any written documents during that time. It was in 1867 that an Indian ship called the Ninevah was wrecked on its beach. The 106 survivors set up a temporary camp and were attacked a few days later.
They retaliated against the attack and saved themselves anyway from the menace of all of them getting killed by the inhabitants. They were lucky enough to get rescued by an Indian Navy steamer, which reached there in a short span of time.
Efforts towards friendly contact
The story of the Senegale being violently repulsive towards outsiders propagated throughout the world, and as a result of this, it was left alone for almost a century. Then, in 1967, the Indian government initiated an effort to contact the different tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and try to bring them into the mainstream of the population. This was an effort to develop the social and economic status of the island. As a result of this, several expeditions were planned and executed to Sentinel Island as well, until 1991. However, all these expeditions failed except one because of their harsh and violent behaviour.
The previous expedition in 1991 was a mild success because the sentinels were not overly aggressive towards them.They not only came near to the boat but happily accepted the coconuts as a gift brought by the expedition parties. TN Pandit, an anthropologist, led the group.He even got into the water and gave a coconut to one of the tribesmen. When he noticed the boat drifting away from him, one of the members pointed his knife at him, realising his intention to stay on the island.After this, the boat returned to him, and all the expedition participants left the shore.
After this incident, the Indian government, realising their intention to remain isolated and their reluctance towards outsiders, banned visitors from going beyond a certain nautical mile from the shore. In 2004, when a tsunami hit the Andaman Sea and Sentinel Island, both of which were affected, a rescue team was sent to find the survivors. The helicopter was attacked with bows and arrows by two inhabitants who emerged out of the forest and headed towards the shore. The rescue party returned to Port Blair, realising that most of them would have survived the tsunami by escaping to higher ground.
In 2006, two fishermen were killed by Senegalis whose boat incidentally drifted towards the island. Their bodies could not be recovered due to their retaliation.
Recently, the government of India lifted the earlier ban.
Vulnerability against common diseases
It is believed that the settlers of north Sentinel Island have no immunity against many diseases, and so if an outsider visits them, he will put them in a situation where they can get severely infected by the flu virus, and as a result, this entire community can be wiped out. We don’t know how they were affected by coming into contact with John or other expedition party members.
It is believed that their population might lie somewhere between 40 and 400. Anthropologists are worried about their existence for a longer period of time. This is due to the fact that so few people pose a threat to the entire population due to incestuous relationships.Such relationships are not good for healthy offspring.
North Sentinel Island and its inhabitants are a heritage for the world, but whether they should be left alone as always is a matter of concern because their dwindling numbers will make their survival impossible for longer periods of time.
What if they get wiped off one day and it remains a mystery how they had such an isolated subsistence since the pre-Neolithic age?
