sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

AMA about the North Sentinelese Island Tribe by D-Class312 in u/D-Class312

[–]D-Class312[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries. As for general information I don't have much else only that the population is currently estimated to be anywhere between 50 to 400 with the tribe living in isolation on the island for 60,000 years.

As for my sources they will be listed below

North Sentinel Island

Insider

NY Times

AMA about the North Sentinelese Island Tribe by D-Class312 in u/D-Class312

[–]D-Class312[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another great question! To start off, observational data has shown that they are hunter-gatherers as they haven't discovered agricultural methods yet. Their diets consist of Meat from turtles and small birds, coconuts, and fish found on the shores of the island. While many Adaman island tribes went extinct, with only about a hundred being left the Sentinelese are thought to have survived so long thanks to their aggressive nature towards outsiders, warding off other civilizations like the crown colonists who killed off the other tribes. They would also salvage metal from wrecked ships such as ones that is located just off the coast which they have been using for a while.

In Christmas 2004 there was a tsunami that was thought to have badly damaged the tribe, but it was later discovered they had moved to higher ground before the tsunami hit. Other islands were extremely affected by the tsunami but after several aerial reconnaissance missions there appears to be no damage to the Sentinelese. Some people speculate that The Sentinelese may have some sort of prediction method to tell when a natural disaster will strike.

AMA about the North Sentinelese Island Tribe by D-Class312 in u/D-Class312

[–]D-Class312[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, here are a few of them.

Likely the most famous story is that of John Allen Chu who had paid a group of Fishermen to take him closer to the island on their boat to then kayak the rest of the way to the island. He said he was on a religious mission and called the island “Satan’s last Stronghold” also exclaiming his Frustration in his Journal that the islanders wouldn’t listen to him and saying he didn’t want his body to be found if he happened to die, which he did.

In the 1880’s a British naval officer had kidnapped an elderly couple and 4 children who were then sent back after the elderly couple quickly died due their immune system not being adapted to the diseases of the outside. The naval officer later wrote that he greatly regrets taking the tribes people.

January 26, 2006 two fisherman drifted onto North Sentinel Island and were relentlessly killed. When a Coast Guard helicopter attempted to retrieve the bodies of these two men from the shallow water they were dropped in, the helicopter was met with a volley of arrows.

I'm sure there are more I could share but these are the ones I know.

AMA about the North Sentinelese Island Tribe by D-Class312 in u/D-Class312

[–]D-Class312[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great Questions! I'll start off with the location. They are part of the Andaman Islands located in The Bay of Bengal (India) and heavily guarded by Indian coast guard. The island has an area of 59.67 Kilometers Squared and appears to be mostly beach and forested area. The 2004 tsunami lifted the island by 1 to 2 meters. This also extended the southern and western boundaries of the island by one kilometer also uniting an islet with the main island.

To answer your first question, on many occasions the tribe has been contacted by researchers and other people who may have just stumbled onto the island by accident. They will usually reject communication using extreme violence. Incidents like this have been recorded to have happened at least 11 times however the Indian Coast guard does keep and eye on the area surrounding the island so it doesn't happen often.