A rare photo of two members of the Sentinelese tribe, which is protected under Indian law and whose population is estimated to be below 50. This photo was taken by the Indian Coast Guard

An American citizen identified as John Allen Chau was found murdered on North Sentinel Island in the Andaman archipelago. His body was spotted by local fishermen. A local publication Andaman Sheekha reported that Chau was hell-bent on making contact with the people of Sentinelese community, an extremely private indigenous tribe.

John Allen Chau was reportedly on a mission to preach Christianity to the Sentinelese people and made at least six attempts to establish contact with the elusive and fiercely protective tribe. The last two attempts were made on November 14 and November 16.

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The American citizen hired local fishermen as guides. Some of these fishermen were booked by the Union Territory police under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Act. Forced contact with the people on the North Sentinel Island is forbidden under the law.

Who are Sentinelese people?

Sentinelese is considered to be the most private of the five very reclusive tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The other four are: the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Shompen and the Jarawa.

The population of Sentinelese people has not been correctly enumerated. In 2001, their headcount was 39 - 21 men and 18 women. They were among the tribes that survived the tsunami of 2004 without any help from the outside world.

Experts believe that their own knowledge and understanding of the oceanic geography gave them advantage over the machine-equipped people in the neighbouring areas. Nearly 2.28 lakh people died in that tsunami but Sentinelese people survived with minimum loss.

For 2011 Census, the enumerators could locate only 15 Sentinelese people - 12 men and three women. However, their numbers could be anything between 40 and 400.

Sentinelese people are believed to be the only pre-Neolithic people in the world. This means they have a culture that existed in the middle period of Stone Age. Their use of metals is not specifically known with many believe that they don't use metals for purposes other than in weapons.

The other four tribes

The Great Andamanese live on the Great Andaman Island. They were named so by the British, who fought a bitter war with them in 1859. The tribe fought fiercely before they surrendered in what is known as the Battle of Aberdeen. Their estimated population at that time was 8,000. Today, they number only about 50.

The population of the Onge people is only about 110. There is not much information about the Shompen people either. Their known number was only 13 but experts believe that more Shompen people could be living in the hilly areas.

The Jarawa community lives of hunting animals and gathering fruits from the forests. A measles outbreak in 1999 was feared to have wiped out the entire tribe and race. But they were later found to be living on the island.

Why the Sentinelese are special

Wikipedia records that around 1880, a young British officer Maurice Vidal Portman tried to bring Sentinelese people into the mainstream of development. He set out on an expedition deep into the forests and hills of North Sentinel Island.

After several days of the expedition, Portman captured six Sentinelese people - an elderly couple and their four children. They were all brought to Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The elderly couple contracted and died of diseases they had not built immunity for. Their children were later released back on the island. The British never set their feet on the island again.

After Independence, the Indian government launched a similar mission in 1967 under the department of tribal affairs. The first somewhat successful contact with the Sentinelese people could be made only in 1991. But the constant probing into their territory had a side effect.

The Sentinelese people started targeting anyone getting close to the shore. But as the ships carried gifts and articles of use, they allowed boats to anchor near the coast and when after some of the goods were offloaded, they would shoot arrows at the visitors.

It became difficult for the government or a private party to make contact with Sentinelese tribe. Finally in 1996, the government abandoned its programme to make contact with Sentinelese tribe.

The Sentinelese tribals are practically the sovereign people of India. If an outsider is attacked and killed by them for trespassing or trying to make contact with them, the police do not prosecute them. They enjoy immunity as protection of the tribe is of paramount anthropological significance.

But something has changed

In August this year, the Modi government removed the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) from 29 islands in Andaman Islands. North Sentinel Island is one of these islands. The RAP was removed with the objective of promoting tourism.

The order will remain in force till December 2022. This means that foreigners are no longer required to seek permission to visit any of these islands. So, victim Chau apparently did not commit any illegality when he entered North Sentinel.

The only problem was that the Sentinelese people don't like outsiders. They have lived a closed community life on this island for about 60,000 years, when they are believed to have migrated here from North Africa.

The Sentinelese people are recognised among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and various laws including the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (ANPATR), 1956 were framed to ensure their protection.

In 2006, two reportedly drunk men went deep into North Sentinel Island after a fishing expedition and were allegedly killed by the Sentinelese. When an Indian Coast team helicopter went to retrieve their bodies, it was attacked with arrows and stones.

The Sentinelese tribe was thereafter allowed to live as sovereign people on an island in India. The August order of the Centre may change the equation one more time.