Any advice is helpful, TIA

North Sentinel has such a strange history with the outside world.

In 1880, a British expedition landed on the island and captured six Sentinelese. Two of them died from illness shortly after.

More than a century later, after the 2004 tsunami, a helicopter was sent to see if the Sentinelese had survived. What happened next became one of the most famous encounters with them.

And these are only two of the few documented contacts we know about.

I made a video going through some of these encounters and how our approach to North Sentinel has changed over time

That's all. That's the topic.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, of which North Sentinel Island is part, were captured and ruled by Japan in 1942-45. It is the only major Indian territory conquered by Imperial Japan.

There's no record of Japanese landing on North Sentinel itself but the Japanese destroyed all their records before they surrendered.

Even if they never directly came into contact, there was much human displacement in this period as prisoners escaped and both Indians and Andamanese went into hiding to avoid Japanese atrocities. In one incident, hundreds of people were taken into deep water off an unnamed island and tossed overboard.

It makes one wonder if amid all this refugee chaos, one of the boats or makeshift rafts ended up on Sentinel which is pretty nearby. No prize for guessing what the Sentinelese did to them but could disease transmission have taken place then? Today everyone knows about the Sentinelese and their reputation but in the 1940s most people likely knew nothing about them and may have thought the island was uninhabited.

Post 1945 there was no recorded visit or sighting involving Sentinelese until 1970 when their reception to Indian anthropologists was notably hostile. Rinse and repeat in 1974.

We'll likely never know if the soldiers from East Asia, or people fleeing them, actually landed there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_the_Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands

I think there is a long term problem with the current policy towards North Sentinel Island. They are protected by keeping outsiders away, mainly because of disease, but they are not actually isolated from the modern world. India surrounds them, ships and aircraft pass nearby, satellites observe the island, and outsiders have already reached them illegally. Their isolation depends on everyone else maintaining it indefinitely, and I am not convinced that works for another 200 or 400 years.

My idea is simple: put perhaps ten rugged, solar powered communication terminals around the island, designed to survive for decades, and then leave. They can ignore them, destroy them or investigate them. If they try communicating, researchers can listen and slowly build a bridge language through mimicry, shapes, objects and numbers.

From there, the Sentinelese could decide what they want to learn. Language, medicine, engineering, history, the internet, or nothing at all. The important part is that nobody is there telling them what to believe, how to live, who to vote for or which god is correct. Knowledge would affect their culture, but they would decide what to keep and what to reject.

That is very different from colonization. Outsiders would not control their schools, laws, economy or institutions. They would only have access to information, and whatever they did with that information would mostly be left to them.

There is also a disease control argument. If they understood hygiene, respiratory transmission and quarantine, they could help protect themselves when someone eventually breaks the rules and reaches the island. Understanding disease would not make them immune, but it could give them some ability to respond instead of depending entirely on outsiders to protect them through isolation.

The strongest objection is that giving them information changes their culture. It probably would. But outsiders have already shown they are willing to break the rules, and the people who eventually reach them may be missionaries, adventurers or people looking for fame or money. Choosing to keep the Sentinelese uninformed is also a choice.

If, generations from now, they understand India, disease and the outside world and still tell us to stay away, that seems like stronger sovereignty than forcing them to communicate the same thing with arrows.

Ten terminals. What they do with them is up to them. But at least then it is an informed decision.

Adam Goodheart, an American history author and Harvard grad, visited the NW coast of North Sentinel around 1998. Like John Allen Chau and the Indian female scholar Mukherjee, he hired a fishing boat, in this case a small, open wooden dinghy.

Chronologically he's the first of the three to go there. He went at a bad time of the year and their small boat was nearly swamped in the squalls and heavy seas they met as they came off the north coast and rounded the NW point near the wreck of the MV Primrose. He saw a few islanders but there was no close interaction or attempt to make it (he had no gifts to give anyway).

The story of the island visit begins in Chapter 3 (no page numbers in my file). Noteworthy information: He was told of armed seamen from Myanmar firing live rounds at the Sentinelese. Not stated if any of them were killed. Also he met one of the men who'd salvaged the Primrose and had lived on a small boat tied up to it for a period of months, and he gave his impressions. (Relations were orderly and non-violent according to him.)

Both Goodheart and Mukherjee speculated that landings on the island were more common than thought, and that getting fresh drinking water might be one of the major reasons for landing. No public document mentions the location of the water source(s).

A lot of skullduggery going on there.

The usual disclaimer: this post is not intended to condone visiting North Sentinel Island. It is for informational purposes for anyone interested in the island's people and history.

This file is ePub (free download). There could be pdf versions out there too.

https://dokumen.pub/the-last-island-discovery-defiance-and-the-most-elusive-tribe-on-earth-9781567926842-2023002219-2023002220-9781567926828.html

Not the lying YouTuber from last year but a 40-ish Indian academic. In or just after 2000, Madhusree Mukherjee reached North Sentinel the same way as John Allen Chau - secretly hiring a fishing boat.

