North Sentinel Island

North Sentinel Island is a forested island in the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, which belong to India. It is home to the Sentinelese, one of the last peoples in the world who live without contact with outsiders.

India protects the island by law. Nobody may travel there or come closer than five kilometres, mainly to keep the islanders safe from diseases such as flu that they have no immunity against. The Indian Navy patrols the area, and the island is only watched from a safe distance by boat or air. The island is about 60 square kilometres in size.

Who are the Sentinelese?

They are an Indigenous people whose island lies about 30 kilometres west of South Andaman. Estimates of how many live there range from about 50 to 400. They eat seafood and make tools from wood and from iron taken from shipwrecks on their coast. They are known for keeping outsiders away, and they have shot arrows at boats and even low-flying helicopters. In 2006 they killed two fishermen whose boat drifted ashore, and in 2018 a missionary who tried to reach them illegally was killed.

Why is the island left alone?

Because the Sentinelese have been isolated for a very long time, outside diseases could be deadly to them. After a 1990 visit by officials who brought gifts, and the 2004 tsunami when helicopters were met by arrows, India decided to stop trying to make contact. Today the government respects the islanders' wish to be left alone, and it only watches from far away. In 2018 the rules were relaxed for some islands, but researchers may visit only with approval.

On the globe

The model shows a forested island fringed by reef, with a figure shooting a bow. This is a restricted place on the globe.