"Then the little kid with bow and arrow came down the middle. The islanders saw that and blocked my exit. "By this time the waves had picked up and the kayak was getting near some shallow coral. ![]() I kept waving my hands to say 'no bows' but they didn't get the memo, I guess. "A child and a young woman came behind the two gift receivers with bows drawn. Here's where this nice meet and greet went south. John wrote: "I paddled after them and exchanged more yells. Life with the most endangered tribe: Armadillo-eating Amazonians exist on the run with little contact with outside world He also took his waterproof Bible, along with other gifts for the islanders, including tweezers, safety pins, fishing line, hooks, cordage, rubber tubing and a towel.Īs he got closer to the beach, the people on the island shouted at John and he tried to copy their words and shouted back at them.īy now some of the tribe were in the water and heading straight towards him but as they got closer, they dropped their bows and arrows and grabbed their gifts - but there was a violent shock in store. Heartbreakingly, John was also carrying "multitools (including one my brother gave as a groomsmen gift that has my name engraved on it)" along with pencils, a first aid kit in case he was shot, picture cards, vitamins, his passport. While no one witnessed John's tragic death, fishermen reported when they returned a day after setting off that they saw "a dead person being buried at the shore which from the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances appeared to be the body of John Allen Chau".Įmotional moment never contacted Amazon tribe reunited with long lost relativesīut undeterred by what had happened, John stressed he would get some rest before trying to leave some more gifts on the shore.Īfter watching the fisherman catch two fish, he again loaded these into his kayak and set off for the shore. He had told those who carried him to the tiny island, which measures just a few miles long and a few miles wide, that he hoped to make contact with the indigenous Sentinelese tribe and convert them to Christianity.Īfter a day of waiting in a boat off the shore of the tiny island, only venturing close enough in his kayak to leave gifts, including scissors, a football and fish, in a bid to secure of welcome from the tribe, he finally set foot on the shore.Īnd what happened next was truly tragic - John was seemingly shot to death with arrows fired by the advancing members of the tribe. The 26-year-old was last seen alive by a group of fishermen, who had dropped him off at North Sentinel Island, in a remote corner of the Indian Ocean. In November of 2018, the government's home ministry announced that they would relax the prohibition to make it possible for academics and anthropologists to visit the Sentinel Islands as long as they received prior consent.Missionary 'may be charged with genocide after exposing jungle tribe to disease' In 2018, the Indian government took 29 islands, including North Sentinel, out of the RAP regime to boost tourism to those destinations. Since Indian law forbids any kind of construction on the island, it now functions as a nature sanctuary. The Indian government respects the islanders' desire for autonomy and takes the role of a neutral spectator while dealing with the situation. The island is technically part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an Indian union territory however, its official designation places it in the South Andaman administrative district. The island is naturally positioned for isolation, surrounded by dangerous coral reefs, has no natural harbors, and is almost completely covered in a thick forest, all of which make travel difficult. ![]() The Island of North Sentinel sits 59.6 kilometers north of South Sentinel Island and 36 kilometers west of the South Andaman town of Wandoor. South Asians and those living on other islands in the Andaman Sea avoid North Sentinel Island and its waters because they know that the Sentinelese people will not accept any attempts at contact. They attribute this in part to the intense protection of their home and privacy and, in part, to the protective legislation imposed by the Indian government. North Sentinel Island is one of the islands of the world it is forbidden to visit.ĭue to North Sentinel's remote location-far from major shipping lanes and encircled by a shallow reef with no natural harbors-its native Sentinelese population has remained primarily uncontacted for at least the past 60,000 years. North Sentinel Island is still shrouded in mystery, even though several surrounding islands are popular tourist destinations. Humans have been exploring the Indian archipelago, which consists of 572 islands, for ages. Located in the Bay of Bengal, off the northwest coast of Indonesia, is a small series of islands surrounded by crystal-clear water.
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