TheAndaman and Nicobar Islands is aunion territory of India comprising 836 islands, of which only 31 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northernAndaman Islands and the southernNicobar Islands, separated by a 150 km (93 mi) widechannel. The capital and largest city of the territory,Port Blair (officially Sri Vijaya Puram), is located approximately 1,190 km (740 mi) fromChennai and 1,255 km (780 mi) fromKolkata inmainland India. The islands are situated between theBay of Bengal to the west and theAndaman Sea to the east. The northernmost point is 901 km (560 mi) from the mouth of theHooghly River.Indira Point, located at 6°45'10″N and 93°49'36″E on the southern tip ofGreat Nicobar, is the southernmost point of India.
Genetic and cultural studies suggest that the indigenous Andamanese people may have been isolated from other populations during theMiddle Paleolithic era, more than 30,000 years ago. Archeological evidence of civilisation has been dated back to 2,200 years. In the 11th century,Cholas, one of thethree Tamil kingdoms, used the islands as anaval base to launch expeditions in South East Asia. TheDanish were the first Europeans to arrive on the islands in 1755. The islands became part of theBritish Raj in 1868. During theSecond World War, the islands wereinvaded by theEmpire of Japan. AfterIndian Independence in 1947, the region became a province and later a union territory after the adoption of theConstitution of India in 1950.
The name Andaman might have been derived fromHanduman, after the Indian GodHanuman from theHindu epicRamayana.[5] The place was called with a similar name by theMalays, who used to be involved inslave trade in the region.[6] The place was also referred by various names such asAngademan byPtolemy in the 2nd century CE andAngamanian byMarco Polo in 13th century.[5] Nicobar, which was located in the sea route connectingSouth India toSouth East Asia, was known asNakkavaram, meaning "open/naked land" borrowed fromTamil language which later becameNicobar.[7] In themiddle ages (500-1500 AD), Nicobar was known asLankhabatus inArabia, probably a mis-transcription of the nameNakkavaram. An 11th-century workKathasaritsagar indicates the name asNarikel Dweep (meaning Coconut Island in Bengali).[7] Marco Polo termed the island asNecuverann, while the islands were known asLo-Jan Kuo in China, a translation ofNakkavar with the same meaning.[7]
Genetic and cultural studies suggest that the indigenousAndamanese people may have been isolated from other populations during the Middle Paleolithic era, which ended 30,000 years ago.[8] Archeological work on the islands has concentrated onshell midden sites.[9] The islands were mentioned byPtolemy in the 2nd century CE.[6][7]
TheNicobar islands existed on a major trade route connecting India to the South East Asia and had much contact with the outside world for centuries. But there are very few accounts of information as there was no written language with the indigenous people to document their history.[10] The islands appeared in the accounts of travellers likeFaxian in the 6th century andI-T'sing in the 7th century.[7]
In the 11th century,Rajendra Chola I of theChola dynasty ofTamilakam invaded parts of South East Asia using theNicobar islands as an intermediate naval base.[11][12] It was part of an established Chola trade route connecting India and South East Asia, a practice that continued during the subsequent reigns ofRajendra II andKulothunga I.[13][14] Chola inscriptions fromThanjavur, dated to 1050, describe the islands asMa-Nakkavaram meaning "great open/naked land" in Tamil.[15][16] The islands were later noted by Marco Polo in the 13th century andFriar Oderic in the early 14th century.[7][17]
The Europeancolonisation on the islands began when settlers from theDanish East India Company arrived on the Nicobar Islands on 12 December 1755.[18] On 1 January 1756, the Nicobar Islands were made into aDanish colony, first namedNye Danmark (New Denmark) and laterFrederiksøerne (Frederick's Islands).[19] The islands were managed from the Danish colony ofTranquebar in the Indian mainland. However, various attempts to settle on the islands were unsuccessful due to repeated outbreaks ofmalaria, which led to the death of the colonists.[10]
Between 1778 and 1783,William Bolts tried to establish anAustrian colony on the Nicobar islands, mistakenly assuming that the Danish had abandoned the claims to the islands, renaming themTheresa Islands.[20] In 1789, theBritish colonised theAndaman islands to set up anaval base and establish apenal colony.[21] In 1794, a first batch of 100 prisoners were sent to the island but the settlement was abandoned in 1796.[21]
In 1858, the British established a colony nearPort Blair.[22] Between 1864 and 1868,Italy tried to buy the island from the Danish. On 16 October 1868, the Danish sold the rights to the Nicobar islands to the British, which was made part of theBritish India in 1869.[10] In 1872, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were united under a single command and administered by a chief commissioner based out of Port Blair. The construction of theCellular Jail started in 1896 and was completed in 1906. The jail was used to housepolitical prisoners andindependence activists away from the Indian mainland.[23][24]
