The Perplexing Story of the Sentinelese

A people still living in the Stone Age, unaffected by globalization.

By. Liliana Kotval

Have you ever heard of the Sentinelese, a people that still live in the Stone Age? Could you imagine that a tribe has been able to remain so isolated that it has spent the past 60,000 years on the Island of North Sentinel with very minimal contact with the outside world? It may be hard to imagine that there still exists a people who are so unaware of the globalized world around them, when consumerism and capitalism are so prevalent in shaping our daily lives, however the Sentinelese of North Sentinel have certainly defied the fundamental assumptions of globalization and preserved their primitive ways of living in a hunter-gatherer island society. 

The island of North Sentinel belongs to the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago of Islands in the Indian Ocean. The Sentinelese of the North Sentinel Island are members of a rare, indigenous tribe that still live as they did when they arrived 60,000 years ago to the island from Africa. 

Early Homo Sapien Migration, (theafricanhistory.com)

Even the homo sapiens who migrated from Africa to Europe did so just 45,000 years ago, and to the Americas via the Bering Strait just 15,000 years ago. 

There are an estimated fifty to one hundred members of the tribe, however, exact figures are unknown. Estimated information about the Sentinelese will be a common theme here, as no anthropologist has been able to penetrate the island and learn about Sentinelese culture. Little is known about their habits, what language they speak, and what they call themselves. What is known, however, about the tribe, is that they practice a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and hunt wild boar, turtles, and fish, eat roots and tubers, and forage for honey. Overhead helicopter images have shown that there is a healthy balance of men, women, and children, meaning the tribe has remained fertile and healthy just by living off of the island's resources. 

The Sentinelese and their bows and arrows, (National Geographic)

The Sentinelese rowing a boat and fishing (Anthropological Survey of India)

Since the Sentinelese have remained so isolated, they have no immunity to the common diseases of the outside world and could easily be wiped out. This is why India has made it illegal for outsiders to visit the island under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation of 1956 in order to preserve and protect the tribe.   ​​

Another key characteristic of the Sentinelese is their violent nature in response to outside visitors. They are able to repel outside contact with just their bows and arrows. As mentioned, the Sentinelese still live in the Stone Age, meaning they have not mastered the craft of metal welding. Although their arrow tips have been made of scrap metal, this metal has come from nearby shipwrecks and there is no sign of natural metal resources on the island. One of the first recorded contacts with the Sentinelese occurred in 1858 when the British Administration in India established the penal colony and started to pacify the forest dwelling tribal communities of the Andaman Islands, including North Sentinel. British officer, M.V. Portman, visited the island with a team and kidnapped two adults and four children. As previously stated, the Sentinelese have no immunity to modern diseases. The adults  died shortly after being abducted and the children were returned to the island sick. Who knows what may have happened afterwards and the plague that may have followed. Who knows how the Sentinelese interpreted this event and the stories the children brought back from their foreign experience. This could have been a main contributing factor to the Sentinelese's skepticism of outsiders even to this day

Then, in 1950, once the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands became a part of India, Indian anthropologist T. N. Pandit embarked on visits to the island spanning decades. He attempted to befriend the Sentinelese with gifts of coconuts and bananas and was able to go ashore. Such visits have ended in order to preserve the local culture and prevent the spread of diseases. It is now illegal to get too close to the island, however, this did not stop American missionary, John Allen Chau, who in 2018, illegally went to the island in attempt to convert the Sentinelese to Christianity, was in return killed by the locals and was seen being buried on the island.  

Is this violent nature the only reason for the Sentinelese's extreme isolation? Although there are not many tribe members and it could be relatively easy to conquer the island with modern, or even pre-modern technology, there are several geographical factors that have made North Sentinel unattractive for colonizers. The Island of North Sentinel is a tropical, forested island about the size of Manhattan. It is not a valuable piece of land nor is it in a prominent trade route. 

Satellite view of the Island of North Sentinel (Wikipedia)

Even when there were empires and Eurasian trade routes in the time of the Roman Empire, North Sentinel Island most likely remained minimally contacted. The shallow reefs that surround the island's harbors mean there is no easy way to make a port for ships to dock. The geography could be a major reason for the Sentinelese's prolonged isolation, as other indigenous tribes, such as the Inuits of the Arctic or the Hazda people of Tanza, both of which still live as hunter-gatherers, have made more contact with the outside world and are aware of modern phenomena. The difference is, however, that they are located in less secluded geographical boundaries.

The Sentinelese are a perplexing group of people that have defied the laws of modernization and live the same way as they did when they migrated to the island 60,000 years ago. They are some of the oldest, primitive humans who live off of the natural land. Their violent nature and the non-strategic location of the island have contributed to their extreme isolation and unknowingness of the world around them. How much longer will the Sentinelese uphold this lifestyle? 

Literature:

1. Goodheart, Adam. (2023). They Choose to Live in Isolation- but the World Won´t Leave Them Alone. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/north-sentinel-islanders-live-in-isolation 

2. Littlewood, Peter. (1993). Hunter-Gatherers. Better Planet Education. https://betterplaneteducation.org.uk/factsheets/hunter-gatherers-where-do-hunter-gatherer-communities-live 

3. Natarajan, Swaminathan. (2018). The Man Who Spent Decades Befriending Isolated Sentinelese Tribe. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46350130 

4. Sasikumar, M. (2018). The Sentinelese of the North Sentinel Island: Concerns and Perceptions. Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India, 67(1), 37-44. https://doi-org.ezproxy.is.cuni.cz/10.1177/2277436X20180104 

5. SCHÖNHUTH, Michael. Dead missionaries, wild Sentinelese: An anthropological review of a global media event. Anthropology today. 2019, 35, number. 4, s. 3-6. ISSN 0268-540X. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12514.  

6. Smith, Kiona N. Everything We Know About the Isolated Sentinelese People of North Sentinel Island. Forbes. 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2018/11/30/everything-we-know-about-the-isolated-sentinelese-people-of-north-sentinel-island/ 

7. Survival International. The Sentinelese. https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/sentinelese 

           Viader, Janet K. Globalization and Its Impact on Indigenous Cultures. Bard.edu.  https://leadthechange.bard.edu/blog/globalization-and-its-impact-on-                           indigenous-cultures