question: How have the Sentinelese maintained their “uncontacted” status throughout history?
comment: From articles I've read to say they're not contacted is not accurate. Somewhat recently a Christian missionary was apparently killed trying to contact them but it wasn't the first time he was there, and was successful in visiting them before. Their tribe part of the Andamanese and is one of several tribes on those islands. In the 1700's and 1800's the main island was colonized as a penal colony by Bengal and then the British. Ultimately the islands developed a bad reputation for cannibalism and attacking anybody who came near. Many battles were fought between the islanders and outsiders; the Bengals, the British, the Japanese occupied them in WW2. I think ultimately the people of North Sentinel Island were hiding in plain sight for hundreds of years while the Andamanese the next island over were being ravaged by colonizers and occupiers. Then when India gained independence after WW2 they shut town the penal colony and made the islands a tribal refuge. Nobody goes to North Sentinel Island because it is illegal to do so, they're now protected, and it's dangerous as the people will kill you and eat your eyeballs.
passages: In an 1899 speech, Richard Carnac Temple, who served as chief commissioner of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from 1895 to 1904, reported that he had toured North Sentinel island to capture fugitives, but upon landing discovered that they had been killed by the inhabitants, who retreated in haste upon seeing his party approach.
   Section::::Contact.:Government of India.:T. N. Pandit (1967–1991).:"National Geographic" (1974).
   MCC Bonnington, a British official, visited the island on two separate occasions in 1911 and 1932 to conduct a census. On the first occasion, he came across eight men on the beach and another five in two canoes, who retreated into the forest. The party progressed some miles into the island without facing any hostile response and saw a few huts with slanted roofs. Notably, the Sentinelese were counted as a standalone group, for the first time, in the 1911 census.
   Temple went on to describe the Sentinelese as "a tribe which slays every stranger, however inoffensive, on sight, whether a forgotten member of itself, of another Andamanese tribe, or a complete foreigner".
   In 1991, the first instances of peaceful contact were recorded in the course of two routine expeditions by an Indian anthropological team consisting of various representatives of diverse governmental departments and Madhumala Chattopadhyay.
   The first recorded visit to the island by a colonial officer was by Jeremiah Homfray in 1867. He recorded seeing naked islanders catching fish with bows and arrows, and was informed by the Great Andamanese that they were Jarawas.
   The Onge, one of the other indigenous peoples of the Andamans, were aware of North Sentinel Island's existence; their traditional name for the island is "Chia daaKwokweyeh". They also have strong cultural similarities with what little has been remotely observed amongst the Sentinelese. However, Onges were brought there by the British during the 19th century, could not understand the Sentinelese language, so a significant period of separation is likely.
  
  Section::::History.:British visits.
   The next expedition occurred in April 2003, when a canoe built by the Onges was gifted to the visitors. There were further expeditions (some aerial) in 2004 and 2005 to evaluate the effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which caused massive tectonic changes to the island: it was enlarged by a merger with nearby small islands, and the sea floor was raised by about , exposing the surrounding coral reefs to air and destroying the shallow lagoons, which were the Sentinelese's fishing grounds. The expeditions counted a total of 32 Sentinelese scattered over three places but did not find any bodies. The Sentinelese responded to these aerial expeditions with hostile gestures, which led many to conclude that the community was mostly unaffected and had survived the calamity. Pandya argues that Sentinelese hostility is a sign of the physical as well as the cultural resilience of the community.
   The series of contact expeditions continued until 1994, with some of them even attempting to plant coconut trees on the island. The programs were then abandoned for nearly nine years. The Indian government maintained a policy of no deliberate contact, intervening only in cases of natural calamities that might pose an existential threat or to thwart poachers.
   Pandya comments: Pandit and Madhumala took part in a second expedition on 24 February. The Sentinelese again appeared without weapons, jumped on the dinghies and took coconut sacks. They were also curious about a rifle hidden in the boat, which Chattopadhay believed they saw as a source of iron.
  
  In light of the friendly exchanges with the scrap dealers' team and Portman's observations in 1890, Pandya believes that the Sentinelese used to be visited by other tribes.
  
  Section::::Contact.:Government of India.:Later contact.
   Section::::Contact.:Death of John Allen Chau (2018).
   The government was aware that leaving the Sentinelese (and the area) completely isolated and ceasing to claim any control would lead to rampant illegal exploitation of the natural resources by the numerous mercenary outlaws who took refuge in those regions, and probably contribute to the Sentinelese's extinction. Accordingly, in 1970, an official surveying party landed at an isolated spot on the island and erected a stone tablet, atop a disused native hearth, that declared the island part of India.
   There have been other recorded instances of British administrators visiting the island, including Rogers in 1902, but none of the expeditions after 1880 had any ethnographic purpose, probably because of the island's small size and unfavorable location.
  
  In 1954, Italian explorer visited the island but did not come across any inhabitants.
  
