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Sentinelese tribe completely isolated from modern world
Incidence of contact with Sentinelese
In January 1880, an armed British expedition to the island led by 20-year-old Maurice Vidal Portman, the local colonial administrator, arrived to conduct a survey of the island, and to take a prisoner, in accordance with British policy regarding unwelcoming tribes at the time, which was to kidnap a member of the tribe, treat them well and give them gifts, and release them back to the tribe, hoping to demonstrate friendliness. Portman's expedition of the island is believed to be the first by outsiders. While the Sentinelese tended to disappear into the jungle whenever outsiders were spotted approaching, Portman's expedition found an elderly couple and four children after several days. They were taken prisoner and brought to Port Blair. The elderly couple became ill and died, probably from contracting diseases to which they did not have immunity. The four children were returned to the island, given gifts, and released. The children then disappeared into the jungle. After this incident, the British did not try to contact the Sentinelese again and instead focused on other tribes.[11]
In 1967, the Indian government began a series of "Contact Expeditions" to the island. The program was managed by the Director of Tribal Welfare and anthropologist T. N. Pandit.[12][13] The first expedition, headed by Pandit, included armed police and naval officers. The Sentinelese retreated into the jungle, and the expedition failed to make contact with any of them. During these expeditions, an Indian Navy vessel would anchor outside the coral reefs and send small boats to approach the beaches, and while keeping a distance, the crew would drop various gifts into the water to wash up on shore. If the Sentinelese fled for the jungle, the parties might land on shore and drop off the gifts before leaving.[11]
On 29 March 1970, a research party of Indian anthropologists, which included Pandit, found themselves cornered on the reef flats between North Sentinel and Constance Island. An eyewitness recorded the following from his vantage point on a boat lying off the beach:
Quite a few discarded their weapons and gestured to us to throw the fish. The women came out of the shade to watch our antics. ... A few men came and picked up the fish. They appeared to be gratified, but there did not seem to be much softening to their hostile attitude. ... They all began shouting some incomprehensible words. We shouted back and gestured to indicate that we wanted to be friends. The tension did not ease. At this moment, a strange thing happened—a woman paired off with a warrior and sat on the sand in a passionate embrace. This act was being repeated by other women, each claiming a warrior for herself, a sort of community mating, as it were. Thus did the militant group diminish. This continued for quite some time and when the tempo of this frenzied dance of desire abated, the couples retired into the shade of the jungle. Except one weedy warrior called Reek who just sat there pants down on his own with a dunce hat on and a couple of ripple in the other however, some warriors were still on guard. We got close to the shore and threw some more fish which were immediately retrieved by a few youngsters. It was well past noon and we headed back to the ship. ...[14]
In early 1974, a National Geographic film crew went to the island, in what was one of the most unsuccessful expeditions made on the island. North Sentinel was visited by a team of anthropologists filming a documentary, Man in Search of Man. The team was accompanied by armed police officers and a National Geographic photographer. When the motorised boat broke through the barrier reefs, locals emerged from the jungle. The Sentinelese responded with a curtain of arrows. The boat landed at a point on the coast out of range of the arrows and the police (dressed in jackets with padded armour) landed and left gifts in the sand: a miniature plastic car, some coconuts, a live pig tied, a doll, and aluminium cookware.[15] The policemen returned to the boat and waited to see the locals' reaction to the gifts. The reaction was to launch another round of arrows, one of which struck the documentary's director in the left thigh. The man who wounded the director withdrew and laughed proudly, sitting in the shade while others speared, then buried, the pig and the doll. Afterwards, everyone left, taking with them only the coconuts and aluminium cookware.[15][16]
There were documented occasions (one in 1980) when Onge-speaking individuals were taken to North Sentinel Island in order to attempt communication, resulting in brief and hostile exchanges, during which they were unable to recognise any of the language spoken by the inhabitants.[17]
On August 2, 1981, the MV Primrose ran aground on North Sentinel Island, stranding twenty-eight sailors. The next morning, the captain of the ship broadcast urgent messages indicating that natives were on the verge of attacking the vessel with arrows and spears.[18] After being shipwrecked for two weeks, all crew and passengers on the ship were successfully evacuated by helicopter.[19]
In the early 1990s, the Sentinelese began allowing the boats to come closer to the shore, and sometimes greeted them unarmed. However, after a few minutes, the Sentinelese would ward them off by making menacing gestures and firing arrows without arrowheads. In 1996, the Indian government ended the "Contact Expeditions" following a series of hostile encounters resulting in several deaths in a similar programme practised with the Jarawa people of South and Middle Andaman Islands and because of the danger of introducing diseases.[11][13]
The Sentinelese appear to have emerged relatively unscathed from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, apparently managing to reach high ground. Three days following the tsunami, an Indian naval helicopter was sent to check on them and drop food on the beach. It was warned away by a Sentinelese warrior who emerged from the jungle and brandished a bow and arrow.[11]
In 2006, Sentinelese archers killed two fishermen who were fishing illegally for mud crabs within range of the island. Their boat's improvised anchor failed to prevent it from being carried away by currents while they were asleep. The boat drifted into the shallows of the island, where they were killed. An Indian Coast Guard helicopter that was sent to retrieve the bodies was driven off by Sentinelese warriors, who fired a volley of arrows.[20][21]
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Originally Posted by Bosniensis
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