1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Laurena 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:12,879 Speaker 1: volbebom Here. The inhabitants of North Sentinel Island are one 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: of the few peoples on Earth almost entirely uncontacted by 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: outside society, and they seem to want to keep it 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: that way. For centuries, the island's indigenous people, known as 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: the Sentinels, have rejected most attempts by the outside world 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: to infiltrate their tropical home in the Bay of Bengal. 8 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: It's a fairly small island, only about twenty three square 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: miles that's around sixty square kilometers. We don't even have 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,919 Speaker 1: a good idea of how many people live there. Estimates 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: vary between fifty and five hundred. The few glimpses of 12 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: life on North Sentinel Island paint an intriguing picture of 13 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: an untouched society of hunter gatherers who live in simple structures, 14 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: gather island fruit, spearfish from dugout canoes, and cook over fires. 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 1: What's amazing is that this society thrives less than twenty 16 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 1: miles or about thirty kilometers from neighboring islands where indigenous 17 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: cultures have integrated with the outside world, not always with 18 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: happy results. An Indian anthropologist by the name of Madamala 19 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: Chattapadhyai was the first woman to visit the isolated group 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,040 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties, but has vowed never to go back. 21 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: In an interview with the National Geographic magazine, she said, 22 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: they've been living on the island for centuries without any problem. 23 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: Their troubles started after they came into contact with outsiders. 24 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: The tribes of the islands do not need outsiders to 25 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: protect them. What they need is to be left alone. 26 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: Case in point. In twenty eighteen, Norse Sentinel Island made 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: the news when a young American missionary named John Alan 28 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: Chow was killed on the island after repeatedly ignoring Sentinely's 29 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: warnings to stay away. Choo was only the latest in 30 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: a line of unwelcome outsiders, including fishermen, merchants, escape convicts, 31 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: and filmmakers whose intrusions onto the island were met with 32 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: an angry volley of arrows. North Sentinel is part of 33 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: a large island chain called the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 34 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: currently a territory of the Indian Union. There are one 35 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,399 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty four islands in this tropical archipelago located 36 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: out in the northeast Indian Ocean between me and Maar 37 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,360 Speaker 1: and India. Only about thirty of the islands in the 38 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: chain are inhabited. In the seventeen hundreds, the islands were 39 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: explored by Dutch, Austrian and British merchant ships looking for 40 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: the best trade routes to the spice rich Indian subcontinent. 41 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: In seventeen seventy one, a ship from the British East 42 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: India Company was the first spot signs of life on 43 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: North Sentinel Island, cooking fires flickering in the night. The 44 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: first permanent European settlers arrived in the Andemen and Nicobar 45 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: Islands in the eighteen fifties, when the British built a 46 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: penal colony on Great Andaman Island to house colonial prisoners 47 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: from British ruled India. In eighteen ninety six, a prisoner 48 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: tried to escape on a raft and washed up on 49 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: the shore of North Sentinel. A search party found him 50 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: a few days later, dead from multiple arrows. The prisoner's 51 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: death confirmed previous reports from shipwrecked Indian merchants of unfriendly 52 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: greetings the island and its inhabitants remained unperturbed for another 53 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: half century. They were known to fire arrows at any 54 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: fishing vessel or naval ship that got too close to 55 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: its beaches. But in nineteen sixty seven, the Anthropological Survey 56 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: of India sent a team of twenty people, including police 57 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: and Indian authorities to attempt to make peaceful contact with 58 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: Sentinel Lease. However, instead of being greeted with the anticipated hostility, 59 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: the team landed their boat on an empty beach with 60 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: no people in sight. That first trip to the small island, 61 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: the anthropologists saw no central Leese at all. According to 62 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: one of the leaders of the expedition, the Sentinel Liese 63 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: must have seen the outsiders coming and gone into hiding. 64 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: The team followed footprints into the jungle until they came 65 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,799 Speaker 1: to a clearing with eighteen nicely built, leaned two huts. 66 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: Each home had a well tended fire in front of it, 67 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 1: and hastily abandoned meals of roasted fish and fruits. They 68 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: estimated that forty to fifty people lived in the village. 