I hopped onto a cruise ship from Port Blair on a cloudy monsoon afternoon, headed towards Havelock Island, the most famous of all the Andaman & Nicobar islands group. Wonderful aqua-blue waves looked welcoming, luring me to the deck outside. Lush, deep green islands started popping up on the horizon, hardly 15 minutes from Port Blair, making me think of North Sentinel Island. After all, the island was somewhere close, containing an intriguing, self-sustainable world in itself. Also the question: Is the Sentinelese tribe that lives on the island as violent as it is usually portrayed in pop culture?
And, of course, this is also the island that is infamous as the place where curiosity (mostly) kills cats outsiders. Remember the tragic fate of John Allen Chau, the American Christian missionary, who was killed by the Sentinelese in 2018. Of course, he was let go twice before he persisted in his resolve to land on the island and teach tenets of Christianity to the tribe. 2023 American documentary film, The Mission, is based on the same incident.
Where is the North Sentinel Island?
Just 50 km from Port Blair, the capital of Andaman & Nicobar, lies a strange place, the North Sentinel Island. Strange, since the island is home to one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes, the Sentinelese. One can easily fly to Port Blair from Delhi, with a number of connecting flights throughout the day.
It is estimated that the Sentinelese have lived here for around 60,000 years, living and guarding the island shores fiercely.
The Sentinelese are also one of the most isolated tribes in the world; but, contrary to the popular belief and whataboutery, this is not the last uncontacted tribe of the world. In fact, there are 100 – 200 uncontacted tribes on the planet; it is difficult to put a correct number on their exact population and diversity because, well, the tribes are uncontacted. The Sentinelese could very well be the isolated of all such tribes on the planet.
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It’s almost surreal to realise that this island and its inhabitants choose to stay away from all contact, closed to all outsiders. Especially when there is a huge, thriving tourism industry on islands that are hardly 60 km away from it. Imagine a lush, tropical island, around 60 km sq, covered in dense rainforest vegetation, lying so close and untouched by all things modern. It’s stranger to imagine that North Sentinel is also inhabited by people, the Sentinelese. It’s estimated that there are around 200 people on the island, though it could very well be incorrect since a census cannot be done.
Why? Because the tribe is hostile to the government and related authorities as well.
Who are the Sentinelese?
Well, popular culture paints a very bizarre picture of the Sentinelese. In this era of booming content creators, catchy headlines and thumbnails rule all logic. The intriguing tribe is usually portrayed as a violent, menacing-looking people, violently attacking anyone who sets foot on the island. I browsed through some stories that even bordered on calling North Sentinel as the Island of Cannibals even when there is no proof, and whatever we know about the tribe says otherwise.
Sticking to solid facts and evidence, here’s what we know of the Sentinelese people.
Language of North Sentinel island
The inhabitants of North Sentinel Island have a language that is unknown to the world. Scholars and linguists of repute have tried to decipher if the Sentinelse communicate in a language that is akin to that of the Onge and Jarawa tribes, the tribes closest to the Sentinelese. It is fair to conclude that the tribe speaks a language that is still not known to the world.
Do the Sentinelese practice cannibalism?
NO. Whatever you might have read or watched about the inhabitants of the North Sentinel Island practising cannibalism is a lie. There is no proof of the same. On the contrary, there is evidence that those who got stranded and, subsequently killed here, were buried right by the shore. Forget humans, the Sentinelese have been captured on camera, burying all gifts including wild pigs that were sent by the outsiders. In all probability, they do not take anything from the outside world away from the shore. There are multiple videos and eyewitness accounts that claim that the Sentinelse bury the dead.
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