Sentinelese
Encyclopedia
The Sentinelese are one of the Andamanese
indigenous peoples
of the Andaman Islands
, located in the Bay of Bengal
. They inhabit North Sentinel Island
which lies westward off the southern tip of the Great Andaman
archipelago. They are noted for vigorously resisting attempts at contact by outsiders. The Sentinelese maintain an essentially hunter-gatherer
society, obtaining their subsistence through hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants; there is no evidence of either agricultural
practices or use of fire technology.
and resulting tsunami
remains unknown, other than the confirmation obtained that they had survived the immediate aftermath.
On previous visits, groups of some 20–40 individuals were encountered, and habitations of 40–60 individuals were found on two occasions; the latter probably is a better approximation of group size as some individuals are almost certainly hiding out of sight any time the Sentinelese are encountered by outsiders; this would suggest that some 2–6 groups occupy the island. The rule of thumb population density
of 1.5 km² (370.7 acre)/individual in comparable hunter-gatherer societies indicates that one such group could live off the land alone, but a significant amount of food is derived from the sea, and the groups encountered at any one time could only have come from a rather small part of the island. There appear to be slightly more males than females. At any given time, about half of the couples seemed to have dependent children or the women were pregnant.
peoples are frequently described as negrito
s, a term which has been applied to various widely separated peoples in Southeast Asia
, such as the Semang
of the Malay archipelago
and the Aeta
of the Philippines
, as well as to other peoples as far afield as Australia
(notably former populations of Tasmania
). The defining characteristics of these "negrito" peoples (who are not a monophyletic group) include a comparatively short stature, dark skin and "peppercorn" hair, qualities also found commonly across the continent of Africa
.
No close contacts have been established, but the author Heinrich Harrer
described one male as being 1.6 m/5,4 ft tall and apparently left handed.
is based on observations during contact attempts in the late 20th century.
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.
Their dwellings are either shelter-type huts with no side walls and a floor sometimes laid out with leaves, which provide enough space for a nuclear family
of 3 or 4 and their belongings, or larger communal dwellings which may be some dozen square metres and are more elaborately constructed, with raised floors and partitioned family quarters.
Advanced metalwork is unknown, as raw materials on the island are found to be extremely rare. However, it has been observed that they have made adroit use of metal objects which have washed up or been left behind on their shores, having some ability at cold smithing and sharpening iron and incorporating it into weapons and other items. For example, in the late 1980s two international container ships ran aground on the island's external coral reefs, and the Sentinelese retrieved several items of iron from the vessels.
Their weaponry consists of javelin
s, and a flatbow
with high accuracy against human-sized targets up to nearly 100 metres. At least 3 varieties of arrows, apparently for fishing and hunting, and untipped ones for shooting warning shots, have been documented. Fishing arrows have a number of forward-pointing prongs, and hunting arrows have ovoid arrowhead
s, with bodkin
-type tips for both purposes, the latter two as well as their associated barbs below the tip made from iron. The arrows are over one metre (3 ft) long. The harpoon- or javelin-type arrows are nearly half as long again, about the same length as the bows (over 5 ft), and can also be thrown or used for stabbing, but the latter probably only rarely.
For procuring large fish, a harpoon is used which is similar in design to the fishing arrows, but nearly 2.5 metres (8 ft) long. Knives are also known, but it is unclear to what extent the Sentinelese fashion them themselves.
Known tools include adze
s, pounding and smithing stones, and various finely or coarsely woven baskets for small-grained or larger goods as well as bamboo
and wooden containers. Fires are maintained as embers inside dwellings, possibly assisted by resin
torches. There exist fishing nets and basic outrigger canoe
s used for fishing and collecting shellfish from the lagoon
but not for open-sea excursions.
Food consists primarily of plantstuffs gathered in the forest, coconuts which are frequently found on the beaches as flotsam, pigs and, presumably, other wildlife (which apart from sea turtle
s is limited to some smaller birds and invertebrates). Wild honey
is known to be collected and the Sentinelese use a kind of rake to pull down branches to gather fruit or nuts, such as sapodilla
and pandanus
.
n 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. It is therefore de facto autonomous.
From 1967 on, the Indian authorities in Port Blair
embarked on a limited program of attempts at contacting the Sentinelese, under the auspices of the Director of Tribal Welfare and anthropologist T. N. Pandit. 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 hostile reception of outsiders. For a while, these seemed to have some limited success; however, the program was discontinued in the late 1990s following a series of hostile encounters resulting in several deaths in a similar program practised with the Jarawa
people of South
and Middle Andaman Island
s and because of the danger of introducing diseases.
