There are 100 or more 'uncontacted' tribes around the globe, but the Sentinelese are undoubtedly the most isolated. Deep in the Indian Ocean, they have resisted all attempts at contact from the outside world for thousands of years.
There are 100 or more "uncontacted" tribes around the globe, but the Sentinelese are undoubtedly the most isolated. Deep in the Indian Ocean, they have resisted all attempts at contact from the outside world for thousands of years.
The Sentinelese made international headlines in 2018 when a Christian missionary from the US illegally intruded onto their island, where he was killed by a bow and arrow.
The Sentinelese inhabit North Sentinel Island, a Manhattan-sized territory protected by Indian law. This protection preserves their way of life and shields them from diseases to which they have no immunity.
No one but its islanders knows what language they speak, what laws might govern them, what god they might worship. Their language is unknown to outsiders, even to the Andaman tribes on neighbouring islands.
The island's population size is unknown. The 2011 Census of India estimated 15 residents, but the actual number is believed to be around 100.
Given this extreme isolation of the Sentinelese, the wider world knows next-to-nothing about how they live. However, from passing boats and aircraft, it’s possible to glimpse them spearing fish in the shallows, poling their dugout canoes across the lagoon, and aiming the bows that they use to hunt game.
In the 1970s, the Indian government attempted to contact the Sentinelese, sending boats and gifts despite the language barrier. The Sentinelese rebuffed these attempts, drawing their bows at the visitors to know they were not welcome.
Following protests from Indigenous rights groups, India abandoned its contact efforts in the late 1990s, and the Sentinelese have continued to express hostility towards outsiders.
After the 2014 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Indian National Coast used a helicopter to cruise over the island to see if the community needed assistance. To their surprise, a lone individual stalked their helicopter and attempted to strike it with arrows. No help was wanted.
There seems to be no simple explanation for how the Sentinelese, of all the human communities on Earth, have managed to remain so isolated for so long. When intruders approach, they either disappear into the jungle or respond with warning gestures and, if necessary, volleys of arrows.
