Back Noord-Sentineleiland Afrikaans جزيرة سينتينل Arabic جزيره سينتينل ARZ উত্তৰ চেণ্টিনেল দ্বীপ Assamese Sentinel del Norte AST Şimali Sentinel adası Azerbaijani Паўночны Сентынельскі востраў Byelorussian Северен Сентинел Bulgarian উত্তর সেন্টিনেল দ্বীপ Bengali/Bangla Sentinel del Nord Catalan

North Sentinel Island

North Sentinel Island
North Sentinel Island in 2009
North Sentinel Island is located in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
North Sentinel Island
North Sentinel Island
Geography
LocationBay of Bengal
Coordinates11°33′25″N 92°14′28″E / 11.557°N 92.241°E / 11.557; 92.241 [1]
ArchipelagoAndaman Islands[2]
Adjacent toBay of Bengal
Area59.67 km2 (23.04 sq mi)[3]
Length7.8 km (4.85 mi)
Width7.0 km (4.35 mi)
Coastline31.6 km (19.64 mi)
Highest elevation122 m (400 ft)[1]
Administration
Union territoryThe Andaman and Nicobar Islands
DistrictSouth Andaman
TehsilPort Blair[4]
Demographics
DemonymNorth Sentinelese
Population39[5] (2018 estimate)
actual population highly uncertain – may be as high as 400
Population rankUnknown
Ethnic groupsSentinelese[2]
Additional information
Time zone
PIN744202[6]
ISO codeIN-AN-00[7]
Official websiteandaman.nic.in
Average summer temperature30.2 °C (86.4 °F)
Average winter temperature23 °C (73 °F)
Census Code35.639.0004

North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal which also includes South Sentinel Island.[8] The island is a protected area of India. It is home to the Sentinelese, an indigenous tribe in voluntary isolation who have defended, often by force, their protected isolation from the outside world. The island is about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) long and 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) wide, and its area is approximately 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi).

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation 1956[9] prohibits travel to the island, and any approach closer than 5 nautical miles (9.3 km), in order to protect the remaining tribal community from "mainland" infectious diseases against which they likely have no acquired immunity. The area is patrolled by the Indian Navy.[10]

Nominally, the island belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.[11] In practice, Indian authorities recognise the islanders' desire to be left alone, restricting outsiders to remote monitoring (by boat and sometimes air) from a reasonably safe distance; the Government of India will not prosecute the Sentinelese for killing people in the event that an outsider ventures ashore.[12][13] In 2018, the Government of India excluded 29 islands—including North Sentinel—from the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) regime, in a major effort to boost tourism.[14] In November 2018, the government's home ministry stated that the relaxation of the prohibition on visitations was intended to allow researchers and anthropologists (with pre-approved clearance) to finally visit the Sentinel islands.[15]

The Sentinelese have repeatedly attacked approaching vessels, whether the boats were intentionally visiting the island or simply ran aground on the surrounding coral reef. The islanders have been observed shooting arrows at boats, as well as at low-flying helicopters. Such attacks have resulted in injury and death. In 2006, islanders killed two fishermen whose boat had drifted ashore, and in 2018 an American Christian missionary, 26-year-old John Chau, was killed after he illegally attempted to make contact with the islanders three separate times and paid local fishermen to transport him to the island.[16][17][18]

  1. ^ a b Sailing Directions (Enroute), Pub. 173: India and the Bay of Bengal (PDF). Sailing Directions. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2017. p. 274.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference andaman.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Forest Statistics" (PDF). Department of Environment & Forests Andaman & Nicobar Islands. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Andaman and Nicobar Islands Census 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Mysterious 'lost' tribe kills US tourist". news.com.au. 22 November 2018. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  6. ^ "A&N Islands – Pincodes". 22 September 2016. Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ Registration Plate Numbers added to ISO Code
  8. ^ Mukerjee, Madhusree. "A visit to North Sentinel island: 'Please, please, please, let us not destroy this last haven'". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Ten Indian families world knows nothing about". The Times of India. 25 November 2018. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  10. ^ Chavez, Nicole (25 November 2018). "Indian authorities struggle to retrieve US missionary feared killed on remote island". CNN. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Village Code Directory: Andaman & Nicobar Islands" (PDF). Census of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  12. ^ Foster, Peter (8 February 2006). "Stone Age tribe kills fishermen who strayed onto island". The Telegraph. London, UK. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  13. ^ Bonnett, Alastair (2014). Off The Map. Carreg Aurum Press. p. 82.
  14. ^ "Sentinelese Tribe: What Headlines Won't Tell You About Eco-Tourism". The Quint. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  15. ^ Jain, Bharti (23 November 2018). "US National Defied 3-tier Curbs & Caution to Reach Island". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  16. ^ "American tourist killed in Andaman island, 7 arrested". Indian Express. 27 November 2018. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  17. ^ "Police to probe who helped John Chau's trip to remote island in Andaman..." Reuters. 23 November 2018. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  18. ^ "American on deadly trip to Indian island: 'God sheltered me'". MyNorthwest. New Delhi. AP. 23 November 2018. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2018.

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