Everything About The Sentinelese An Uncontacted Tribe living On North Sentinal Island

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The Sentinelese, North Sentinal Island, the tribe dangerous island, dangerous tribe, North Sentinel Island

It is difficult to conceive that there is a place where people still live in a primitive way of life, completely oblivious to the changes happening around them, in the twenty-first century, when technology is developing at an unheard-of rate and people are discussing the threat of nuclear war. This is the situation on the Bay of Bengal’s North Sentinel Island. The inhabitants of this island, the Sentinelese Tribe, have shunned any contact with the outside world and tenaciously guarded it against intruders.

We don’t even know how many people dwell on the island because of the dense forest canopy, which prevents the rest of the world from learning anything about the Sentinelese people. Only 59.6 square kilometres in size, Manhattan Island in New York is roughly the same size as North Sentinel Island. The Andaman Island Archipelago includes it. Sumatra is only 142 kilometres away, whereas the Indian peninsula is 1,200 kilometres away.

The Sentinelese, North Sentinal Island, the tribe dangerous island, dangerous tribe, North Sentinel Island
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The island’s terrain was changed by a tsunami in 2004 that connected an islet to the main island, raised it one to two metres, and expanded its west and south borders by approximately one kilometre.

Sentinelese Tribe origin

The people of North Sentinel Island are one of the last uncontacted tribes on earth, completely untouched by contemporary civilisation, and are thought to have lived there for 60,000 years. The Indian Navy keeps a three-mile perimeter around the island.

On North Sentinel Island and the adjacent islands that make up the Andaman Islands, there are Negrito, a dark-skinned ethnic group. According to Survival International, a support organisation for indigenous and uncontacted peoples, this Negrito tribe is believed to have come from Africa. They travelled from Indonesia to India about 60,000 years ago.

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“Sentinelese” is the presumed tongue of North Sentinel Island. The Sentinelese have no communication with the outside world, thus little is known about their original tongue. The phrases that the islanders used led the researchers to the sole conclusion that the language is distinct from those of neighbouring island cultures. The Sentinelese language is still considered to be an unclassified language as a result.

The tribe is a staunch defender of their territory and has no friendly relations with outsiders. Since the 1800s, there have been numerous attempts to communicate with the Sentinelese people, but each one was met with spears and arrows, occasionally leading to fatalities. Because of this, some have referred to them as the most violent uncontacted tribe in the world.

There has only been one peaceful interaction with the tribe thus far when they stole a significant amount of food from the tourists in 1974.

The Indian government forbade access to the island in 1992, not only because doing so would result in death, but also because the Sentinelese tribe lacked immunity to diseases that other humans are susceptible to. It implies that even if only one Sentinelese contracted the disease, the entire group would perish horribly and be eradicated from the planet.

The Sentinelese, North Sentinal Island, the tribe dangerous island, dangerous tribe, North Sentinel Island
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The tribe is believed to be living in a stone age

The Sentinelese people maintain an “old nomadic” way of life that is identical to that of prehistoric humans. They use bows and arrows to hunt and gather seafood. They are a community of cottages made of leaves and straw. There is debate on the Sentinelese’s use of and origins of fire. While some claim to have no idea how to generate fire, others think it might be done by rubbing two stones together or by preserving a lightning-struck fire.

The Sentinelese, North Sentinal Island, the tribe dangerous island, dangerous tribe, North Sentinel Island
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One of the most intriguing changes seen among Sentinelese people is the use of metal-tipped arrows rather than arrows made entirely of wood. It is assumed that these individuals scavenged metal from a ship that grounded nearby the island in 1981 because they lacked metallurgical expertise. The National Geographic Society had left metal cookware on the island in 1974, and it was also given to them.

The sixth sense in the Sentinelese tribe

On December 26, 2004, a terrible tsunami slammed Sumatra, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Thailand, mainland India, and Sri Lanka. The terrible tsunami and earthquake caused thousands of deaths. The Indian government sent a helicopter to the island to perform a survey out of concern for the island’s population. It was discovered that the Sentinelese seemed to have survived reasonably well. The tribe and animals were remarkably adept at adapting despite the significantly altered shoreline.

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Government officials and anthropologists believe that the Sentinelese people may have been protected by ancient environmental knowledge. By studying how the wind, waves, and birds moved, they might have anticipated the danger. Local environmentalist and attorney Ashish Roy claim that humans lack a “sixth sense” and that the Sentinelese do. He added that these people can hear the sound of their oars to gauge the depth of the water and can smell the winds.

The deadly Sentinelese tribe doesn’t like to make friends

One night in 1771, an East India Company ship is believed to have passed Sentinel Island and noticed lights flashing on the coast. 86 passengers and 20 crew members of an Indian trade ship became stuck on the island for three days almost a century later. Intruders were disliked by the Sentinelese, who used bows and arrows with iron tips to fight them.

A British Royal Navy commander named Maurice Vidal Portman took charge of the Andaman and Nicobar colony when a Royal Navy ship arrived to rescue the shipwreck survivors.

As the tribe escaped to the interior of the island, when they searched it, they discovered deserted villages. An old couple and four children from the tribe were taken prisoner by Portman and his search team, who then transported them to Port Blair. When they arrived in Port Blair, the couple passed away from illness, so the kids were sent back to the island. Who knows what transpired after that?

Attacks by the Sentinelese tribe

A prisoner who escaped in 1896 retreated to North Sentinel Island. A colonial search party discovered his body a few days later. His throat had been cut, and he was covered with arrow wounds. Following that, the British decided to let the Sentinelese live in peace.

In 1970, India claimed the little, uninhabited island, and to prove it, a surveyor threw a stone tablet upon the sand.

Years later, in 2006, an Indian crab boat came ashore. It was then discovered that the Sentinelese had killed both fishermen and buried their bodies.

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According to officials, an American adventurer who kayaked to a remote Indian island home to a tribe infamous for using bows and arrows to attack strangers was killed. To locate the body, officials claimed they were collaborating with anthropologists.

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The Sentinelese tribe murdered adventurer John Allen Chau, age 26, in 2018. Seven fishermen accompanied him as he paddled there in his kayak. When the fishermen noticed the tribesmen dragging Chau’s body as if they were about to bury him, they retreated to keep a safe distance. What transpired after that is unknown, but Chau clearly did not come back.

The first woman to contact the Sentinelese – Anthropologists Madhumala Chattopadhyay

The Sentinelese, North Sentinal Island, the tribe dangerous island, dangerous tribe, North Sentinel Island
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Madhumala Chattopadhyay and Mr Pandit In 1991, Madhubala established communication with the Sentinelese people for the first time. To demonstrate that the tribe was entering peacefully, she gave them coconuts.

Effect of the modern-day world problems on the Sentinelese Tribe

One of the few remaining remote hunter-gatherer tribes, the Sentinelese are in danger of extinction due to a variety of reasons, including technology, waste, and climate change. To protect them, more is needed than just a law and a border.

The Sentinelese, North Sentinal Island, the tribe dangerous island, dangerous tribe, North Sentinel Island
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Although they have survived deadly diseases and an earthquake, the ones that are yet to come will be far more lethal. The Indian government must protect them no matter what. We must realise that leaving them alone is the only way they may be saved. They become increasingly susceptible to sicknesses and viruses as more people like us try to interact with them.

Have you heard about the Sentinelese tribe before? Let us know in the comments.

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