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The death of American John Allen Chau, who was shot about a week ago on the North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean, uncovered ancient stories about the isolated tribe living in the area. Surprising is the encounter between Indians and Indian anthropologist TN Pandit
Pandit made sporadic visits to the island between the late 1960s and the early 1990s. The knowledge gained during travels – and especially the fact that they had survived – made Pandit a kind of celebrity after
Whatever the case may be, Pandit was not the first anthropologist to have been confronted with the tribe – who, according to experts, would have arrived on the island from Africa about 50,000 years ago
In the late 19th century, a young British naval officer landed on the island, which now belongs to India. He was accompanied by a group of convicted criminals and aborigines from other tribes of the Andaman Archipelago who had established relations with the English colonial forces.
Maurice Vidal Portman led the mission on North Sentinel Island. The intention was to study the language and customs of the community, who were reluctant to communicate with the outside world.
The hostility of the sentinels, who drew attention to the death of the young American missionary and adventurer this month, was already known.
Several historical texts report stories of people accidentally coming to the island (fishermen, lost merchants, shipwrecked) and then found floating in the sea, the body riddled with arrows.
Indians, however, was not an obstacle for Portman.
According to a text published by American Scholar magazine in 2000, written by Professor Adam Goodheart of Washington College. (US), the explorers led by Portman crossed the island behind the natives, but found "no living soul"
"The sentinels had simply disappeared in the fog when they became aware of the arrival of Europeans, "says a pbadage.
Portman met a senior couple and four children from the tribe – a man who had been living on the island for a long time – and kidnapped them. He forced the natives to board their boat and took them to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he lived.
Unable to come into contact with humans outside the tribe – and with micro-organisms carried by strangers –
Goodheart writes in the case that, years later, Portman recognized the [19659002AccordingtotheAmericanhistorianPortmanreferredtothiscaseataconferenceattheRoyalGeographicalSocietyinLondon
"Their badociation with foreigners only caused them harm."
Some people may wonder if the kidnapping would not be at the root of the tribe's hostility to the hostility of the tribe to the outside world. [19659004] Indeed, it is impossible to attribute the behavior of the guards to a particular event that took place more than a century ago.
For most experts, but also for the Indian authorities, it is essential to respect the desire of the sentinels to live at the
And the natives, in their turn, are reinforcing more and more their desire to remain isolated in a language that everyone understands: that of arrows.
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