Sentinelese

But recently unearthed documents reveal why the Sentinelese have been so hostile to outsiders – and they tell a story of kidnap, disease, and disturbing sexual photographs.

Apparently Chau, a graduate of the evangelical Oral Roberts University, Oklahoma, who had previously declared visiting North Sentinel as his ‘must-do adventure’, had decided his life’s calling was converting the Sentinelese to Christianity.

Chau, a Christian missionary, was killed on Nov. 17 — a day after he tried to reach the native Sentinelese tribesmen by trying to speak their language and singing worship songs.

Chau’s contact with the North Sentinelese tribe doomed him, and it may doom the tribe as well if his death attracts gawkers, missionaries, and rescue workers to the island.

Chau was acutely aware of the risk he posed to the Sentinelese and that, if he died, retrieving his body would be dangerous for everyone involved.

He had expressed a desire to meet the Sentinelese Tribe, whose name is derived from that of the island they inhabit, Sentinel, which is at a distance of 102 km from Port Blair.

More recently (the 1990s), the Sentinelese seem to have mellowed out a bit, allowing boats to come closer to the shore, and even greeting visitors unarmed –ma but only for a few minutes.

So the Sentinelese fear of outsiders is very understandable,” Stephen Corry, the group’s director, said in a statement.

The Indian government monitors the Andaman Islands territories, including North Sentinel Island (pictured), home to the Sentinelese tribe — one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes that has little to no contact with modern civilization.

The Sentinelese, hunter-gatherers armed with primitive spears and bows and arrows, are considered to be the last pre-Neolithic tribe in the world and the most isolated such group.

Only the Jarawa and Sentinelese still maintain a steadfast independence and refuse most attempts at contact; their numbers are uncertain but estimated to be in the low hundreds.