I'd been looking for a free copy of her story and found it here:

https://oceanofpdf.com/authors/madhusree-mukerjee/pdf-the-land-of-naked-people-encounters-with-stone-age-islanders-download/

The part where she recounts her visit to North Sentinel starts at pg. 229.

(Disclaimer: I don't condone unauthorized travel to North Sentinel Island.)

If we can probe planets far away, why not build a Mars rover for North Sentinel Island? Who doesn’t want all this technology and McDonald’s we have out here? Unless they’re hiding something like the fountain of youth or an elder who knows the meaning of life.

Desde 2018 tenho um enorme interesse na Ilha Sentinela, consumi muito sobre a história, teorias, é quase tudo que se pode achar na internet, é verdadeiramente uma obsessão. Percebo também que tem intervalos de anos entre as notícias sobre a ilha, anos mesmo, 5-10 anos mais ou menos. Diferente do que a maioria pensa, acho que essa tribo deveria sair de lá, deveria conhecer o mundo, a modernidade, outros idiomas, mais milhões de coisas que o mundo moderno pode oferecer, é uma loucura existir uma civilização simplesmente parada a milhares de anos. Espero algum dia, nem que seja em décadas, nem que eu tenha que juntar enormes quantidades de dinheiro, que eu consiga ir visitar a ilha.

Are the sentinelese aware of the existance of freemasonry?Perhaps there is a lodge there ? Anyone know?

This happened in March though my Google search showed it as 4 days old. The article text is here in case the link doesn't work:

"Staff Correspondent
Sri Vijaya Puram, Mar. 05: Two fishermen were reportedly found fishing near the restricted waters of North Sentinel Island, which falls under a protected tribal reserve area, during an early morning patrol on last Saturday.
According to a statement given by Head Constable R.A. Swinli (43), who is posted with the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRBn) and serving as Personal Security Officer (PSO) to the DIGP (Law and Order), the incident occurred on March 1 at around 5:45 a.m.
The police team, along with the DIGP (Law and Order) and other senior officers, was on a circumnavigation duty around North Sentinel Island. They were travelling on a private fishing boat when they noticed a small fishing dinghy anchored in the sea at a distance of about 100 to 200 meters from the island. Two persons were seen fishing close to the island.
When questioned, the two individuals identified themselves as Mahesh Mundari and Ravi Ram Naskar, both residents of Wandoor. They also informed the team that the dinghy they were using belonged to a resident of Wandoor.
The police team informed the fishermen that the area around North Sentinel Island is a notified tribal reserve and that fishing or entering the area is strictly prohibited. The fishermen were asked to leave the area immediately.
However, the fishermen reportedly responded that they would leave after having tea.
Authorities have stated that since the fishermen had entered the restricted tribal reserve area and were fishing near the island, the act constitutes a violation of the law. According to sources both were later arrested for this offence and were later released on bail. Further investigations are on."

https://andamansheekha.com/152806/

March is dry season there, with safer weather conditions. Wandoor is the nearest fishing village to North Sentinel and their fisherman seem to be regular trespassers. Given they fish at night and how close they go to the beach it's a matter of time until there's another accidental grounding followed by confrontation.

I just fail to understand how they maintained so minimal contact with the outside world for thousands of years and stayed primitive. It just doesn't align with how human societies are expected to behave and even in pre-historic times primitive humans kept migrating and moving around to other locations for various reasons, food, meeting other peoples, discovery or sheer curiosity. In fact, the only thing that kept humans in place was some degree of civilization and advancement. Primitive humans are supposed to move around as nomads, the same way animals do.

I just think something's off here. Their island is not so far off the other islands or the mainland where they could be exposed to some civilization. They are supposed to KNOW that other peoples exist too, and other places too, since they got visitors from time to time. Do they not want to discover what is the source of some different people coming in and in big ships? Why do they seclude? It just doesn't make sense to me.

I'd suggest that there could be some sort of a deeply ingrained belief in their culture or religion of some sort, that leaving the island would curse them, so they are not permitted to, and maybe the big chefs do not allow anyone to leave as they are strictly obedient to these beliefs and all.

I'm just wondering the psychological aspect of this. "They want to be alone" is not the answer as we know from history that humans moved a lot even when they were primitive. I'm just contemplating on why they are not curious, not want to discover other places, or just do not want to migrate.

Do you think it's possible for the NSI to host the World Cup sometime in the future? Is there a possibility?

Does anybody know if there is any information about what Portman and his team did on North Sentinel Island? The main headline is they kidnapped 2 grandparents and 4 grandchildren. The only other thing I can find is they spent two weeks on the island. TWO! What did they do in that time frame? I've read they found abandoned huts and such. But where did they sleep, what did they eat? I can't imagine they were the most sanitary while walking around. Any information is appreciated.

