The government has banned interaction with the tribes, and even taking their pictures is an offense. Over the past few years, however, relations have improved and some friendly contacts have been made. Thousands of bow-wielding Jarawas were killed by British bullets in 1859. Samir Acharya, head of the independent Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, said the Jarawas were peaceful until the British, and later the Indians, began encroaching on their territory. The Jarawas had armed clashes with authorities until the 1990s, killing several police officers. They used to shoot arrows at government officials when they came ashore and offered gifts of coconuts, fruit and machetes on the beach. The Sentinelese are fiercely protective of their coral reef-ringed terrain. (AP Photo/Anthropological Survey of India, HO) Anthropological Survey Of India / ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA Some anthropological DNA studies indicate the generations may have spanned back 70,000 years. According to varying estimates, there are only about 400 to 1,000 members alive today from the Great Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas, Sentinelese and Shompens. Government officials and anthropologists believe that ancient knowledge of the movement of wind, sea and birds may have saved the five indigenous tribes on the Indian archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar islands from the tsunami that hit the Asian coastline Dec. But even one of the earliest visitors, Marco Polo, called the atolls 'the land of the head hunters.' Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus called the Andamans the 'islands of the cannibals.' This undated photo released by the Anthropological Survey of India shows a three Jarawa tribe boys, one of the five tribes in India's Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. The more than 500 islands across a 3,200-square-mile (8,288-square-kilometer) chain in the southern reaches of the Bay of Bengal appear at first glance to be a tropical paradise. Taking surveys of these areas is dangerous work. They also reported seeing 73 Onges - out of 98 in the census - who fled to highland forests in Dugong Creek on the Little Andaman island, or Hut Bay, a government anthropologist said. It appears that many tribesman fled the shores well before the waves hit the coast, where they would typically be fishing at this time of year.Īfter the tsunami, local officials spotted 41 Great Andamanese - out of 43 in a 2001 Indian census - who had fled the submerged portion of their Strait Island. They originated in Africa and migrated to India through Indonesia, anthropologists say.

'He came out and shot an arrow at the helicopter.'Īccording to varying estimates, there are only about 400 to 1,000 members alive today from the Great Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas, Sentinelese and Shompens. 'There was a naked Sentinelese man,' Thapliyal told The Associated Press. And they don't take kindly to intrusions.Īnil Thapliyal, a commander in the Indian coast guard, said he spotted the lone tribesman on the island of Sentinel, a 23-square-mile (60-square-kilometer) key, on Dec. Many produce fire by rubbing stones, fish and hunt with bow and arrow and live in leaf and straw community huts. The tribes live the most ancient, nomadic lifestyle known to man, frozen in their Paleolithic past. They have a sixth sense which we don't possess,' said Ashish Roy, a local environmentalist and lawyer who has called on the courts to protect the tribes by preventing their contact with the outside world.

They can gauge the depth of the sea with the sound of their oars.

Isolated from the rest of the world, the tribesmen needed to learn nature's sights, sounds and smells to survive. It was a signal the Sentinelese have sent out to the world for millennia: They want to be left alone.

North sentinel island helicopter