Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - North Sentinel Island

Starting point is 00:00:00 In the Indian Ocean lies on an island notorious for its extreme isolation from the outside world, North Sentinel Island. The Sentinelese who call North Sentinel Island home are a people who live a stone age existence and fiercely defend their territory. Their isolation and violence towards outsiders means that we know almost nothing about them and probably won't for quite some time. Learn more about North Sentinel Island and the Sentinelese and why the world has chosen to leave them alone on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have

Starting point is 00:00:48 your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow? Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest. And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to nothing much happens

Starting point is 00:01:28 wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. In a previous episode, I discussed the topic of uncontacted peoples. These are people who have had little to no contact with the outside world and live a primitive subsistence lifestyle. What few uncontacted people still exist in the world are mostly found in hard-to-reach places, such as the interior of Papua New Guinea and the Amazon rainforest. However, there is one such group that has drawn the world's attention more than any other, the people of North Sentinel Island. North Sentinel Island is located in the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

Starting point is 00:02:12 The Andaman Archipelago is technically part of the South Andaman Administrative District in India. However, the people who live there probably have no clue that they're technically Indian or what an India even is. India's control of the island is in name only, as the territory is protected by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands protection of Aboriginal tribes regulation, which was enacted in 1956. To protect the island's native people from foreign diseases, this order forbids traveling within 5 kilometers or 3 nautical miles of the island. The Indian government protects the sovereignty of the Sentinelese by monitoring the island from a safe distance by both boat and plane. The Sentinelese people maintain their isolation and are known to kill any outsiders who land

Starting point is 00:03:00 on the island. Respecting the tribe's desire for isolation, the Indian government enforces strict penalties against all violators, and will not pursue legal action against the sentinoles themselves. Covering about 23 square miles, North Sentinel Island is fairly small. It's a rounded square shape featuring a narrow coastal beach and a tree-covered interior. The island's terrain gradually slopes upward towards its center, where the highest elevation is found. This peak reaches 400 feet or 122 meters above sea level. The danger posed by the natives has prevented. prevented researchers from identifying the island's plant and animal species. Observers believe

Starting point is 00:03:41 coconut crabs and boars live there based on boar skulls found on the beach and the presence of coconut crabs on nearby islands. Encircling the island, a coral reef stretches a half a mile or further into the ocean. The sentinolese hunt among the reefs with rudimentary boats and likely rely on seafood as a food source. Because the sentinoles are so isolated, little is known about the people who live there. It's thought that the sentinoleses are the direct descendants of the first human populations to come out of Africa. They then migrated from Africa to the Andaman Islands, likely via island hopping or by boat. The Sentinelese have lived in the Andaman Islands for an estimated 60,000 years, and it's believed that they've been isolated for the vast majority of that time.

Starting point is 00:04:28 The language differences between the sentinolese and other Andaman Islanders highlights the tribe's isolation. These vast differences suggest that they develop their language over thousands of years in total seclusion. The sentinolese are believed to be a hunter-gatherer society. Aerial surveys suggest that the tribe does not practice farming or other agricultural methods. These aerial surveys give the outside world its only real insight into how the sentinolese live. The tribe appears to live in small huts. observers describe the people as shorter in stature, very muscular, and having darker skin. From what has been observed, the tribe is quite small. The most recent survey was conducted in 2012, where a total of 39 people were reported.

Starting point is 00:05:17 Most estimates, based on remote observations and analysis, suggests that the population could range somewhere between 50 to 400 people. These figures remain imprecise due to the challenges of direct observation. Observed clothing on the island is limited. Inhabitants may appear nude, often with belts strapped around their waists. The Sentinelese, despite remaining isolated from the rest of the world for tens of thousands of years, may have developed more modernized tools and weapons. These tools and weapons are more similar to those developed during the Stone Age and are typically made from metals found in shipwrecks near the reef. Because of the violence used to defend their isolation, the sentinolese are typically viewed as backwards to the