69 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: The anthropologists left gifts for the Sentinel lies coconuts, which 70 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,160 Speaker 1: don't grow on the island, iron rods, and plastic utensils, 71 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: but when they made further attempts at returned visits in 72 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,839 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and eighties, their contact party was repelled 73 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: each time. In the early nineteen nineties, the Anthropological Survey 74 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: of India made another attempt to establish contact with Sentinel Lees. 75 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 1: The outreach team included the first female anthropologist to join 76 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: the endeavor, the aforementioned Madamala Chettapadyai. She specialized in the 77 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: indigenous tribes of South Andaman Island, but had never been 78 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: to North Sentinel. Both Chettapadyai and her parents were required 79 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: to sign waivers from Indian officials, acknowledging the danger of 80 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: the expedition. When the team arrived offshore, the usual complement 81 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: of armed men appeared, but instead of gesturing angrily and 82 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 1: firing their weapons, the Sentinal Onliese calmly walked toward the shoreline. 83 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: Chettapadyai told the National Geographic we started floating coconuts over 84 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: to them. To our surprise, some of the sentinal onlies 85 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: came into the water to collect the coconuts. Perhaps it 86 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: was the presence of a woman, but for some reason, 87 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: the sentineallyiese let down their guard. Some of the men 88 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,239 Speaker 1: waded out to their boat and examined it. They happily 89 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: accepted all of the coconuts. They even allowed some of 90 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: the outsiders to walk around the beach and interact with 91 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: sentinely as women, teenagers, and children, but they were not 92 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: allowed to enter the jungle or see the village. Encouraged 93 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: by this interaction, the anthropologists returned a few months later 94 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: with a much larger team, but the situation quickly soured. 95 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,360 Speaker 1: The Sentinel Lees weren't satisfied with collecting floated coconuts, so 96 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: they boarded the ship and took the whole bag. One 97 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 1: Sentinel liese man even tried to grab one of the 98 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,840 Speaker 1: police officer's rifles, though he probably didn't know what it was, 99 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:32,479 Speaker 1: and the officer forcefully took it back. Chattapadyay said the 100 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: man got angry and whipped out his knife. He gestured 101 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: to us to leave immediately, and we left. Since nineteen 102 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: ninety six, Indian law has made it illegal for fishermen, tourists, researchers, 103 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 1: or other civilians to approach or Land on North Sentinel Island. 104 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,359 Speaker 1: In two thousand and six, two fishermen from me and 105 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: mar made an emergency landing on the island and were killed. 106 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: Their bodies buried in the sand. But that wasn't going 107 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,280 Speaker 1: to stop John Alan Chow a twenty six year old 108 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: evangelical Christian missionary and adventure blogger who hired local fishermen 109 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: to take him there in November of twenty eighteen. Choo 110 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: was part of an international movement of young adventurers who 111 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: yearned to bring Christianity to the unreached corners of the globe. 112 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: He was a well trained outdoorsman and received several rounds 113 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: of vaccinations to ensure that he didn't bring any outside 114 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: diseases to the Sentinelees. He chronicled his missionary trip in 115 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: a diary and came prepared to deal with any contingencies 116 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: of contact with hostile residents, including dental forceps for removing arrows. 117 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: When Chow first waded up to the island, he brought 118 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: a large fish as a gift. He wrote in his diary, 119 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: I hollered, my name is John, I love you, and 120 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: Jesus loves you. The Sentinelies responded with arrows. Chow came 121 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: back and dodged even more arrows, including one shot from 122 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: a young boy that pierced Chow's water Proof Bible, A. 123 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: Chow wrote that night, if you want me to actually 124 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: get shot or even killed with an arrow, then so 125 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: be it. I think I could be more useful alive, though, 126 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: But to you God, I give all the glory of 127 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: whatever happens. I don't want to die, but tragically, that 128 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: is what happened. According to the fisherman who smuggled Chow 129 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: to the island, they saw the Sentinel Liese drag his 130 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: body to the beach and bury it. The Indian government 131 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: was unable to recover his remains. In twenty twenty one, 132 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: the Anthropological Survey of India issued a document recommending a 133 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: hands off eyes on policy toward North Sentinel Island. Instead 134 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: of trying to visit, they say the government should offer 135 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:54,559 Speaker 1: protection to the Sentinel Liz's Eden from the Four Tees, travel, tour, 136 00:08:54,840 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: transport and trade, which is advice both wise and kind, 137 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:03,680 Speaker 1: considering that the Sentinel Ease have made it pretty clear 138 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: that that's what they'd prefer. Today's episode is based in 139 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:14,719 Speaker 1: the article why North Sentinel Island is off limits to 140 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: all visitors on how stuffworks dot com, written by Dave Ruse. 141 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with 142 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: how Stuffworks dot com, and it was produced by Tyler Klang. 143 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: Before more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 144 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.