Hunter-gatherers who use bows and arrows as their weapons and use rudimentary methods to catch local food are known as scheduled tribes in today¡¯s date. They are known as uncontacted groups of people who remain hostile to outsiders because they consider it an invasion into their territory.
An American tourist, John Allen Chau who ventured into the islands inhabited by North Sentinelese tribe was shot with bows and arrows. Reportedly, some fishermen had helped him to gain access to the islands where entry of outsiders is strictly prohibited under the Andaman and Nicobar (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956.
In fact, outsiders are not even allowed to venture up to 5 km from its shore. Here are a few points about Sentinelese tribe in Andaman and Nicobar islands;
1) Sentinelese is an indigenous tribe that lives in the North Sentinel Island, a few miles west of Port Blair. While uncontacted tribes like these all over India have warmed up to civic and government administrations, Sentinels, however, continue to remain hostile to outsiders.
2) Quite a few attempts have been made to establish contacts with them in the 1970s and 1990s, even by the Colonial British but all of them ended in vain as the tribe attacked people with bows and arrows.
3) Reportedly, 13th-century explorer, Marco Polo had described this tribe as ¡°The most violent and cruel generation who seem to eat everybody they catch.¡±
4)Their population is estimated to be anywhere between 15 and 500. A 2001 census recorded 21 men and 18 women. However, a 2011 census officially recorded only 15 people (12 male and three females) though, nothing is confirmed. There could be even more. The 2004 Tsunami that had struck the islands could have possibly wiped them out until a coast guard sent by a helicopter was attacked with bows and arrows.
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5) Replying to a Rajya Sabha query in 2017, the Indian government said that the exact population of this island is absolutely unknown. Centuries of no contact with the real world and living in isolation also means that they haven¡¯t been immunized?against possible diseases and carry microbes with them. Contacting them, therefore, can also prove to be lethal.
6)?Other island tribes like Jarawas, Onge and Great Andamanese are tribes which unlike the sentinels have made contact with the rest of humanity. Perhaps, India has even built a highway through Jarawa forest though, the Supreme Court banned entry of tourists in 2013.
7)Two fishermen in 2006 had apparently died in an attempt to illegally harvest crabs off the coast of North Sentinel. They slept in their boat overnight near the North Sentinel Island and approached the shore.