Sentinelese: The uncontacted people in the Indian Ocean

Ever thought of being isolated from the entire world? Civilization not being a factor in your life, never seeing a building, never seeing a clock, a phone or never taking medicine. Hunting for your food everyday and having a collective family who lives the same life as you.

Well even in these modern times where humanity and the convenience of civilizations has spread all over the world, there are still some small pockets in the world where people live like they lived millions of years ago. Modern caveman. Surviving nature and the climate. One of these civilizations is near us, right beside the Bay of Bengal in the North Sentinel Islands.

The inhabitants of this island are known as the Sentinelese people. By estimations done by the Indian Government in 2011, there are around 80 to 150 people currently inhabiting this island but this was done purely through anthropological assumptions and modeling so the number may vary from fewer than 15 or greater than 500. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Act of 1956 prohibits travel to the island, and any approach closer than 5 nautical miles (9.3 km), is because people on that island are isolated from modern immunity to basic infectious viruses that live among us. Contact with them may lead to mass extinction just like the Native Americans faced mass execution through diseases carried by the Europeans.

There have been attempts of contact though, mainly by Missionary Priests who wanted to spread the teachings of Christianity but all of the people who landed on that island were attacked and killed. People in that island are very hostile to outsiders as they seem to see outsiders as a threat to their home. It is astonishing to witness a community still being isolated from every aspect of modernity, modern food, culture, etiquettes, countries, the internet or anything.

The serenity and peace they experience may be more divine than anything we can comprehend. The island is only 59.67km2 in area, which means a large-scale population growth in that small space is very unlikely and it may be assumed that people therefore always had a shortened lifespan and very low population growth. Migration is mainly driven through scarcity due to population growth but as they are still uncontacted. It is clear that there were no incentives for migration to other islands or mainland India. Which means food sources in this island only are limited to the small population which limits population growth, and also sustains the remaining population in this small area.

They are not an agrarian society, there is no agriculture, people are hunter gatherers mainly dependent on seafoods and prey on small animals living on that island. They value metal and they use aluminum cookware that was left by a group of researchers in 1974. They use small canoes for spear fishing but these are not used for cross island navigation.

In November 2018, John Allen Chau, a 26-year-old American prepared and sent by the US-based Christian evangelist organization All Countries, traveled to North Sentinel Island with the point of reaching and living among the Sentinelese within the trust of converting them to Christianity. He did not look for the fundamental grants required to visit the island. On 15 November, Chau paid nearby anglers to require him to a point 500–700 meters (1,600–2,300 feet) from the island’s shore, at that point proceeded to the island in a canoe. As he drew closer, he endeavored to communicate with the islanders and offer blessings, but withdrew after confronting threatening reactions. On another visit, Chau recorded that the islanders responded to him with a blend of beguilement, bewilderment and antagonistic vibe. He endeavored to sing adored tunes to them, and talked to them in Xhosa, after which they frequently fell noiseless, whereas other endeavors to communicate finished with them bursting into chuckling.

Chau said the Sentinelese communicated with “parts of tall pitched sounds” and signals. In the long run, concurring to Chau’s final letter, when he attempted to hand over angle and blessings, a boy shot a metal-headed bolt that punctured the Book of scriptures he was holding before his chest, after which he withdrew again.

On his last visit, on 17 November, Chau taught the anglers to take off without him. The anglers afterward saw the islanders dragging Chau’s body, and the other day they saw his body on the shore. Police hence captured seven anglers for helping Chau to induce near to the island. Nearby specialists opened a case naming “obscure people”, but there was no proposal that the Sentinelese would be charged and the U.S. government affirmed that it did not inquire the Indian government to press charges against the tribe.