Starting point is 00:06:00 outside world. However, the hostility shown by the Sentinolese is understandable when considering the risks outsiders posed to them. The first recorded sighting of North Sentinel Island was in 1771. A British surveyor passed by the island and reported seeing numerous lights. Despite this early discovery, attempts to contact people on the island weren't documented until the late 1860s. The first documented European to visit North Sentinel Island was Jeremiah Humphrey in 1867. He arrived on the island while on a separate voyage pursuing escaped criminals. Multiple sentinolese were seen fishing along the beach when Humphrey passed by. Upon noticing the ship, the natives went into hiding.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Humphrey made no attempt to land or contact the tribe. Later in 1867, the sentinoles had their second introduction to outsiders. This interaction saw the Indian merchant vessel the Nineveh shipwrecked near the island. All 106 crew members and passengers survived the shipwreck and went to the nearby beach, which happened to be North Sentinel Island. For the next two days on the island, everything was peaceful, but on the third day, the crew and passengers of the shipwreck were attacked by the natives with arrows. A few days later, the sunken ship was located in the Royal Navy dispatched a rescue mission.

Starting point is 00:07:20 The shipwrecked victims had managed to repel and attack by the Sentinelese. In 1880, Maurice Vidal Portman, a British government administrator, undertook a research expedition to the Andaman Islands to study the native tribes and their customs. And North Sentinel was one of the islands he visited. While on the island, Portman and his crew found narrow pathways and multiple abandoned small villages. Portman eventually found an inhabited village and captured six people. One woman, an elderly man, and four children. The kidnapped Sentinelese became ill after being taken to Port Blair. The man and the woman both died, and when Portman saw the children's worsening condition,

Starting point is 00:08:03 he rushed them back to North Sentinel Island with various gifts. The goal of sending gifts was to create a friendly relationship with the Sentinelese. Portman returned to the island three more times, leaving more gifts. It's unknown if the children who were returned to the island ever survived. The swift spread of disease amongst the kidnapped sentinoles while they were at Port Blair strongly suggests that the subsequent return of the children to the island may have actually triggered an epidemic. Another visitor appeared in 1896, this time an escaped convict from the nearby penal colony

Starting point is 00:08:37 on Great Andaman Island. A search party was sent to find the prisoner and they managed to discover his body, covered with a multitude of arrow piercings and a cutthroat. Despite the violent death, the party did not see any of the sentinolese. In the late 1890s, another formal visit by Europeans was attempted. This time, the visit was done by the chief commissioner of the Nicobar and Andaman Islands, Richard Karnak Temple. In a speech, he stated that he had visited the island to capture fugitives, but upon

Starting point is 00:09:08 arrival, found their corpses. He reported seeing the island's inhabitants retreat when his group arrived. He later returned to the island with a form of the island. sentinelese who had drifted off to a nearby island. The goal was to have this man establish a friendly connection to the tribe. However, the sentinelese did not appear to recognize their former tribe member and began to attack the group. This instance led Temple to report that the tribe was going to kill any stranger. The stranger could be an unrecognized member of their own tribe attempting to establish friendship or someone from anywhere else, and the tribe would simply

Starting point is 00:09:45 treat them as an enemy. After this, there were a few other smaller expeditions to North Sentinel Island over the next 60 years, but they were all fairly uneventful. The next notable visit to North Sentinel was in 1974. This time, a National Geographic film crew landed on the island to shoot a documentary called Man in Search of Man. The crew consisted of anthropologists who were accompanied by armed police. The crew's goal was to build a friendly, connection with the local sentinolese through a three-day period of gift giving. While that sounded like a good idea, the expedition was a total disaster. Upon approaching the island in their motorboat, the crew was immediately met with a volley of

Starting point is 00:10:29 arrows from the natives. After reaching a relatively safe area on the island, they left gifts in the sand. However, they were immediately shot at again. This experience left the film's director injured, and it was the first time an image of the sentinolese was ever captured. and the image was subsequently published in National Geographic. Another notable experience with the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island occurred in 1981 when the ship M.V. Primrose became stuck on the reef surrounding the island. The crew members were stranded on the reef for a few days when they noticed a group of armed sentinolese approaching the boat. The captain of the ship sent out a distress call asking for firearms, wary of the sentinelese attempting to reach the boat. The crew was fortunate that the tides were too strong for the members of the tribe trying to reach them

