![]() ![]() The women have been seen to dance by slapping both palms on the thighs whilst simultaneously tapping the feet rhythmically in a bent-knee stance. Artistic engravings of simple geometric designs and shade contrasts have been seen on their weapons. They seldom use the canoes for cross-island navigation. Canoes are used for lagoon-fishing, but long poles rather than paddles or oars propel them. There is no evidence of their having knowledge of metallurgy outside of cold forging to make tools such as arrow heads, though Andamanese scholar Vishvajit Pandya notes that Onge narratives often recall voyages by their ancestors to North Sentinel to procure metal. Sentinelese appreciate the value of metal, having scavenged it to create tools and weapons, and accepted aluminum cookware left by the National Geographic Society in 1974. Usual habitations include small temporary huts erected on four poles with slanted leaf-covered roofs. They also wear some ornaments such as necklaces and headbands, but are essentially naked. Both sexes wear bark strings the men tuck daggers into their waist belts. They are not known to engage in agriculture. They are believed to eat a lot of molluscs, given the abundance of roasted shells found in their settlements. They likely use bows and arrows to hunt terrestrial wildlife and more rudimentary methods to catch local seafood, such as mud crabs and molluscan shells. A handbook released in 2016 by the Anthropological Survey of India on "Vulnerable Tribe Groups" estimates the population at between 100 and 150. During a 2014 circumnavigation, researchers recorded six females, seven males (all apparently under 40 years old) and three children younger than four. The 2011 Census of India recorded 12 males and three females. 2004 post- tsunami expeditions recorded counts of 32 and 13 individuals in 20, respectively. This survey was conducted from a distance and may not have been accurate. In 2001, the Census of India officially recorded 21 men and 18 women. A 1986 expedition recorded the highest count, 98. The 1971 census estimated the population at around 82, and the 1981 census at 100. No rigorous census has been conducted and the population has been variously estimated to be as low as 15 or as high as 500. They showed no signs of obesity and had very prominent muscles. During a 2014 circumnavigation of their island, researchers put their height between 1.60 and 1.65 m (5 ft 3 in and 5 ft 5 in) and recorded their skin colour as "dark, shining black" with well-aligned teeth. 2004Ī 1977 report by Heinrich Harrer described a man as 1.60 metres (5 ft 3 in) tall, possibly because of insular dwarfism (the so-called "Island Effect"), nutrition, or simply genetic heritage. Appearance Comparative distributions of Andamanese indigenous peoples, early 1800s vs. The island is surrounded by coral reefs and has a tropical climate. The seashore is about 45 m (50 yd) wide, bordered by a littoral forest that gives way to a dense tropical evergreen forest. It has an area of about 59.67 km 2 (14,740 acres) and a roughly square outline. The island lies about 64 km (35 nmi) west of Andaman capital Port Blair. The Sentinelese live on North Sentinel Island, in the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. There is significant uncertainty as to the group's size, with estimates ranging between 35 and 500 individuals, but mostly between 50 and 200. It further maintains a constant armed patrol in the surrounding waters to prevent intrusions by outsiders. In 1956, the Government of India declared North Sentinel Island a tribal reserve and prohibited travel within 3 nautical miles (5.6 kilometres) of it. They are hostile to outsiders and have killed people who approached or landed on the island. Unlike the others, the Sentinelese appear to have consistently refused any interaction with the outside world. ![]() Designated as a particularly vulnerable tribal group and a Scheduled Tribe, they belong to the broader class of Andamanese peoples.Īlong with the Great Andamanese, the Jarawas, the Onge, the Shompen, and the Nicobarese, the Sentinelese are one of the six native and often reclusive people of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. North Sentinel Island (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) Show map of Andaman and Nicobar IslandsĪerial photograph of North Sentinel Island ![]()
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