North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It lies to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island. Most of the island is forested. Because it is small, located away from the main settlements on Great Andaman, surrounded by coral reefs, and lacks natural harbors, it was never settled by Europeans.
A group of indigenous people, the Sentinelese, live on North Sentinel Island. They speak the Sentinelese language and their present numbers are estimated to be anywhere between 50 and 400 individuals. They reject any contact with other people, and are among the last people to remain virtually untouched by modern civilization.
Read more about North Sentinel Island: Geography, Political Status
Famous quotes containing the words north, sentinel and/or island:
“Civilization does not engross all the virtues of humanity: she has not even her full share of them. They flourish in greater abundance and attain greater strength among many barbarous people. The hospitality of the wild Arab, the courage of the North American Indian, and the faithful friendships of some of the Polynesian nations, far surpass any thing of a similar kind among the polished communities of Europe.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The sentinel with his musket beside a man with his umbrella is spectral. There is not sufficient reason for his existence.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Beyond this island bound
By a thin sea of flesh
And a bone coast ...”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)