One of the few remaining uncontacted people in the world, The Sentinelese resists any form of contact with the outside world. They can maintain their privacy as they have a whole island to themselves.
They live in North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands of India. All trials to establish contact with the locals ended up them attacking the approaching vessels with arrows and spears. The Indian government considers the Sentinelese a sovereign people, with the right to attack or even kill trespassers.
The Sentinelese are the most isolated tribe in the world and have captured the imagination of millions. They live on their own small forested island called North Sentinel, which is approximately the size of Manhattan.
They continue to resist all contact with outsiders, attacking anyone who comes near. The tribe has made it clear that they do not want contact. It is a wise choice.
Neighboring tribes were wiped out after the British colonized their islands, and they lack immunity to common diseases like flu or measles, which would decimate their population.
Most of what is known about the Sentinelese have been gathered by viewing them from boats moored more than an arrows distance from the shore and a few brief periods where the Sentinelese allowed the authorities to get close enough to hand over some coconuts. Even what they call themselves is unknown.
The Sentinelese hunt and gather in the forest, and fish in the coastal waters. Unlike the neighboring Jarawa tribe, they make boats – these are very narrow outrigger canoes, described as ‘too narrow to fit two feet in’.
These can only be used in shallow waters as they are steered and propelled with a pole like a punt. It is thought that the Sentinelese live in three small bands.
They have two different types of houses; large communal huts with several hearths for a number of families, and more temporary shelters, with no sides, which can sometimes be seen on the beach, with space for one nuclear family.
The women wear fiber strings tied around their waists, necks, and heads. The men also wear necklaces and headbands, but with a thicker waist belt. The men carry spears, bows, and arrows.
Their extreme isolation makes them very vulnerable to diseases to which they have no immunity, meaning contact would almost certainly have tragic consequences for them.
Following a campaign by Survival and local organizations, the Indian government abandoned plans to contact the Sentinelese, and their current position is still that no further attempts to contact the tribe will be made.
Periodic checks, from boats anchored at a safe distance from shore, are made to ensure that the Sentinelese appear well and have not chosen to seek contact.
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