During theSecond World War, the islands were invaded by theJapanese as a part of their attack on theallies in 1942. Port Blair was captured by the Japanese on 23 March 1942 and established control over the island.[25] The provisional control was passed on to theAzad Hind ofSubhash Chandra Bose on 29 December 1943, based on the understanding with the Japanese with the islands renamed asShaheed-Dweep (Martyr Island) andSwaraj-dweep (Self-rule Island).[26] Bose appointed GeneralA. D. Loganathan as the governor of the islands, who had limited power while the real control of the islands remained with the Japanese.[26] In the years under Japanese occupation, there have been reports of widespreadlooting, arson, rape andextra judicial killings.[26][27]
Local people were often killed on trivial matters with the largest being theHomfreyganj massacre on 30 January 1944, where 44 local civilians were shot by the Japanese on suspicion of spying.[27] Japanese Vice Admiral Teizo Hara and Major-General Tamenori Sato surrendered toLieutenant ColonelNathu Singh, the commanding officer of theRajput Regiment on 15 August 1945 aboard theRoyal Navy shipRocksand and the territory was officially handed back over to the British to Brigadier J. A. Salomons, commander of the116th Indian Infantry Brigade, and Chief Administrator Noel Patterson, in a ceremony performed at the Gymkhana Ground in Port Blair on 7 October 1945.[28]
Approximately 2,000 people in the Andamans are thought to have died as a result of the occupation, and at least 501 were tortured by the Japanese. The former figure represents 10% of the pre-war population of Port Blair.[29]
During thePartition of India, the British announced their intention to retain possession of the islands and use them to resettleAnglo-Indians andAnglo-Burmese on these islands. The islands were claimed by theIndian National Congress for India and theMuslim League forPakistan during the partition negotiations.[30][31] After theIndian Independence in 1947, the islands became part of theDominion of India. As per theConstitution of India, the Islands were designated as the only part D territory in 1950, to be administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by theGovernment of India.[32] The islands were later used to resettle people displaced during the partition with a substantial number of displaced immigrants establishing agricultural colonies.[33] The islands became a separateunion territory administered by theGovernment of India, following there-organization in 1956.[34] The islands have been developed into a key defence establishment since the 1980s due to its strategic location in the Bay of Bengal across theStrait of Malacca.[35][36]
On 26 December 2004, the coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar islands experienced 10 m (33 ft) hightsunami waves followingan undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean which resulted in more than 2,000 casualties, 46,000 injuries and rendering at least 40,000 homeless.[37] The locals and tourists on the islands suffered the greatest casualties while the indigenous people largely survived unscathed due to movement to high grounds following the oral traditions passed down over generations that warned them toevacuate following earthquakes.[38]
The territory consists of 836islands andislets occupying an area of 8,249 km2 (3,185 sq mi), of which only 31 are permanently inhabited.[39] The islands extend from 6° to 14° Northlatitudes and from 92° to 94° Eastlongitudes.[40] The islands are grouped into the north Andaman islands and south Nicobar islands, separated by the 150 km (93 mi) wideTen Degree Channel.[39] The Andamans cover an area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi) while the Nicobar group covers an area of 1,841 km2 (711 sq mi).[39] The highest point is theSaddle Peak at 732 m (2,402 ft), located in North Andaman Island.[41]
The northernmost point of the islands is 901 km (560 mi) away from the mouth of theHooghly River in the Indian mainland. The territory sharesmaritime borders withIndonesia located about 165 km (103 mi) to the south,Myanmar located 280 km (170 mi) to the north-east andThailand located 650 km (400 mi) to the south-east.[42] Indira Point, the southernmost point of India, is located at 6°45'10″N and 93°49'36″E at the southern tip ofGreat Nicobar.[43] The capital and largest city is Port Blair (officiallySri Vijaya Puram[44]), located 1,190 km (740 mi) fromChennai and 1,255 km (780 mi) fromKolkata on the Indian mainland.[34]Barren Island, the onlyactive volcano in India, is located in the Andaman Sea.[45][46][47]
The islands have a 1,962 km (1,219 mi) long coast-line.[48] The topography of the territory varies significantly across various islands. The islands may have sandy, rockysandstone or marshy beaches on the coastlines and might be surrounded byshoals andcoral reefs.[49] The altitude varies significantly from completely flat islands to gradually raising topography from the coast to the interior in larger islands.[49] The islands are generally surrounded by shallow seas of varying depths in the vicinity with some deep natural bays occurring along certain coasts.[49] The islands have a moderate temperature around the year with the average ranging from 23 °C to 31 °C.[50] The islands have atropical climate with warm summers and not so chill winters.[50] The rainfall is dependent on themonsoons andtropical cyclones are common in late summer.[50]
