The island of North Sentinel, located in the Gulf of Bengal, is part of the Andaman Islands and is inhabited by an indigenous tribe known as the Sentinelese, a group among the last in the world to remain completely uncontaminated by modern civilization and which lives in total insulation, refusing any contact with the outside.
The island is administratively part of the Indian territory of the Archipelagos of Andaman and Nicobar, and the Indian authorities respect the desire for isolation, limiting themselves to monitoring the island from afar.
Geography of the island of North Sentinel
The island of North Sentinel, one of the two Sentinel islands, is located 36 km west of the village of Wandoor and about 50 km west of Port Blair. It has an area of about 59.67 km² and a square shape. Surrounded by a coral reef and without natural ports, the island is covered with a dense forest and bordered by a narrow beach. The island has undergone significant changes after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which tilted the underlying tectonic plaque, raising it one or two meters and changing the coastal landscape.
What is the story of North Sentinel and the Sentinelese
The history of the island of North Sentinel is closely linked to that of its inhabitants.
The OGGE, another indigenous group of the Andaman, knew the island and called it Chia Daakwokeweyeh, but despite some cultural similarities, the OGGE could not understand the language of the sentinelese, therefore the two peoples never tied and were well separated.
During the reign of Rajendra Chola I, the Andaman Islands were used as a naval strategic base against the Srivijaya Empire, and subsequently, in the seventeenth century, they served as a temporary maritime base for the ships of the Marathha Empire.
In the nineteenth century, the British began to explore and try to contact the island: in 1867, after the shipwreck of the Nineive merchant ship, the survivors had to defend against the attacks of the Sentinelese until the arrival of the Royal Navy. In the following years, there were several attempts to contact the British, with variable and often dramatic results.
In the twentieth century, starting from 1967, the Indian authorities tried to establish peaceful contacts with the Sentinelese, attempts that always met a strong resistance by the tribe: in 1974, a cinematographic troupe that shot a documentary was attacked with the arrows by the sentinelese. The former king of Belgium Leopold III also had a close encounter with the tribe during a cruise in the waters close to the island in 1975.
In 1981, the primrose MV loaded ship raised on the coral reefs near the island: the crew noticed the presence of the Sentinelese, armed with arrows and spears, who prepared to attack, but fortunately a storm prevented the islanders from reaching the ship, and the crew was saved a week later by a helicopter.
The population of the Sentinelese
The first peaceful contacts with the Sentinelesi were carried out in January 1991 by a team led by Pandit Triloknath, director of the Anthropological Survey of India: the presence of the anthropologist Madhumala Chattophyay, known for his trust relationships with other indigenous populations of the Andaman, facilitated contact.
The visits of scholars and attempts to establish contacts still ceased after a few years, and in 2005 the Indian government imposed an unconditional ban on approaching less than three miles from the island.
In the 21st century, the Sentinelesi continued to resist any contact with the outside: in 2006 two fishermen who fished illegally fished near the island, while in 2018, an American missionary, John Allen Chau, was killed in an attempt to convert the tribe to Christianity.
The population of the Sentinelesi is estimated between 50 and 500 individuals. They live in hunting, collection and fishing, without practicing agriculture or breeding, do not wear clothes, but adorn themselves with leaves and ropes, and their homes are of two types: of community huts and temporary shelters for individual families.
The SentineLesi are considered “the most vulnerable society of the planet” by Survival International, due to the isolation that makes them susceptible to common diseases.
The Indian government declared that she did not want to interfere with the lifestyle of the Sentinelese, and has forbidden further contact attempts, even if the illegal poaching in the surrounding waters continues to represent a threat to the island and the inhabitants. In this sense, Survival International is pressing the Indian government to better protect the island and its inhabitants from external incursions.
In fact, in April, a 24 -year -old Youtuber Youtuber, Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, was arrested in India after trying to illegally contact the tribe.
Specialized in video of extreme travel, Polyakov started from Port Blair on March 29, 2025 and reached the island, leaving a diet coke and a coconut on the beach as “gifts”, while filmed the scene with a GoPro and whistled to attract the attention of the natives.
Spotted by local fishermen, he was reported to the police, who stopped him. Access to the island is prohibited to protect the tribe from external diseases and intrusions.
The future of the Sentinelesi will depend on the ability to continue living in isolation and protection of their territory, responsibilities of the Indian authorities and international organizations for the rights of peoples.
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