Uncontacted peoples: The Sentenelese
The Andaman Islands
Far off the East coast of India lie the Andaman Islands, a small and insignificant Island chain. But this island chain holds a secret. Long before the Portuguese and Arabs explored and colonized the islands, the indigenous Austronesian people had been living on the Andaman islands. Akin to the Aborigines of Australia, the "negritos" (as the Portugese would later call them meaning "little blacks") once dominated the Andaman Islands. They were divided along tribal lines and the five major tribes were the Great Andamanese, who inhabited the largest area of the Islands, the Onge, who inhabited the Southern most Island, the Jarawa, who lived at the southern tip of the Great Andaman Island, the Jangil, who inhabited the small Island south of Great Andaman and the Sentenelese, who lived on Sentinel Island.
But, with the passage of time the indigenous peoples of the Andaman islands have been reduced to the point of near extinction through Diseases and policies brought by the British authorities which controlled the Andaman Islands, along with the rest of India during the period of Colonialism. The Great Andamanese, who once were the most populous people of the islands have been reduced to a population of just 48 individuals. The Jangil people, extinct as an ethnic group. The range of the Onge, reduced to the fringes of their territory. The Jarawa, having fled to the fringes of the island refuse all contact with the outside world and have killed intruders. Only one group remained untouched on their island refuge. A lost world where a life as old as our species is still being lived.
The Sentenelese
The Sentenelese are a secretive people. A trait which has ensured their survival in a rapidly changing world. What little we know about them comes from the few expeditions led to Sentinel Island and from shipwrecked sailors whose unlucky fate it was to be washed upon Sentinel Island and killed by the natives. Here is a transcript of the first friendly encounter with the Sentenelese in early 1991 by Adam Goodheart of The American Scholar magazine.
Four days earlier, a government contact party had paid a visit to North Sentinel, the first such expedition in more than a year. At first, as the anthropologists, constables, and officials approached the beach in the Tarmugli's motorized dinghy, they could see no one on shore. Then, finally, a few Sentenelese stepped out from behind some bushes and started to gesture at the explorers, seemingly trying to indicate that they wanted gifts. As usual, the dinghy moved down the beach to a safe spot, and a crewman jumped out to drop off a bag of coconuts. As usual, the Sentenelese rushed down to grab it. But for the first time ever, the aborigi-nes brought no weapons with them when they approached the water's edge - only mesh baskets and the iron-tipped wooden adzes they some-times used to chop apart the coconuts. Emboldened, the dinghy's passengers tore open another sack of coconuts and threw them into the water. Five of the Sentenelese swam out to collect the nuts, and a few others brought out one of their canoes. The contact team members gestured to them to come closer, but the natives got nervous and went back onshore. Deciding that they had taken enough risks for one morning, the explorers went back to the Tarmugli for lunch. In the afternoon, however, some of them decided to return. This time, they found at least two dozen aborigines waiting for them. One, a young man, was holding a bow and arrow, which he pointed at the intruders, but a woman quickly came over and pushed the arrow down. The man took his weapons and buried them in the sand. At this, a great many of the Sentenelese started running down the beach and splashing through the surf toward the dinghy. The leader of the contact party, a small, officious bureaucrat with the title Director of Tribal Welfare, stood up and started personally throwing coconuts out to them. Then the Director leapt from the boat into the chest-high water - one of the young Sentenelese men recoiled in fright - and handed coconuts to the tribesmen as they crowded around him. After he had gone through five bags of coconuts, he climbed into the dinghy, headed back to the Tarmugli, and returned to Port Blair to spread word of his triumph.
As we can tell from the observations of the Anthropologists, The Sentenelese acted cautiously and for their own interest. After the gifts were given by the party, the Sentenelese showed no interest in establishing contact and retreated back to their forests. No one really knows how many Sentenelese there are, or how many villages ore on the small 72 square KM island, but estimates range from as low as 30 or 40 individuals, to as high as 500. Next to nothing is also know about the Uncontacted tribe's relatioship with the other Andamanese, but Anthropologists suggest the Onge as being the closest tribe to the Sentenelese due to similarities with canoe design.
Society
Little is known about the society and behavior of the Sentenelese people, but observations by Anthropologists have yielded at least a small picture of what Sentenelese societal behavior may be like. A signature item of dress for the Sentenelese is a bark waistband worn by the men of the tribe which is unknown among other Andamanese tribes, and wear nothing else but leaves, The Sentenelese have also been observed painting themselves with white paint. When approached by strangers, the Sentenelese often act violently. Brandishing their spears and bows, many Anthropologists have been injured by Sentenelese arrows. When distressed or agitated, Sentenelese men have been known to brandish their erect Phalli toward the source of their disturbance and brandish their weapons. Little is known about ritual or ceremony, but the Sentenelese have been observed singing and dancing and burying their dead. As in other Andamanese tribes, the Sentenelese are thought to be Patriarchal, with the oldest male's descision being the final say in all disputes and councils.
Way of life
Like their supposed relatives the Onge tribe, the Sentenelese fish on light outrigger canoes built from lashed together pieces of wood. Although no one has ever observed the Sentenelese fishing, it is assumed they use nets and crude hooks to fish. From their arsenal of bows and throwing spears, it is also postulated that the Sentenelese hunt the birds which are plentiful on their island. Nothing is known for certain about the Sentenelese language, or it's relationship with the other languages of the Andamanese peoples, but it is assumed it must be related in some way with them. An expedition which had two Onge tribesmen try to communicate ended in failure when the Sentenelese were agitated by the Onge tribesman's bullhorn and the Onge could not hear the Sentenelese from the boat to see if their languages shared a close kinship.
Closing
The Sentenelese are one of the last remaining uncontacted primitive tribes left on the planet. In a world of I-pods, the Internet and television, the Sentenelese continue to live as they have lived for thousands of years, a relic from a time when Human beings were not yet masters of our world. By studying them, we are really studying ourselves, our story and our place on this planet.
Sources
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter8/text8.htm#sentineli
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints...-goodheart.htm
http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wor...daman-islands/
"Encyclopedia of Primitive tribes in India" P.K. Mohanty
*Warning, some sources contain indigenous nudity.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Octy
Great job portraying the "ignorant American" stereotype guys!
thanks!
Hopefully the Sentenelese are left alone and their lifestyle preserved for that lucky and brave Anthropologist who is excepted among them.
