Sentinelese
Total population
approx. 250 (median estimate) 2001 Census: 39 (official, but incomplete, count)
Regions with significant populations
exclusively on North Sentinel Island (India)
Languages
Sentinelese language, unclassified, but generally held to be one of the Andamanese languages
Religions
indigenous beliefs, details unknown. North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Sentinelese language ( Sentinel in ISO 639-3 is the language of the Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands, The Andamanese languages form a proposed Language family spoken by the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, a Union territory Apparently limited ritual activity.
Related ethnic groups
unknown, most likely other indigenous Andamanese peoples, particularly Onge

The Sentinelese (also Sentineli, Senteneli, Sentenelese, North Sentinel Islanders) are one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. The Andamanese is a collective term to describe the peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal The Onge (also Önge) are one of the Andamanese Indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. The Andamanese is a collective term to describe the peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal The term Indigenous Peoples or autochthonous peoples can be used to describe any Ethnic group who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest historical The Andaman Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India. The Bay of Bengal is a bay that forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. They exclusively inhabit North Sentinel Island which lies westwards off the southern tip of the Great Andaman archipelago. North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Great Andaman is the main Archipelago of the Andaman Islands of India. They are noted for vigorously maintaining their independence and sovereignty over the island, and resisting attempts of contact by outsiders. By their long-standing separation from any other human society they are among the most isolated and unassimilated peoples on Earth, their social practices being almost entirely free of any recorded external influence. Uncontacted peoples are peoples who either by choice or chance live or have lived without significant contact with the 'modern' civilizations of the world A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions

Contents 1 Population 2 Characteristics 3 Material culture 4 Language and social practices 5 Contemporary situation 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Population

The present population of the Sentinelese is not known with any great degree of accuracy, and estimates have been produced ranging from a low of fewer than 40, through to a median of around 250, and up to a maximum of 500. In the 2001 Census of India, officials recorded 39 individuals^[1] (21 males and 18 females); however, out of necessity this survey was conducted from a distance^[2] and almost certainly does not represent an accurate figure for the population who range over the 72-km² island. The Demographics of India are overall remarkably diverse India's population of approximately 1 Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of Any medium– or long–term impact on the Sentinelese population arising from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami remains unknown, other than the confirmation obtained that they had survived the immediate aftermath. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea Earthquake that occurred at 005853 UTC on December 26 2004 with an Epicentre off the west coast of A tsunami ((tsuːˈnɑːmi is a series of waves created when

On previous visits, groups of some 20-40 individuals were encountered, and habitations of 40-60 individuals were found on two occasions; the latter probably is a better approximation of group size as some individuals are almost certainly hiding out of sight any time the Sentinelese are encountered by outsiders; this would suggest that some 2-6 groups occupy the island. The rule-of-thumb population density of 1. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume 5 sq km/individual in comparable hunter-gatherer societies indicates that one such group could live off the land alone, but a significant amount of food is derived from the sea, and the groups encountered at any one time could only have come from a rather small part of the island. There appear to be slightly more males than females, but this is probably due to observer bias. At any given time, about half of the couples seemed to have dependent children or the women were pregnant.

Characteristics

The Sentinelese and other indigenous Andamanese peoples are frequently described as negritos, which has been applied to variously widely-separated peoples in Southeast Asia, such as the Semang of the Malay archipelago and the Aeta of the Philippines, as well as sometimes to other peoples as far afield as South America and Australia. The Andamanese is a collective term to describe the peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal The term Negrito refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of Southeast Asia. The Semang are a Negrito ethnic group of the Malay Peninsula. The Malay Archipelago is a name given to the Archipelago located between mainland Southeastern Asia ( Indochina) and Australia. The Aeta (pronounced as “eye-ta” Agta or Ayta are an Indigenous people who live in scattered isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The defining characteristics of these 'negrito' peoples include a comparatively short stature, dark skin and "peppercorn" hair, qualities also found commonly across the continent of Africa. The Sentinelese themselves appear however to be markedly taller on average than other Andamanese peoples, being somewhat above average human size in males (1. 8 m/6 ft) and of average size in females (1. 6 m/5. 4 ft).

