An island in the remote Andaman Islands of India is home to the Sentinelese tribe, which has inhabited the island for approximately 55,000 years. The tribe has had very little contact with the outside world and will attempt to kill anyone who approaches the island. The tribe has been known to shoot arrows, spears, and throw rocks at low flying aircrafts and is responsible for killing two fishermen in 2006 who were fishing off the island’s coast.
The Daily Mail reports that the Sentinelese tribe may be the most isolated tribe in the whole world . The Indian government has banned anyone from getting within three miles of the island’s coast and has warned fishermen to steer clear of the remote island. The government has made several attempts at communicating with the tribe, but each attempt was met with hostility, and the government decided to leave the tribe to its own devices as they had thrived for so long without intervention. As a result of the failed contacts and obvious desire of the tribe to be left alone, the government chose not to interfere with the Sentinelese tribe’s affairs and to ban travel to the beautiful island for fear that disease could easily wipe out the entire tribe.
After the 2004 tsunami that hit the island, an attempt was made to check on the tribal people, but rescuers were again met with hostility and it was determined that at least some members of the tribe remained, so the island was once again left alone. The only photographs of the island are poor quality, as they are taken from afar. Some have attempted to count the number of individuals left in the tribe after the tsunami, but the tally is elusive and there could be anywhere from”a few dozen to a few hundred” according to those researching the tribe.
In the video above , you can learn a little more about the isolated Sentinelese tribe and the efforts to keep the island free from outside diseases and interference, which could potentially cause the eradication of the tribe if not kept in check.
Did you know there were still tribes such as the Sentinelese that have had almost no contact from the outside world?