Located in the Bay of Bengal, off the northwest coast of Indonesia, is a small series of islands surrounded by crystal-clear water. Humans have been exploring the Indian archipelago, which consists of 572 islands, for ages. North Sentinel Island is still shrouded in mystery, even though several surrounding islands are popular tourist destinations. North Sentinel Island is one of the islands of the world it is forbidden to visit.

Due to North Sentinel's remote location—far from major shipping lanes and encircled by a shallow reef with no natural harbors—its native Sentinelese population has remained primarily uncontacted for at least the past 60,000 years. They attribute this in part to the intense protection of their home and privacy and, in part, to the protective legislation imposed by the Indian government. South Asians and those living on other islands in the Andaman Sea avoid North Sentinel Island and its waters because they know that the Sentinelese people will not accept any attempts at contact.

UPDATE: 2023/04/30 14:54 EST BY AARON SPRAY

What Is Known About The Sentinelese Of The North Sentinel Island

While much is made about how little is known about the uncontacted Sentinelese who live on North Sentinel Island, not much is said of what is known. It is true little is known but little is more than nothing. This article was updated and expanded with more information on what is known about the Sentinelese people and North Sentinel Island.

What To Know About North Sentinel Island

Local Fisherman with Fish
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Local Fisherman with Fish

The Island of North Sentinel sits 59.6 kilometers north of South Sentinel Island and 36 kilometers west of the South Andaman town of Wandoor. The island is naturally positioned for isolation, surrounded by dangerous coral reefs, has no natural harbors, and is almost completely covered in a thick forest, all of which make travel difficult. The island is technically part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an Indian union territory; however, its official designation places it in the South Andaman administrative district.

The Indian government respects the islanders' desire for autonomy and takes the role of a neutral spectator while dealing with the situation. Since Indian law forbids any kind of construction on the island, it now functions as a nature sanctuary. In 2018, the Indian government took 29 islands, including North Sentinel, out of the RAP regime to boost tourism to those destinations. In November of 2018, the government's home ministry announced that they would relax the prohibition to make it possible for academics and anthropologists to visit the Sentinel Islands as long as they received prior consent.

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Moisture-loving broadleaf forests of the tropics and subtropics make up the bulk of the island's vegetation. During a trip to the island in 1880, Maurice Vidal Portman described a "park-like" jungle filled with dense groves of bullet wood trees and enormous, buttressed specimens of Malabar silk-cotton tree. Portman mentioned a "big heap" of pig skulls near a Sentinelese town, suggesting that Indian boar are standard on the island and serve as a significant source of sustenance for the locals.

Aerial view of North Sentinel Island, Andaman
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Aerial view of North Sentinel Island, Andaman

The Mysterious Sentinelese People

Little is known about the Sentinelese because they have spent the last 60,000 years isolating themselves from the rest of the world. What little there is to know about them comes from viewing them from boats moored more than an arrow's distance from the shore and from the few brief periods when the Sentinelese have allowed the authorities to get close enough to hand over some coconuts.

They are so difficult to count that even estimating their population size is challenging. Anthropologists' population projections and data from a 2011 census suggest that there are probably somewhere between 80 and 150 people on the island; however, the number may range from 15 to 500. The Sentinelese have ties to the indigenous populations of the nearby Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of India. The Onge and the Jarawa, two other Andaman communities, still don't speak a common language with them since they've been so isolated for so long.

To navigate the shallow, calm waters of the reef, they presumably construct small, narrow outrigger canoes and use long poles for propulsion. The Sentinelese use these canoes for fishing and crab harvesting. As for their diet, they are hunters and gatherers who, if they follow the same practices as other Andamanese peoples, will subsist mainly on the fruits and tubers native to the island, as well as on seabird and turtle eggs and small game such as pigs, birds, and rabbits. They are well-armed with bows and arrows, spears, and knives, and even explorers have learned to appreciate their skill with these weapons.

Colorful sunset in the Andaman Sea
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Colorful sunset in the Andaman Sea

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It is well known that the Sentinelese are ferocious warriors when protecting their island. Even though only a few individuals live on the heavily forested island, they have consistently displayed a hostile attitude toward any attempts at interaction from the outside world. The members of the Sentinelese tribe are the only ones who can adequately describe their profound contempt for the rest of civilization. Historians and anthropologists suspect this practice dates back to the 1880s when British colonists traveled to the island and abducted some of the natives.

Whether the Sentinelese fear the outside world or just desire to be left alone, it appears they will continue to live in seclusion. Despite this, they have garnered admiration and respect for their fight to live without intrusion from the outside world.

What (Little) Is Known Of The Sentinelese

Regardless of the real size of the population of Sentinelese on North Sentinel Island, it is a safe bet to assume everyone knows everyone there.

The Sentinelese are known to have darker skin and seem to be reasonably short. Both males and females seem to wear bark strings while the men also have daggers attached to their waist belts. Overall they wear few clothes and are largely naked - although they do wear some ornaments like necklaces.

Elephant Beach on Havelock Island
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Elephant Beach on Havelock Island

They are hunter-gathers who see to use bows and arrows to hunt wildlife on the island and other rudimentary ways to catch seafood around the island. It is thought they eat lots of mollusks given how many shells are visible in their settlements.

Almost nothing is known of their language - called "Sentinelese". It is therefore by default an unclassified language - although it may be related to the Jarawa language and the Onge language. They may even be mutually intelligible.

Little more is known about them - other than they seem to not take kindly to outside visitors and really seem to want to be left along on their island and continue their way of life the way they know it.

Related: The Most Remote Tribes In The World Recently Discovered

Other Uncontacted Tribes Around The World

"Uncontacted tribes are Indigenous peoples who avoid all contact with outsiders. They’re not backward and primitive relics of a remote past, they are our contemporaries and a vitally important part of humankind’s diversity. Where their rights are respected, they continue to thrive..."

Survival International

Sometimes it can seem strange that there are still uncontacted tribes in this world. There are people who are legally citizens of a country but have no idea that that country even exists (or what citizenship means). They have no concepts of modern laws or any of the trappings of modern society.

Indigenous inhabitants ethnic of the islands in Muara Siberut
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 Indigenous inhabitants ethnic of the islands in Muara Siberut
  • Tribes: Around 100-200 Uncontacted Tribes
  • Population: Around 10,000

There are thought to be between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes around the world. The population of these tribes is perhaps around 10,000. Brazil has a particularly large amount of uncontacted tribes (around 75 to 85). Learn about the indigenous people of the Amazon at the Museu do Homem do Norte (Northern Man Museum) in Brazil.

Apart from the Andamanese and Sentinelese islands of India, the world's uncontacted peoples are mostly in South America (particularly) and the island of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea is a very challenging and rewarding country to visit). The island of New Guinea is diverse and home to over 1,000 languages, the most in the world.