The world’s most isolated islanders
March 13th, 2006Two Indian fishermen who drifted onto North Sentinel Island in the Andamans have been killed by the Sentinelese, who are the world’s most isolated islanders.
The Sentinelese, thought to number between 50 and 200, have rebuffed all contact with the modern world, firing a shower of arrows at anyone who comes within range. They are believed to be the last pre-Neolithic tribe in the world to remain isolated.
DNA suggests they have been isolated for a very long time indeed:
DNA analysis of another tribe, the Jarawa, whose members made first contact with the outside world in 1997, suggest that the tribesmen migrated from Africa around 60,000 years ago.