Nancowry
Encyclopedia
Nancowry refers both to a single island and to the group of adjoining islands that make up the central part of the Nicobar Islands
chain, located in the northeast Indian Ocean
between the Bay of Bengal
and the Andaman Sea
.
The island itself is 67 km², and located at 7°59.21′N 93°32.86′E, approximately 160 km south-southeast of Car Nicobar
, the northernmost Nicobar island. Nancowry, like the Nicobar islands generally, is under the sovereignty of the nation of India
. It is also part of the Nicobar and Andaman Tribal Reserve Area, which bars non-native people from visiting or conducting business on the island without permission in hopes of preserving the threatened native communities that live there (http://www.andamanvision.com/legal_form.htm). As of 2001, the Indian census catalogued 1,111 persons living on Nancowry island (http://police.and.nic.in/nancowry.htm).
With Kamorta (Camorta) Island, which lies just to the North, Nancowry Island forms the "magnificent land-locked" Nancowry Harbour (http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/NEW_NUM/NICOBAR_ISLANDS.html), used by European sailors since at least the 17th century and described as "one of the safest natural harbours in the world" (http://www.nicobar.org/BOOK/scientificpapers/pap_sjs_wind/pap_wind.htm). The harbour was apparently used as a base for piracy
; in 1868, the British Navy entered the harbour in some force, destroying suspected pirate ships (http://sherlock-holmes.org.uk/News/Articles/Frederick_C_Dobbs/Three_minute_problem.htm).
The island, like many others in the Nicobar and Andaman islands, was severely affected by tsunamis generated by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake
. According to reports from the Andaman and Nicobar Inspector General of Police, S.B. Deol, the Nancowry group islands were among the worst-hit islands in the chain, with thousands missing and presumed dead (http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=269568). Post-tsunami satellite photos (http://vimaln.blogspot.com/2004/12/satellite-pictures-of-tsunami-2004.html, http://dsc.nrsc.gov.in:14000/DSC/Tsunami/CaseStudies.jsp?state=ANDAMAN_NICOBAR%20ISLANDS) and government situation reports indicate that while portions of Nancowry Island were affected, the adjoining islands of Katchall and Kamorta were more severely overrun. As of January 18, 2005, the government reported only 1 dead and 3 missing from Nancowry island, but 51 dead and 387 missing from Kamorta, and 345 dead and 4310 missing from Katchall (http://www.ndmindia.nic.in/Tsunami2004/sitrep35.htm).
Nicobar Islands
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean...
chain, located in the northeast Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
between the Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
and the Andaman Sea
Andaman Sea
The Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
.
The island itself is 67 km², and located at 7°59.21′N 93°32.86′E, approximately 160 km south-southeast of Car Nicobar
Car Nicobar
Car Nicobar is the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands. It is also one of two local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Nicobar, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
, the northernmost Nicobar island. Nancowry, like the Nicobar islands generally, is under the sovereignty of the nation of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It is also part of the Nicobar and Andaman Tribal Reserve Area, which bars non-native people from visiting or conducting business on the island without permission in hopes of preserving the threatened native communities that live there (http://www.andamanvision.com/legal_form.htm). As of 2001, the Indian census catalogued 1,111 persons living on Nancowry island (http://police.and.nic.in/nancowry.htm).
With Kamorta (Camorta) Island, which lies just to the North, Nancowry Island forms the "magnificent land-locked" Nancowry Harbour (http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/NEW_NUM/NICOBAR_ISLANDS.html), used by European sailors since at least the 17th century and described as "one of the safest natural harbours in the world" (http://www.nicobar.org/BOOK/scientificpapers/pap_sjs_wind/pap_wind.htm). The harbour was apparently used as a base for piracy
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
; in 1868, the British Navy entered the harbour in some force, destroying suspected pirate ships (http://sherlock-holmes.org.uk/News/Articles/Frederick_C_Dobbs/Three_minute_problem.htm).
The island, like many others in the Nicobar and Andaman islands, was severely affected by tsunamis generated by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
. According to reports from the Andaman and Nicobar Inspector General of Police, S.B. Deol, the Nancowry group islands were among the worst-hit islands in the chain, with thousands missing and presumed dead (http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=269568). Post-tsunami satellite photos (http://vimaln.blogspot.com/2004/12/satellite-pictures-of-tsunami-2004.html, http://dsc.nrsc.gov.in:14000/DSC/Tsunami/CaseStudies.jsp?state=ANDAMAN_NICOBAR%20ISLANDS) and government situation reports indicate that while portions of Nancowry Island were affected, the adjoining islands of Katchall and Kamorta were more severely overrun. As of January 18, 2005, the government reported only 1 dead and 3 missing from Nancowry island, but 51 dead and 387 missing from Kamorta, and 345 dead and 4310 missing from Katchall (http://www.ndmindia.nic.in/Tsunami2004/sitrep35.htm).