Material culture

Most of what is known about Sentinelese material culture is based on observations made by a late 20th century period of contact attempts. In addition to its usual meaning in Social science, in Archaeology, the term culture is also used in reference to several related concepts unique to

The Sentinelese maintain an essentially hunter-gatherer society, obtaining their subsistence through hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants; there is no evidence of any agricultural practices among them. A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild Foraging and Hunting Subsistence is the food necessary to sustain life The following is a list of subsistence techniques: Hunting and Gathering Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture

Their dwellings are either shelter-type huts with no side walls and a floor sometimes laid out with leaves, which provide enough space for a nuclear family of 3 or 4 and their belongings, or larger communal dwellings which may be some dozen square metres and are more elaborately constructed, with raised floors and partitioned family quarters. The term nuclear family developed in the Western world to distinguish the Family group consisting of parents most commonly a Father and Mother

It is frequently asserted that they rely upon natural events such as lightning strikes to obtain fire, but it is not known whether they also manufacture it; certainly, the earliest reports of these people have recorded that they maintain campfires on a nightly basis. Neither the presumably related Onge and Jarawa know how to start a fire themselves. The Onge (also Önge) are one of the Andamanese Indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. The Jarawa (also Järawa, Jarwa) are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. Advanced metalwork is unknown, as raw materials on the island are found to be extremely rare. Metalworking is craft and practice of working with Metals to create individual parts assemblies or large scale structures However, it has been observed that they have made adroit use of metal materials which have washed up or been left behind on their shores, having some ability at cold smithing and sharpening iron and incorporating it into weapons and other items. A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of Metal objects For example, in the late 1980s two international container ships ran aground on the island's external coral reefs, from which the Sentinelese retrieved several items of iron. ^[3]

Sentinelese wear no clothes, but utilize leaves, fibre strings or similar material as decorations, and they fashion belts which are apparently worn to provide some protection to the groin during potentially dangerous activity such as hunting or when encountering potentially hostile strangers. In Human anatomy, the groin areas are the two creases at the junction of the Torso with the Legs on either side of the Pubic

Their weaponry consists of javelins, and an excellent flatbow with high accuracy against human-sized targets up to nearly 100 metres. The pilum (plural pila) was a heavy javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times A flatbow is a bow with non- recurved, flat relatively wide limbs that are approximately rectangular in cross-section At least 3 varieties of arrows, apparently for fishing and hunting, and untipped ones for shooting warning shots have been documented. Fishing arrows have a number of forward-pointing prongs, and hunting arrows have ovoid arrowheads, with bodkin-type tips for both purposes, the latter two as well as their associated barbs below the tip made from iron. In geometry an oval or ovoid (from Latin ovum, 'egg' is any Curve resembling an egg or an Ellipse. An arrowhead is point of an Arrow, or a shape resembling such a point as Archaeological artifacts arrowheads are a subclass of Projectile points The arrows are over one metre (4 ft) long. The harpoon- or javelin-type arrows are nearly half again as long, slightly longer than the bows (over 5 ft), and can also be thrown or used for stabbing, but the latter probably only rarely.
For procuring large fish, a harpoon is used which is similar in design to the fishing arrows, but nearly 2. 5 metres (8 ft) long. Knives are also known, but it is unclear the extent to which the Sentinelese fashion them themselves.

