The Little-Known History Of North Sentinel Island, Untouched By Modern Civilization

By | August 12, 2019

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Don't plan a visit to North Sentinel Island. The island is off limits to visitors and the inhabitants have been known to kill intruders. Source: (jonistraveling.com)

It is hard to fathom that in today's modern world—with space travel, amazing medical breakthroughs, and smartphones in every pocket—that there are still tribes of people in the remotest parts of the planet that have had little to no contact with the outside world ... and they like it like that. They work hard to maintain their ancestral way of life amid the encroachment of modernity. This is the story of one such tribe, the Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island and their overwhelming desire to be left alone that sometimes becomes violent

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DigitalGlobe Imagery of North Sentinel Island, India. Source: (Photo DigitalGlobe via Getty Images)

Where is North Sentinel Island?

If you've never heard of North Sentinel Island, don't feel bad. Not many people have. That's because it's a tiny speck of land in the Andaman Island chain. North Sentinel Island is actually one of the largest islands in this cluster of islands in the Bay of Bengal, an arm of the Indian Ocean. The 572 islands of the Andaman Island chain are located between India and Myanmar. North Sentinel Island is roughly the size of Manhattan, while most of the other islands that make up the Andaman Island chain are much smaller. Technically, North Sentinel Island and most of the Andaman Islands fall under the rule of India and form what is called the Union Territory of India. A few of the islands on the northern edge of the island chain, however, belong to Myanmar. These countries take a hands-off approach to the native people of the islands, respecting their right to privacy.