Sentinelese Islander Warriors

On North Sentinel Island, the Sentinelese people are still holding out against colonisation. Any outsiders who approach the island are attacked, and this includes aircraft, which are fired upon with arrows. They are seagoing people, using outrigger canoes for fishing and travel.

However, they have avoided all outside contact and thus have managed to avoid the ravages of western diseases. However, with increasing pressure from poachers it is uncertain how long this can be avoided. Recently two poachers breached the island, but were killed immediately.

The Sentinelese are an inspiration - heroes not only of the Andamanese Islands, but of the entire Indigenous world. They even seem to be heroes to the mainstream. Recent photographs in the media of the warriors firing upon a helicopter were meant to elicit pity for the Sentinelese, "left behind" by the modern world. The articles backfired.

Responses from non-indigenous readers indicated more envy than pity. One reader, claiming to be sick of civilisation with nothing but work and bills and sex and worry, said, "I wish I was on the beach with my bow and arrow." Read more here.