New enemy threatens the isolated island

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Northern Sentinel  

 

New enemy threatens the indigenous population of Northern Sentinel  

Christina Nordh 

 

Published 17.54  

 

The islanders must not be contacted.  

 

The last time someone tried, he was shot dead with a bow and arrow. 

 

Now the indigenous population is threatened by a new enemy.  

 

In the early morning of November 17, 2018, American John Chau, 26, left a fishing boat to go ashore by kayak on North Sentinel in the Bay of Bengal. He was wearing only shorts, shouting something, to the islanders, incomprehensible while waving his arms violently.  

 

According to the AFP news agency, he said: "My name is John. I love you and Jesus loves you. Here you get some fish".  

 

A sentinel caught sight of him and tried to warn him to come closer. But John Chau did not give up. He moved closer, continuing to shout more and more desperately, waving his arms even more fervently.  

 

The islander aimed his bow and arrow at Chau's head. As Chau continued towards the islander, he released the arrow.  

 

Christian evangelist John Allen Chau, 26, was convinced that his destiny was to convert the population of the island and save it from "Satan". 

 

John Allen Chau, 27 was killed with a bow and arrow. 

The islanders on the beach were scouts from one of the last tribes in the world that barely had any contact with the outside world.  

 

The group, which is estimated to be around 50-400 people, uses as far as is known only Stone Age tools and technology. Their defense of their secluded island in the Andamans is fierce.  

 

After the 2004 tsunami, the group shot at a helicopter that was out on a reconnaissance mission. Sentinelese have also killed drunken fishermen washed up on their shores. 

 

Now comes the film about John Chau's life, "The Mission", which is produced by National Geographic and directed by American documentary filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss. 

 

- Paradoxically, John was not stupid. He was very intelligent. He was methodical. We tend to think of such people as fanatics. But there was much that was normal about him. Despite that, he hid a lot, says Jesse Moss to The Telegraph.  

 

- John believed in two things: evangelical Christianity, but also the love of adventure, stories like Tintin and Robinson Kruse. He decided to be a character in a story and paid the ultimate price for it. 

 

          

           The indigenous people of North Sentinel. Photo: Indian Coast Guard  

 

Under Indian law, North Sentinel, which is just under 60 square kilometers in size, has been off-limits since 1992 to all but the Sentinelese. 

 

- There were never any isolated communities on those islands. That is the biggest myth. This idea that you can discover an "uncontactable" tribe is bullshit, Professor Vishvajit Pandya, an Indian anthropologist who is an expert on Andaman tribal people, told The Telegraph.  

 

He refers, among other things, to the British rule of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands at the end of the 19th century when an officer made several anthropological expeditions to the island. The officer kidnapped both children and adults and then displayed them as curiosities in the capital, Port Blair.  

 

The new enemy then?  

 

The industrial world is pressing in with overfishing, pollution, plastic waste and climate change with rising sea levels as a result.

 

- Islands like the Andamans and Nicobars, the Maldives etc. must be evacuated. People will be forced to migrate from there due to sea level rise, those places will become uninhabitable, lead author Anjal Prakash said in 2019 in his IPCC report according to the Times of India. 

 

Northern Sentinel Photo: Gautam Singh/AP