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Meet the uncontacted tribe of Sentinelese people

News Nation Bureau New Delhi Updated on: 22 Nov 2018, 10:25 AM

Located in one of the Andaman Islands of the North Sentinel Island, India, the Sentinelese tribe still remains a tribe secluded from modern civilization. One must fathom it unimaginable given the rapid growth of industrialization in the last 100 years. However, this group of Sentinelese people are so secluded that they still seem to be living in the Stone Age civilization. Out of the 100 estimated uncontacted tribe left in the world, the Sentinelese is believed to be one.

This group of people has remained completely isolated and the few bump-ins outsiders have had with these tribe only ended in rains of arrows being received. Unlike other tribes, the Sentinelese people avoid being in contact with other tribes. As such, their language is only understood within the tribe itself.

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Very little knowledge is known about these primitive people. And the little knowledge about them is those gathered through outside observations such as by a helicopter or a boat. And according to a study on the Sentinelese people, they are believed to be incomprehensibly primitive that even fire-making is unknown to them. Lighting remains the source of their fire-making.

Efforts to get in conatct with these primitrive people have proven to be fatal They still use primitive tools and still live a hunter-gatherer life with no understanding of agriculture. For over 60, 000 years their methods of living have remained unchanged even amidst civilization all around. However, this is not to say that these tribes were not tried- contacting. They have, but the result had ended catastrophically. The intruders were either shoed away with their arrows and spears or end up being captured and murdered brutally.The best incident of their primitive nature was known to the rest of the world when two drunk fishermen felt asleep and ended up on the Sentinel Island. They, of course, were attacked by spears and arrows and later succumbed to their death. Efforts to even recover their bodies were impossible as the helicopter sent were received with hails of arrows.

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The British in the hopes of contacting the tribe and introducing the tribe to the rest of the world kidnapped two elderly man and four children. They kidnapped tribesmen were brought back to Port Blair in the hopes of indoctrinating the tribe with the modern lifestyle. They were showered with gifts and treated the best as possible to give them an impression of people away from their own. However, within a few days later, two of the elderly captured, died. Years of isolation have made the tribesman’s immune system lacking thousands of years behind the civilized world. As such, their body couldn’t resist the modern illnesses such as influenza, small box etc. As they the British thought it best to leave the tribe alone and sent back the four remaining children.

The Indian Government as such have passed a law against getting in contact with the Sentinalese people 

The Indian Government as such have passed a law against getting in contact with this primitive tribe. The last contact anyone had of them was during the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 that killed thousands of people. On being concerned about these tribe after the tsunami, navy helicopters were sent to check on them. And as usual, they were received with rains of arrows which only meant they were alive and well.

Also Read | New drug may help treat peanut allergy: StudyFor now, if you want to ignore a jail sentence or avoid getting hit by arrows better leave the Sentinelese tribe alone.

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First Published : 06 Sep 2018, 16:42 PM

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