Known tools include adzes, pounding and smithing stones, and various finely- or coarsely- woven baskets for small-grained or larger goods as well as bamboo and wooden containers. An adze or adz (ædz is a tool used for smoothing rough-cut Wood in hand Woodworking. Bamboo is a group of Woody perennial Evergreen Plants in the True grass family Poaceae, subfamily Fires are maintained as embers inside dwellings, possibly assisted by resin torches. There exist fishing nets and basic outrigger canoes used for fishing and collecting shellfish from the lagoon but not for open-sea excursions. The outrigger canoe ( Tagalog and Indonesian: bangka; Maori: waka ama; Hawaiian: waʻa; Tahitian: A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt or Brackish water separated from the deeper Sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral

Food consists primarily of plantstuffs gathered in the forest, coconuts which are frequently found on the beaches as flotsam and which appear to be much relished, and pigs and presumably other wildlife (which apart from sea turtles is limited to some smaller birds and invertebrates). Sea turtles ( Superfamily Chelonioidea) are Turtles found in all the world's oceans except the Arctic Ocean. An invertebrate is an Animal lacking a Vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal Species — all animals except those in the Chordate Wild honey is known to be collected and the Sentinelese use a kind of rake to pull down branches for gathering fruit or nuts, such as sapodilla and pandanus. Honey is a sweet and Viscous fluid produced by Honey bees (and some other species and derived from the nectar of Flowers According to the Sapodilla ( Manilkara zapota) is a long-lived Evergreen Tree native to the New World tropics Pandanus is a Genus of Monocots with about 600 known Species.

Language and social practices

Virtually nothing is known of the Sentinelese language, and no word lists or language samples have been collected by researchers. The Sentinelese language ( Sentinel in ISO 639-3 is the language of the Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands, It is presumably an Andamanese language, but how closely it may be related to other languages of that family is unknown. The Andamanese languages form a proposed Language family spoken by the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, a Union territory

They are actively hostile to unknown intruders requiring frequent shows of peaceful intent before allowing outsiders to come into arrow range. Attempts to leave them material goods from the late 1960s have resulted in household ware and metal objects being utilized, coconuts being eaten but not planted (no local population of Cocos nucifera appeared to exist before the planting of saplings in 1987), pigs are not eaten but shot and buried, as was a doll. The Coconut Palm ( Cocos nucifera) is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family Pigs, also called hogs or' swine', are Ungulates which have been domesticated as sources of food leather and similar products since ancient times A doll is an object that represents a baby or other human being but includes likenesses of animals and imaginary creatures Red buckets were taken with apparent delight, while green ones were rejected.

A strategy that resulted in possibilities for close-quarter observation was that after an initial period of some 10 years, repeated dropping of material, chiefly coconuts, were deposited on deserted stretches of beach. Groups approaching to pick up the goods being monitored and censused from a safe distance, breaking off contact when the Sentinelese indicated they wished so by presenting their weapons and mock aiming at the contact party. Face-to-face contact was discontinued in the 1990s; more recent observations have been from a longer distance or from the air.

Sentinelese have been observed to engage in impromptu musical, dancing and rhythmic performance as a sign of joy and exhilaration. A curious incident occurred on March 29, 1970, when a research party of Indian anthropologists which included T. Events 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. N. Pandit^[4] found themselves cornered on the reef flats between North Sentinel and Constance Island. An eyewitness recorded the following from his vantage point on a boat lying off the beach:

Quite a few discarded their weapons and gestured to us to throw the fish. The women came out of the shade to watch our antics. . . A few men came and picked up the fish. They appeared to be gratified, but there did not seem to be much softening to their hostile attitude. . . They all began shouting some incomprehensible words. We shouted back and gestured to indicate that we wanted to be friends. The tension did not ease. At this moment, a strange thing happened - a woman paired off with a warrior and sat on the sand in a passionate embrace. This act was being repeated by other women, each claiming a warrior for herself, a sort of community mating, as it were. Thus did the militant group diminish. This continued for quite some time and when the tempo of this frenzied dance of desire abated, the couples retired into the shade of the jungle. However, some warriors were still on guard. We got close to the shore and threw some more fish which were immediately retrieved by a few youngsters. It was well past noon and we headed back to the ship. . . ^[5]

