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The Sentinelese (also Sentineli, Senteneli, Sentenelese, North Sentinel Islanders) are one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. They exclusively inhabit North Sentinel Island which lies westwards off the southern tip of the Great Andaman archipelago. They are noted for vigorously maintaining their independence and sovereignty over the island, and resisting attempts of contact by outsiders. By their long-standing separation from any other human society they are among the most isolated and unassimilated peoples on Earth, their social practices being almost entirely free of any recorded external influence.
Population
The present population of the Sentinelese is not known with any great degree of accuracy, and estimates have been produced ranging from a low of fewer than 40, through to a median of around 250, and up to a maximum of 500. In the 2001 Census of India, officials recorded 39 individuals (21 males and 18 females); however, out of necessity this survey was conducted from a distance and almost certainly does not represent an accurate figure for the population who range over the 72-km2 island. Any medium– or long–term impact on the Sentinelese population arising from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami remains unknown, other than the confirmation obtained that they had survived the immediate aftermath.
Characteristics
The Sentinelese and other indigenous Andamanese peoples are frequently described as negritos, a somewhat indistinct anthropological term, which has been applied to variously widely-separated peoples in Southeast Asia, such as the Semang of the Malay archipelago and the Aeta of the Philippines, as well as sometimes to other peoples as far afield as South America and Australia. The defining characteristics of these 'negrito' peoples include a comparatively short stature, dark skin and "peppercorn" hair. The Sentinelese themselves appear however to be somewhat taller on average than other Andamanese peoples.
The Sentinelese maintain an essentially hunter-gatherer society, obtaining their subsistence through hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants; there is no evidence of any agricultural practices among them.
It is frequently asserted that they rely upon natural events such as lightning strikes to obtain fire, but it is not known whether they also manufacture it; certainly, since the earliest reports of these people it has been observed that they maintain campfires on a nightly basis. Metalwork among them is unknown, as indeed is any likely source of the raw materials on the island. However, it has been observed that they have made adroit use of metal materials which have washed up or been left behind on their shores, and incorporated these into weapons and other items. For example, in the late 1980s two international container ships ran aground on the island's external coral reefs, from which the Sentinelese retrieved several items of iron.
Language
Virtually nothing is known of the Sentinelese language, and no word lists or language samples have been collected by researchers. It is presumably an Andamanese language, but how closely it may be related to other languages of that family is unknown.
Contemporary situation
Their island is nominally part of and administered by the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; however, in practice the Sentinelese exercise complete autonomy over their affairs and the involvement of the Indian authorities is restricted to occasional monitoring, even more infrequent and brief visits, and generally discouraging any access or approaches to the island.
From the early 1990s the Indian authorities in Port Blair embarked on a programme of official but limited attempts at contacting the Sentinelese, under the auspices of the Director of Tribal Welfare. These "Contact Expeditions" consisted of a series of planned visits which would progressively leave "gifts", such as coconuts, on the shores, in an attempt to coax the Sentinelese from their customary hostile reception of outsiders. For a while these seemed to have some limited success; however the programme was discontinued in the late 1990s following a series of hostile encounters resulting in several deaths in a similar programme practiced with the Jarawa people of South and Middle Andaman Islands. The Sentinelese remain skeptical and generally hostile to any approaches from outsiders.
In 2006, Sentinelese archers killed two fishermen who were fishing illegally within range of the island, and drove off the helicopter that was sent to retrieve their bodies with a hail of arrows. To this date, their bodies remain unrecovered.
See also
References
- Census of India 2001 (pdf), A&N Islands, Number of Households, Total Population and Population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- as noted in description text on 29 April 2005 image, North Sentinel Island, European Space Agency
- Master Plan1991-2021 for Welfare of Primitive Tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sec. II Ch. 21. Dept. of Tribal Welfare, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Administration; as reproduced in Andaman Book
- Stone Age tribe kills fishermen The Sydney Morning Herald
External links
- "The Last Island of the Savages", in-depth article by Adam Goodheart
- Another article from the same site
- Brief factsheet about the indigenous people of the Andaman Islands, by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration
- Administration in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands has finally decided upon a policy of minimal interference
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | Indigenous peoples of South Asia
"Sentinelese"