In 2006, Sentinelese archers killed two fishermen who were fishing illegally within range of the island, and drove off, with a hail of arrows, the helicopter that was sent to retrieve their bodies. To this date, their bodies remain unrecovered, although the downdraught from the helicopter's rotors at the time exposed the two fishermen, who had been buried in shallow graves by the Sentinelese.
Andamanese
The Andamanese people are the various aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which is the northern district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. They include the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, and...
indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
of the Andaman Islands
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
, located in 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...
. They inhabit North Sentinel Island
North Sentinel Island
North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It lies to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island, and has an area of 72 km². Most of the island is forested...
which lies westward off the southern tip of the Great Andaman
Great Andaman
Great Andaman is the main archipelago of the Andaman Islands of India. It comprises five major islands. From north to south, these are North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman, Baratang and Rutland Island...
archipelago. They are noted for vigorously resisting attempts at contact by outsiders. The Sentinelese maintain an essentially hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
society, obtaining their subsistence through hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants; there is no evidence of either agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
practices or use of fire technology.
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 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 (17,791.6 acre) island. Any medium- or long-term impact on the Sentinelese population arising from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake2004 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...
and resulting tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
remains unknown, other than the confirmation obtained that they had survived the immediate aftermath.
On previous visits, groups of some 20–40 individuals were encountered, and habitations of 40–60 individuals were found on two occasions; the latter probably is a better approximation of group size as some individuals are almost certainly hiding out of sight any time the Sentinelese are encountered by outsiders; this would suggest that some 2–6 groups occupy the island. The rule of thumb population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 1.5 km² (370.7 acre)/individual in comparable hunter-gatherer societies indicates that one such group could live off the land alone, but a significant amount of food is derived from the sea, and the groups encountered at any one time could only have come from a rather small part of the island. There appear to be slightly more males than females. At any given time, about half of the couples seemed to have dependent children or the women were pregnant.
Characteristics
The Sentinelese and other indigenous AndamaneseAndamanese
The Andamanese people are the various aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which is the northern district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. They include the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, and...
peoples are frequently described as negrito
Negrito
The Negrito are a class of several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia.Their current populations include 12 Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, six Semang peoples of Malaysia, the Mani of Thailand, and the Aeta, Agta, Ati, and 30 other peoples of the Philippines....
s, a term which has been applied to various widely separated peoples in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, such as the Semang
Semang
The Semang are a Negrito ethnic group of the Malay Peninsula. Lowland Semang tribes are also known as Sakai, although this term is considered to be derogatory by the Semang people. They are probably the indigenous peoples of this area. They have been recorded to have lived here since before the...
of the Malay archipelago
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
and the Aeta
Aeta
The Aeta , Agta or Ayta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines. They are considered to be Negritos, who are dark to very dark brown-skinned and tend to have features such as a small stature, small frame, curly to kinky afro-like textured...
of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, as well as to other peoples as far afield as Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(notably former populations of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
). The defining characteristics of these "negrito" peoples (who are not a monophyletic group) include a comparatively short stature, dark skin and "peppercorn" hair, qualities also found commonly across the continent of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
No close contacts have been established, but the author Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author.He is best known for his books Seven Years in Tibet and The White Spider .-Athletics:...
described one male as being 1.6 m/5,4 ft tall and apparently left handed.
Culture
Most of what is known about Sentinelese material cultureMaterial culture
In the social sciences, material culture is a term that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations. Studying a culture's relationship to materiality is a lens through which social and cultural attitudes can be discussed...
is based on observations during contact attempts in the late 20th century.
The Sentinelese maintain an essentially hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
society, obtaining their subsistence through hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants; there is no evidence of any agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
practices.
Their dwellings are either shelter-type huts with no side walls and a floor sometimes laid out with leaves, which provide enough space for a nuclear family
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
of 3 or 4 and their belongings, or larger communal dwellings which may be some dozen square metres and are more elaborately constructed, with raised floors and partitioned family quarters.
Advanced metalwork is unknown, as raw materials on the island are found to be extremely rare. However, it has been observed that they have made adroit use of metal objects which have washed up or been left behind on their shores, having some ability at cold smithing and sharpening iron and incorporating it into weapons and other items. For example, in the late 1980s two international container ships ran aground on the island's external coral reefs, and the Sentinelese retrieved several items of iron from the vessels.