The same expedition noted among the items of a settlement a rectangular board which looked like an 8 x 8 square-chessboard; the origin and significance of this object is unknown but the Onge and Jarawa do not have boardgames. A chessboard is the type of Checkerboard used in the Game of Chess, and consists of 64 squares (eight rows and eight columns arranged in two alternating The Onge (also Önge) are one of the Andamanese Indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. The Jarawa (also Järawa, Jarwa) are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. A board game is a Game in which counters or pieces that are placed on removed from or moved across a "board" (a premarked surface usually specific to that game

Pig skulls are deposited in quantities near settlements, or are decorated with ochre and are kept for trophies. Ochre or Ocher (pronounced /'əʊkə(r/ from the Greek ὠχρός yellow is a Color, usually described as golden - Yellow Items of red colour, as noted above, seem to be popular and/or significant; the Sentinelese apparently utilize a red dye for fibre-string ornaments on occasion. A dye can generally be described as a Colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied Artwork appears to be unknown except for simple but pleasing linear patterns applied to bows and javelins. This is an article about a particle accelerator For uses of spear, see Spear or Spear (disambiguation.

Ritual practices remain all but unknown. Dead infants are apparently buried in graves on which a nautilus shell and smaller seashells are placed. Nautilus (from Greek ναυτίλος, 'sailor' is the common name of any marine creatures of the Cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole Next to the embers maintained in the dwellings, a stick roughly resembling a five-fingered hand is stuck in the ground upright; this perhaps has some cultic significance, but nothing further is known about it. This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice" for that usage see Cult (religious practice

Contemporary situation

Their island is nominally part of and administered by the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; however, in practice the Sentinelese exercise complete autonomy over their affairs and the involvement of the Indian authorities is restricted to occasional monitoring, even more infrequent and brief visits, and generally discouraging any access or approaches to the island. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country A Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a Union territory of India. Informally the territory's name is often abbreviated to A & N Islands, or ANI

From 1967 on the Indian authorities in Port Blair embarked on a programme of official but limited attempts at contacting the Sentinelese, under the auspices of the Director of Tribal Welfare and anthropologist T. Port Blair ( Hindi: पोर्ट ब्लेयर is the largest town and a Municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of N. Pandit. These "Contact Expeditions" consisted of a series of planned visits which would progressively leave "gifts", such as coconuts, on the shores, in an attempt to coax the Sentinelese from their customary hostile reception of outsiders. For a while these seemed to have some limited success; however the programme was discontinued in the late 1990s following a series of hostile encounters resulting in several deaths in a similar programme practiced with the Jarawa people of South and Middle Andaman Islands and because of the danger of introducing diseases. The Jarawa (also Järawa, Jarwa) are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. South Andaman Island is the southernmost island of the Great Andaman and is home to the majority of the population of the Andaman Islands. Middle Andaman Island is the central island of the Great Andaman Archipelago, with a total area of 1536 km². The Sentinelese remain skeptical and generally hostile to any approaches from outsiders.

In 2006, Sentinelese archers killed two fishermen who were fishing illegally within range of the island, and drove off the helicopter that was sent to retrieve their bodies with a hail of arrows. ^[6] To this date, their bodies remain unrecovered.

See also

• Uncontacted peoples

Notes

References

• Goodheart, Adam (2000). "The Last Island of the Savages" (reproduced online by the Andaman Association). The American Scholar 69 (4): pp. 13–44.  

• Pandit, T. N (1990). The Sentinelese. Kolkata: Seagull Books. ISBN 81-7046-081-6.  

• Weber, George (n. d. ). The Andamanese. The Lonely Islands. The Andaman Association. Retrieved on 2007-02-07. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the Prince

External links

• "The Last Island of the Savages", in-depth article by Adam Goodheart
• Another article from the same site
• Brief factsheet about the indigenous people of the Andaman Islands, by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration
• Administration in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands has finally decided upon a policy of minimal interference
• The Sentinelese: government attempts at contact, Survival International - Includes a rare video clip of contact with the Sentinelese. Survival International is a Human rights organisation formed in 1969 that campaigns for the rights of indigenous Tribal peoples and

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