  Section::::Contact.:Shipwrecks.
  
  In 1977, MV "Rusley" ran aground on the North Sentinel Reefs.
   BULLET::::- Video "SENTINELESE : World's Most Isolated Tribe", includes clips of friendly contact by the Anthropological Survey of India as well as another clip of National Geographic crew's attempt at contact being rebuffed by the Sentinelese
  
  BULLET::::- "Leave the Sentinelese alone, an interview with the T N Pandit of Anthropological Survey of India
  
  BULLET::::- Madhumala Chattopadhyay: An Anthropologist's Moment of Truth, discusses first friendly contact with Sentinelese
  
  BULLET::::- Administration in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands has finally decided upon a policy of minimal interference
   The first peaceful contact with the Sentinelese was made by Triloknath Pandit, a director of the Anthropological Survey of India, and his colleagues on 4 January 1991. Indian visits to the island ceased in 1997.
  
  The Sentinelese survived the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and its after-effects, including the tsunami and the uplifting of the island. Three days after the earthquake, an Indian government helicopter observed several islanders, who shot arrows and threw spears and stones at the helicopter. Although the tsunami disturbed the tribal fishing grounds, the Sentinelese appear to have adapted.
   The captain, who fled in the ship's boat, was found days later by a brig and the Royal Navy sent a rescue party to the island. Upon arrival, the party discovered that the survivors had managed to repel the attackers with sticks and stones and that they had not reappeared.
  
  Andamanese scholar Vishvajit Pandya notes that Onge narratives often recall voyages by their ancestors to North Sentinel to procure metal.
  
  Section::::Contact.:Colonial period.
   There is significant uncertainty as to the group's size, with estimates ranging between 15 and 500 individuals, but mostly between 50 and 200.
  
  Section::::Overview.
  
  Section::::Overview.:Geography.
   In 2014, an aerial expedition followed by a circumnavigation investigated the effects of a forest fire. Important data was gathered and the expedition recorded that the fire did not seem to have affected the populace. They exhibited a balance of ages and sexes, with a number of young children. Friendly hand gestures were noted but the visitors did not go very close to the island. The 2014 expedition also recorded that the Sentinelese had adapted to the changes to their fishing grounds, and were using their canoes to travel up to half a kilometre (a third of a mile) from the shore.
   The Sentinelese have been widely described as a Stone Age tribe, with some reports claiming they have lived in isolation for over 60,000 years. But Pandya speculates that the Sentinelese arose either from a deliberate, more recent migration or from drifting off the Little Andaman.
  
  Section::::Overview.:Uncontacted status.
  
  They are considered one of the world's last uncontacted peoples. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group and a Scheduled Tribe, they belong to the broader class of Andamanese people.
   Along with the Great Andamanese, the Jarawas, the Onge, the Shompen, and the Nicobarese, the Sentinelese are one of the six native and often reclusive peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Unlike the others, the Sentinelese appear to have consistently refused any interaction with the outside world. They are hostile to outsiders and have killed people who approached or landed on the island.
  
  Section::::Contact.
  
  Section::::Contact.:First recorded sighting (1771).
   Sentinelese
  
  The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in India. They are considered one of the world's last uncontacted peoples. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group and a Scheduled Tribe, they belong to the broader class of Andamanese people.
   Section::::Contact.:Deaths of two fishermen (2006).
   During a 4 January 1991 visit, the Sentinelese approached the party without weaponry for the first time. They collected coconuts that were offered but retreated to the shore as the team gestured for them to come closer. The team returned to the main ship, "MV Tarmugli". It returned to the island in the afternoon to find at least two dozen Sentinelese on the shoreline, one of whom pointed a bow and arrow at the party. Once a woman pushed the arrow down, the man buried his weapons in the beach and the Sentinelese approached quite close to the dinghies for the first time. The Director of Tribal Welfare distributed five bags of coconuts hand-to-hand.
   Temple also recorded a case where a Sentinelese apparently drifted off to the Onge and fraternized with them over the course of two years. When Temple and Portman accompanied him to the tribe and attempted to establish friendly contact, they did not recognize the individual and responded aggressively by shooting arrows at the group. The man refused to remain on the island. Portman cast doubt on the exact time span the Sentinelese spent with the Onge, and believed that he had probably been raised by the Onge since childhood.
   There are no pre-20th century historical references to the Rikbaktsa, and there have been no archeological studies to date their occupation of their traditional lands. However, oral histories, geographic references in their myths, and their detailed knowledge of nearby flora and fauna suggest that they have lived on the land for some time.
  
presuppositions: The Sentinelese have been uncontacted throughout history.
corrections: The Sentinelese have been contacted at various points in history.
raw_presuppositions: The Sentinelese have been uncontacted throughout history. The Sentinelese have been uncontacted throughout history.
raw_corrections: The Sentinelese have been contacted at various points in history. The Sentinelese have been contacted at various points in history.