Their weaponry consists of javelin
Pilum
The pilum was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about two metres long overall, consisting of an iron shank about 7 mm in diameter and 60 cm long with pyramidal head...
s, and a flatbow
Flatbow
A flatbow is a bow with non-recurved, flat, relatively wide limbs that are approximately rectangular in cross-section. Because the limbs are relatively wide, flatbows will usually narrow and become deeper at the handle, with a rounded, non-bending, handle for easier grip...
with high accuracy against human-sized targets up to nearly 100 metres. At least 3 varieties of arrows, apparently for fishing and hunting, and untipped ones for shooting warning shots, have been documented. Fishing arrows have a number of forward-pointing prongs, and hunting arrows have ovoid arrowhead
Arrowhead
An arrowhead is a tip, usually sharpened, added to an arrow to make it more deadly or to fulfill some special purpose. Historically arrowheads were made of stone and of organic materials; as human civilization progressed other materials were used...
s, with bodkin
Bodkin point
A bodkin point is a type of arrowhead. In its simplest form it is an uncomplicated squared metal spike, and was used extensively during the Middle Ages. The typical bodkin was a square-section arrowhead, generally up to 4½" long and ⅜" thick at its widest point, tapered down behind this initial...
-type tips for both purposes, the latter two as well as their associated barbs below the tip made from iron. The arrows are over one metre (3 ft) long. The harpoon- or javelin-type arrows are nearly half as long again, about the same length as the bows (over 5 ft), and can also be thrown or used for stabbing, but the latter probably only rarely.
For procuring large fish, a harpoon is used which is similar in design to the fishing arrows, but nearly 2.5 metres (8 ft) long. Knives are also known, but it is unclear to what extent the Sentinelese fashion them themselves.
Known tools include adze
Adze
An adze is a tool used for smoothing or carving rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards towards his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind...
s, pounding and smithing stones, and various finely or coarsely woven baskets for small-grained or larger goods as well as bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and wooden containers. Fires are maintained as embers inside dwellings, possibly assisted by resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
torches. There exist fishing nets and basic outrigger canoe
Outrigger canoe
The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull...
s used for fishing and collecting shellfish from the lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
but not for open-sea excursions.
Food consists primarily of plantstuffs gathered in the forest, coconuts which are frequently found on the beaches as flotsam, pigs and, presumably, other wildlife (which apart from sea turtle
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...
s is limited to some smaller birds and invertebrates). Wild honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
is known to be collected and the Sentinelese use a kind of rake to pull down branches to gather fruit or nuts, such as sapodilla
Sapodilla
Manilkara zapota, commonly known as the sapodilla, is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. An example natural occurrence is in coastal Yucatan in the Petenes mangroves ecoregion, where it is a subdominant plant species...
and pandanus
Pandanus
Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...
.
Language and social practices
On March 29, 1970, a research party of Indian anthropologists, which included T. N. 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. 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...
Contemporary situation
Their island is nominally part of and administered by the IndiaIndia
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...
n Union Territory
Union Territory
A Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India, in the federal framework of governance. Unlike the states of India, which have their own elected governments, union territories are ruled directly by the federal government; the President of India appoints an Administrator or...
of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; however, in practice, the Sentinelese exercise complete autonomy over their affairs, and the involvement of the Indian authorities
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
is restricted to occasional monitoring, even more infrequent and brief visits, and generally discouraging any access or approaches to the island. It is therefore de facto autonomous.
From 1967 on, the Indian authorities in Port Blair
Port Blair
Port Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
embarked on a limited program of attempts at contacting the Sentinelese, under the auspices of the Director of Tribal Welfare and anthropologist T. N. Pandit. 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 hostile reception of outsiders. For a while, these seemed to have some limited success; however, the program was discontinued in the late 1990s following a series of hostile encounters resulting in several deaths in a similar program practised with the Jarawa
Jarawa (Andaman Islands)
The Jarawa are one of the adivasi indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. Their present numbers are estimated at between 250-350 individuals. Since they have largely shunned interactions with outsiders, many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood...
people of South
South Andaman Island
South Andaman Island is the southernmost island of the Great Andaman and is home to the majority of the population of the Andaman Islands. Port Blair, the capital of the islands, is located on the southern part of this island. Some areas of the island are restricted areas for non-Indians; however,...
and Middle Andaman Island
Middle Andaman Island
Middle Andaman Island is the central island of the Great Andaman archipelago, with a total area of 1,536 km². Population of Middle Andaman consists of Bengali Settlers, Tamilians, and Keralites. The main occupation of the inhabitants is farming and Agriculture...
s and because of the danger of introducing diseases.
In 2006, Sentinelese archers killed two fishermen who were fishing illegally within range of the island, and drove off, with a hail of arrows, the helicopter that was sent to retrieve their bodies. To this date, their bodies remain unrecovered, although the downdraught from the helicopter's rotors at the time exposed the two fishermen, who had been buried in shallow graves by the Sentinelese.
External links
- Video of friendly contact with the Sentinelese
- "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
- Article from The Guardian