![]() ![]() The IUCN Red List lists North Sentinel as being an important habitat for coconut crabs ( Birgus latro), which have been otherwise extirpated from most of the other Andaman Islands except from South Sentinel and Little Andaman. Indian boar ( Sus scrofa cristatus) are apparently found on the island and a major food source for the Sentinelese, with reports by Portman referring to a "huge heap" of pig skulls near a Sentinelese village. In his 1880 expedition to the island, Maurice Vidal Portman reported an open, "park-like" jungle with numerous groves of bulletwood ( Manilkara littoralis) trees, as well as huge, buttressed specimens of Malabar silk-cotton tree ( Bombax ceiba). Due to the lack of surveys, the exact composition of the terrestrial flora and fauna remain unknown. The island is largely covered in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest. Large tracts of the surrounding coral reefs were exposed and became permanently dry land or shallow lagoons, extending all the island's boundaries – by as much as one kilometre (3,300 ft) on the west and south sides – and uniting Constance Islet with the main island. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake tilted the tectonic plate under the island, lifting it by one to two metres (3 to 7 ft). A forested islet, Constance Island, also "Constance Islet", is located about 600 metres (2,000 ft) off the southeast coastline, at the edge of the reef. ![]() Reefs extend around the island to between 0.9 and 1.5 km (0.5–0.8 nmi) from the shore. There is a narrow, white-sand beach encircling the island, behind which the ground rises 20 metres (66 ft), and then gradually to between 46 and 122 metres (151 and 400 ft) : 257 near the centre. The entire island, other than the shore, is forested. North Sentinel is surrounded by coral reefs, and lacks natural harbours. It has an area of about 59.67 km 2 (23.04 sq mi) and a roughly square outline. North Sentinel lies 36 km (22 mi) west of the town of Wandoor in South Andaman Island, 50 km (31 mi) west of Port Blair, and 59.6 km (37.0 mi) north of its counterpart South Sentinel Island. In 2006, islanders killed two fishermen whose boat had drifted ashore, and in 2018 an American Christian missionary was killed after bribing local fishermen to transport him to the island. Such attacks have resulted in injury and death. ![]() The islanders have been observed shooting arrows at boats, as well as at low-flying helicopters. The Sentinelese have repeatedly attacked approaching vessels, whether the boats were intentionally visiting the island or simply ran aground on the surrounding coral reef. ![]() In November 2018, the government's home ministry stated that the relaxation of the prohibition on visitations was intended to allow researchers and anthropologists (with pre-approved clearance) to finally visit the Sentinel islands. In 2018, the Government of India excluded 29 islands – including North Sentinel – from the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) regime, in a major effort to boost tourism. In practice, Indian authorities recognise the islanders' desire to be left alone, restricting outsiders to remote monitoring (by boat and sometimes air) from a reasonably safe distance the Indian government will not prosecute the Sentinelese for killing people in the event that an outsider ventures ashore. Nominally, the island belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The area is patrolled by the Indian Navy. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Act of 1956 prohibits travel to the island, and any approach closer than 5 nautical miles (9.3 km), in order to protect the remaining tribal community from "mainland" infectious diseases which they (likely) have no acquired immunity against. It is home to the Sentinelese, an indigenous people in voluntary isolation who have defended, often by force, their protected isolation from the outside world. North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal which also includes South Sentinel Island. ![]()
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