The islands havemangroves interspersed with marshes,coconut trees or dispersed bushy vegetation along the coast.[49] There are twelve types of forests that occur in the islands includingevergreen,deciduous, mangrove,littoral,bamboo,sub-montane andbrackish water forests.[51]North Andaman is characterised by wet evergreen forests withclimbing plants,Middle Andaman has moist deciduous forests andSouth Andaman islands haveepiphytic vegetation, mostlyferns andorchids.[51] The North Nicobar islands are mostly barren withgrasslands while evergreen forests form the dominant vegetation in the central and southern islands of the Nicobar group.[51] The forest coverage is estimated to be 86.2% of the total land area with about 2,200 varieties of plants of which 200 areendemic and 1,300 do not occur in mainland India.[51] There are more than 200 species used for timber.[51]
Indian elephants were introduced in the islands during the 19th century to move timber
There are about 64 species of reptiles of which half of them are endemic to the islands.[52] More than 1350 species ofechinoderms andmolluscs and 200 species ofcorals are found in the seas surrounding the islands.[48] Larger marine species includesalt water crocodiles,dugongs,turtles,dolphins andwhales.[48] There are more than 1350 species offishes including 13fresh water species.[52] The islands are well known for prizedshellfish, the commercial exploitation of which began in the early 20th century.[51] The territory is home for about 896 species of winged insects including 225butterflies species.[52][51]
As per the2011 census, the population was 380,581, of which 202,871 (53.3%) were males and 177,710 (46.7%) were females.[2] The sex ratio was 878 females per 1,000 males.[63] There were a total of 94,551 households and about 143,488 (37.7%) of the population lived in urban areas.[2]Hinduism (69.5%) is the major religion of people of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands followed by Christianity (21.7%) andIslam (8.5%).[64]
The Andaman islands were populated by theindigenous people (theGreat Andamanese, theOnge, theJarawa and theSentinelese) who were isolated and spokeAndamanese languages for thousands of years.[65] The Nicobar islands, which was part of trade routes and was frequented by travellers, were populated byShompen people before the islands were settled byNicobarese people, who spokeAustroasiatic languages.[10] The islands include theNorth Sentinel Island, home to the Sentinelese people, among the only knownuncontacted tribe in India.[66] When the islands were first colonised, the population of the natives were estimated to be around 5,000 and while the population of islands temporarily increased during colonisation, the population saw a massive spike post-1960s due to the policies of the Union Government that encouraged settlers from other parts of the country.[67] In the early 21st century, the population of indigenous people has drastically dropped. As of 2016[update], it was estimated to consist of 44 Great Andamanese, 380 Jarawas, 101 Onges, 15 Sentinelese and 229 Shompens.[68] The Government of India is trying to protect the remnant population by providing access to healthcare facilities, communication and social engagement.[69][68]
Distribution of languages in Andaman and Nicobar (2011)[70]
The Andamanese people speak about a dozen endangered Andamanese languages, which belong to two families,Great Andamanese andOngan that are unrelated to each other or to any other language group.[71] There are two unattested languages:Sentinelese, spoken by Sentinelese people, who refuse contact with outsiders, which might be related to Ongan as perAnvita Abbi andJangil, which became extinct in the 1920s.[72][73] Indigenous to the Nicobar Islands are theShompen language, spoken by Shompen people and the fiveNicobarese languages, which form part of theAustroasiatic language family and are spoken by about 29,000 people or 7.6% of the population.[74][70]
The majority of the population, however, are speakers of immigrant languages which includeBengali (28.5%),Tamil (15.2%),Telugu (13.2%),Hindi (12.9%),Malayalam (7.2%).Sadri (5.5%), andKurukh (4%).[70]Hindi is the official language of the region, while English is declared an additional official language for communication purposes.[75]
The islands form a part of the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is administered by aLieutenant Governor on behalf of the Government of India.[76] The union territory was established in 1956 with a chief commissioner as the head of the administration.[77] In 1982, theLieutenant Governor replaced the Chief Commissioner as the head of administration.In 1981, a "Pradesh council" with councillors as representatives of the people was constituted to advise the Lieutenant Governor.[78] The territory sends one representative toLok Sabha of theIndian Parliament from itsAndaman and Nicobar Islands Lok Sabha constituency.[79] The territory is divided into three districts, each headed by a deputy commissioner.[80] TheCalcutta High Court has jurisdiction over the islands with a permanent seat at Port Blair.[81]