Starting point is 00:11:18 and that the side of the ship protected them from the arrows being shot. It took a week for the crew to be evacuated from the area and the ship was left behind. The sentinolese then reportedly scavenged the ship for its contents and metal. The first true instance of peaceful contact between the sentinolese and the outside world occurred in 1991. This connection was done by an Indian anthropological team. The group once again offered coconut gifts to show that they were peaceful, then buried the weapons that they had brought with them to signal to the tribe that they wish for no conflict. This decision allowed the two groups to approach each other and engage in some hand-to-hand trading.

Starting point is 00:12:00 The contact was very brief and carefully controlled, and the Indian government soon ended such missions. Since then, Indian authorities have adopted a strict no-contact policy to protect the Sentinelese from disease and outside disruption. Despite these restrictions, some people still attempt to land on North Sentinel Island. One of these instances occurred in 2006 when two fishermen, who were illegally catching crabs, drifted over to the island.

Starting point is 00:12:28 While on the island, the Sentinelese attacked and killed the fishermen. A later expedition to try and collect the bodies failed due to the Sentinelese attacking the helicopter. It's believed that previous expeditions may have led to increased host, of the Sentinelese. Another recent attempt at contact on North Sentinel, and perhaps one of the most famous, occurred in 2018, when an American missionary named John Allen Chow visited the island. This attempt at contact drew the attention of Western media to both the island and the Sentinelese people.

Starting point is 00:12:59 Chow illegally visited the island with the goal of spreading Christianity to the natives. He paid local fishermen to take him a few hundred meters off the island and then attempted to give the Sentinelese gifts. the meeting was met with hostility, causing Chow to retreat. He then made a second visit to the island where he attempted to communicate, sang worship songs to them, and gave them more gifts. And he reported being laughed at by the native people and having his Bible shot with an arrow. Chow continued his attempted visits until it ultimately resulted in his death.

Starting point is 00:13:32 His body was found by the fishermen who were meant to pick him up from the island. Due to the protections given to the sentinolese, both the U.S. government and the Indian government took no action against the tribe. Instead, the fishermen who helped Chow get to the island were arrested. Contact between the outside world and North Sentinel Island has remained almost non-existent. However, as more people become aware of its existence and status, maintaining the limitation on contact between the sentinoles and the outside world is becoming increasingly difficult.

Starting point is 00:14:06 For most of human history, Every society on Earth eventually came into contact with others exchanging ideas and goods. The Sentinelese are one of the very few exceptions. Their continued isolation isn't just a curiosity, but a reminder that humanity still contains some cultures that developed and lived entirely on their own terms. In a world where satellites map every corner of the planet and the internet connects billions of people, North Sentinel Island stands as one of the last places that is completely untouched by the modern world. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel.

Starting point is 00:14:50 The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by the Olivia Ash. I have a bunch of reviews for you today, all of which come from the podcast Republic app. Everyday Science says, one of the most favorite podcasts, learn something new every time I listen to it. Oh, AJ says, in the immortal words of Cosmo Kramer when he finds out that Frank Costanza invented a holiday, he's so prolific. An episode a day, Gary's a beast, and he manages to keep the quality, subject, matter, and humor level, fresh and crisp.

Starting point is 00:15:25 Modernista 71 says, I just listened to the episode about Francisco Macias Naguma today, and I was intrigued. I love the way you presented the information. You seem to make a conversation and not a lecture. I like that. Thank you for spiking up my curiosity. And finally, great show says, this show is a staple. It's a go-to before-bed wind-down, a perfect length with interesting unbiased topics. Well, thank you all, and remember, if you leave a review on any of the major podcast apps and even some of the minor ones, you too can have it read on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - North Sentinel Island

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.