Sentinel Secrets: The Unreachable Island

North Sentinel Island is home to the last uncontacted people on earth. It is located in India’s Andaman Sea. The natives of this island are believed to be a part of the North Sentinelese tribe and they know nearly nothing about the rest of the world. The Sentinelese are infamous for their hostility towards foreigners and have killed everybody who has tried to land on their island. The Sentinelese are considered to be one of the last Stone Age tribes still living today. They maintain a life, relying on hunting and gathering for food and building their homes from bamboo and leaves. They don't have any means of communication with the outside world and don't speak any currently recognized languages. 

Outsiders have made a lot of attempts recently to communicate with the Sentinelese. Two fishermen were killed by the Sentinelese in 2006 after their boat drew too close to the island. In november 2018, An american missionary, John  Allen Chau decided to go to the island illegally and wanted to teach christianity to the people living on this island. Moreover, he took some gifts for them but the sentinelese people were ready to shoot him with a bow but somehow he survived. Again he tried to explain some verses of the Bible to them but suddenly a child took aim at John’s chest and shot an arrow but the arrow hit the Bible by chance and he survived again. After escaping from there, he wrote in his diary that “ LORD is this island Satan’s last stronghold where none have even had a chance to hear your name?” But John’s obsession with the lord had turned into madness. And he decided to go there again. He wrote a letter to his family that “If I get killed, please don't blame these people.” After that the  local fisherman who had driven him there saw that the Sentinelese were burying a body and judging by the clothes, he got to know it was John Allen Chau’s body.

Every time the outside world has tried to establish contact with them, there has been violence most of the time. They are not even ready to accept the gifts. They are totally isolated from the current world. The Indian government has designated North Sentinel Island as a protected area, making it illegal to approach it within three nautical miles. The Sentinelese are protected both from diseases against which they may not be resistant and from others who might try to take advantage of them.

In the end, the Sentinelese are a mystery to outsiders. We are not really familiar with their culture or manner of life. Despite their seclusion and hostility, they are one of the most mysterious tribes in the entire globe.