The death of 26-year-old American missionary John Allen Chau, killed by bow and arrow by one of the world’s last isolated tribes, has captured the world’s interest.
It’s also put a spotlight on the uncontacted Sentinelese tribe who live on the remote North Sentinel Island in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
While described as ‘uncontacted’, this is not strictly true.
The Sentinelese have been contacted multiple times in history, and their dealings with British naval officer Maurice Vidal Portman provides a harrowing look at why they remain hostile to outsiders.
Portman was made Officer in Charge of the Andamanese in 1879 and for more than 20 years he documented the pacification of tribes in the area. Typically – this was, of course, the time of the British empire – Portman set out to “civilise” the tribes, even if this meant using force.
This desire quickly spiralled into disturbing kidnappings, death, disease and very creepy photographs.
In his book A History of our Relations with the Andamanese, Portman wrote about a trip with Europeans and a group of convicts to North Sentinel Island in 1880.
After days of searching, Portman’s men captured six islanders – an elderly man and woman and four children. The kidnapped group were taken to Port Blair, the capital of South Andaman Island “in the interest of science”.
“They sickened rapidly, and the old man and his wife died, so the four children were sent back to their home with quantities of presents,” he wrote in his book.
Such isolated tribes have no immunity to modern diseases, meaning even something as minor to us as a cold could kill them.
Top Comments
The North Sentelese were hostile to outsiders, even before Portman's interference. An Indian ship called 'Ninevah' landed on the island, & the people on the island attacked the ship's crewmen. This was some 20 years before Portman's "science experiment." Also, Marco Polo allegedly landed on the island, a few centuries earlier, & encountered hostile tribes.
Portman's got a lot to answer for with those photos.
He's singlehandedly responsible for the Sentinelese's lack of Instagram influencers.
I hear they rank as one of the most content peoples for just that reason.
Their version of MM doesn't have much content though...