A Challenging Encounter: Making First Contact With the Extremely Reclusive and Hostile Tribe of North Sentinel Island
Team members hand over coconuts to islanders. Image credit: T.N. Pandit (left)
On February 21 of that year, a bigger group returned and made another successful contact with the islanders. Some tribesmen spotted their approach and proceeded towards the team unarmed to meet them. A group of Sentinelese boarded the visitors’ boat and accepted coconuts.
Reflecting on her work with the Sentinelese, Chattopadhyay said, “You feel that you are there to study, but actually, they are the ones who study you. You are foreign in their lands.”
The Indian government later prohibited further expeditions, expressing concern that the tribe might contract illnesses as a result of regular contact with outsiders.
In an interview with National Geographic decades later, Chattopadhyay also discouraged further attempts to contact the Sentinelese. She said, “The tribes have been living on the islands for centuries without any problem. Their troubles started after they came into contact with outsiders…The tribes of the islands do not need outsiders to protect them, what they need is to be left alone.”
On February 21 of that year, a bigger group returned and made another successful contact with the islanders. Some tribesmen spotted their approach and proceeded towards the team unarmed to meet them. A group of Sentinelese boarded the visitors’ boat and accepted coconuts.
Reflecting on her work with the Sentinelese, Chattopadhyay said, “You feel that you are there to study, but actually, they are the ones who study you. You are foreign in their lands.”
The Indian government later prohibited further expeditions, expressing concern that the tribe might contract illnesses as a result of regular contact with outsiders.
In an interview with National Geographic decades later, Chattopadhyay also discouraged further attempts to contact the Sentinelese. She said, “The tribes have been living on the islands for centuries without any problem. Their troubles started after they came into contact with outsiders…The tribes of the islands do not need outsiders to protect them, what they need is to be left alone.”
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25 August 2023
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