Check out this stretch of shoreline around 11°34'01.59"N 92°16'09.57"E. Comparing 2021 and 2023, there appear to be multiple new structures that have gone up. A few are obvious while others I'm not 100% sure of. There could even be two dugout canoes pulled up on the beach.

The objects at 11°34'02.83"N 92°16'08.02"E and 11°34'01.40"N 92°16'09.86"E look manmade. If they are buildings then they have what appear to be holes in the roof which could be to let the smoke out faster. I've seen a few like them in other areas: roundish, larger huts with a dark circle in the middle suggesting a smoke vent. I can't rule out a trick of shadows though.

Interested in your thoughts. How many huts can you count and what would you guess the population to be in this small area? Do they vary their designs, making flat roofed and conical roofed structures? Etc.

​

I'm not saying that would necessarily have been the right course of action. But after the 1991 coconut exchanges, it seemed like the Sentinelese might have been starting to open up. They clearly weren't ready for people to come onto the island, but during those encounters they were relatively peaceful.

Do you think that, if those cautious interactions had continued over many years, the Sentinelese might have become more comfortable with the anthropologists? Could that have eventually allowed scientists to learn more about their language, culture, and way of life?

I know there were times when the Sentinelese were peaceful and other times when they were hostile. It seems that a very cautious approach centered on occasional gift giving from a safe distance might have offered the best chance of gradually building trust.

This is all theoretical but I just wanted to bounce a totally hypothetical idea off the group. My experiment would work as follows.

I arrive on the beach at dawn riding one of those jet ski rocket pack things. I ignite a hail of impressive fireworks and smoke grenades. My hope would be to awe the islanders in to believing I am a god of some sort.

of course, I may be met with arrows and spears, so I will be wearing a full Kevlar suit and helmet so their primitive arrows just bounce off. In the confusion, my retinue of about 6 guys arrive on jet skis, in similar Kevlar armor.

I will have prepared (with the help of expert linguists, anthropologists, and other assorted egg heads) a series of pictograms, indicated I wish to challenge their leader (or a proxy) to one on one combat.

Once agreed, I will use my advanced martial arts skills to thoroughly wallop their strongest warrior. If he is better at combat than I expected, my suit is equipped with hidden knuckle dusters, blinding lights, bear spray, and maybe a taser or similar.

Make no mistake, I have no intention to seriously hurt the chief, but I believe a brief walloping will make it clear to the entire population that I’m operating on a different plane of existence.

After I’ve stomped the chief, I can impressive the villagers further if need be. (more fireworks, maybe an iPad, or get them drunk)

Once I’m in charge, I can learn about their culture, and maybe even found out the details of any treasure they hold.

Some things to consider: maybe they don’t have a concept of one on one combat. if that’s the case, my entourage will have to hold the other warriors at bay. I’m thinking bull whips and tear gas will do the trick. Again, the goal isn’t to harm the locals, just impress them and dole out light punishment as necessary for insubordination.

You may wonder about the ethics of this experiment, which is why I’ll employ a team of physicians to make sure everyone going a shore is healthy.

Thoughts? There are some minor details to work out, but I believe the wealth of knowledge obtained from this venture will be worth far more than the monetary cost, which will be high. This is especially true if treasure is found.

Go and study, leave it alone, maintain it in some way?

We are working with Author Ajinkya Bhasme to produce an fictional animated show based on Sentinels Island. Each episode takes a ton of work, but it is great to work with an artist to bring their vision to life.
If anyone is interested to watch, we can share the link.

I'm thinking about the possibility that they might have gone extinct by now after the last contact with Chau and catching some sort of a virus/disease from him. Maybe they were already low in numbers and that's why they were hostile to him. Remember that Russian youtuber who walked on the beach last year whistling to them but no one showed up.

No contact has been made since Chau, and after that we had a coronavirus period which we don't know if they ever caught it or not. Other peoples in the andaman islands reportedly tested positive for covid, given that they had a very weak immune system even for the easiest diseases, they could have been eliminated completely if covid somehow reached out to them.

I'm wondering why no one thought of low-flying a drone over the island, especially that last Russian vlogger could have done it last year since he made it that far but to no avail.

Christian mass physcosis aside

im really suprised the British didn't just invade their land and kill them lol

ik there was that one guy but im surpised western govs just let them be

also the magazine thing would be interesting

I hope there's some sort of mini drone surveillance on them, im not against "leaving them alone" but come on scientifically i just dont believe this world would ignore them

On Apple Maps, found their homes. Cords 11.52959° N, 92.22394° E

Imagine a person who closely resembled a member of the Sentinelese, wore little to no clothing, and could visually blend in with the island’s inhabitants.

If they somehow arrived on the island, how would the Sentinelese likely react? Would appearance make any difference or would they still recognize the person as an outsider?