The indigenous communities have their own system of administration. There are long term settlements known asbaraij and short-term settlements known aschang. The coast-dwellers (aryoto) have semi-permanent settlements and the interior groups (eremtaga) dwell on temporary settlements, which enable them to migrate during dry seasons.[9]
As of 2022[update], theGSDP was₹103 billion (US$1.2 billion).[84] Agriculture is a major occupation with nearly 50% of the population engaged in the sector.[85] Only about 48,675 hectares (120,280 acres) of land, which is about 6% of the total land area, can be used for agriculture.[85]Rice is the main food crop, grown in about 20% of the arable land.[86] Most of the food for consumption is imported from mainland India.[85] Coconut andarecanut are the cash crops grown in the Nicobar islands.[85] Other crops includepulses,oilseeds, vegetables likeokra,brinjal,cucurbit andradish;spices andfruits such asmango,sapota, orange, banana,guava andpineapple.[87] Rubber,red oil,palm andcashew are grown on a limited scale in plantations.[87] The territory has anexclusive economic zone of more than 0.6 million sq. km, which contributes to the fishing industry. As of 2017[update], the region produced 27,526 tonnes of fish, mostly from marine sector with minor contribution from inland fisheries.[87]
As of 2008[update], there were 1,833 registered small-scale industries with majority being involved in engineering,woodworking and textiles apart from 21 factories.[88] District Industries Centre (DIC) is the body responsible for the development of small and medium industries in the islands.[88] Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO), established in 1988, is responsible for the development and economic growth of the islands.[88]
Tourism is one of the major contributors to the economy of the islands. The islands had more than 400,000 visitors in 2016 with a 94% contribution from domestic tourists.[85] In 2018, plans to develop facilities in various islands under the National Institute of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog was initiated by Government of India, with the aim of increasing tourist inflows.[89][85] Foreign tourists are issued Restricted Area Permits (RAP) which gives access to specific areas with conditions.[90] While domestic tourists do not require a permit to visit the accessible parts of the islands, the tribal reserves are forbidden and requires special permission for access.[91] The islands have many beaches due to its long coastline and variouswater sports are practised includingkayaking,scuba diving andparasailing.[92]
Major attractions include theCellular Jail, Chatham Saw Mill, Forest Museum, Samudrika Naval Marine Museum, Anthropological Museum, Fisheries Aquarium, Science Center and Carbyn's cove in Port Blair; Bharatpur, Lakshmanpur and Sitapur beaches inShaheed Dweep; Elephant and Radhanagar beaches inSwaraj Dweep; Hudi tikri, Red, Bird and Bat islands, Amkunj beach near Rangat; Dhaninallah mangroves and Karmatang beach near Mayabunder;limestone caves and mud volcanoes near Diglipur; Craggy island andRoss &Smith islands and various national parks and protected sanctuaries.[93]
As of 2018[update], there are 422 km (262 mi) longnational highways in the state with the major highway being the 230.7 km (143.4 mi) longNH 4 connecting Port Blair and Diglipur.[102][103]
There is no single power grid connecting all the islands and independent power houses caters to the power requirements of individual islands.[104] The islands have an installed power capacity of 68.46MW with majority of the power generated fromdieselpower plants and a singlehydroelectric powerplant of 5.25 MW on Kalpong river.[105] In 2016, a new 15 MWdieselpower plant was established in South Andaman withJapanese assistance.[106][107] Commissioned in June 2020, a 10 MWphotovoltaic power station is operated byNLC India in Port Blair.[108][109] In 2022, the government proposed additional power plants and infrastructure to be developed in Great Nicobar.[110]
^abcdWilliams, Victoria R. (2020).Indigenous Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture, History, and Threats to Survival. Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN979-8-216-10219-9.
^Hultzsch, E. (1991)."Inscriptions on the walls of the central shrine".South Indian Inscriptions: Tamil Inscriptions of Rajaraja, Rajendra Chola and Others in the Rajarajesvara Temple at Tanjavur (in Tamil). Vol. 2. Chennai: Superintendent, Government Press. p. 109. Retrieved21 September 2022.
^abDasgupta, Jayant (2002).Japanese in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Red Sun over black Water. Manas Publications. pp. 67, 87,91–95.ISBN978-8-170-49138-5.
^Wynn, Stephen (2020).The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan. Pen & Sword Books Limited. p. 124.ISBN978-1-473-86551-8.
^DasguptaRed Sun over Black Water pp. 101, 131, 133; MathurKala Pani pp. 254–55
^Murthy, R. V. R. (2007).Andaman and Nicobar Islands: A Geo-political and Strategic Perspective. Northern Book Centre. p. 117.ISBN978-8-172-11219-6.Muslim league pleaded with the British that Andaman and Nicobar should go to the proposed Pakistan
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