North Sentinel Island and the Sentinelese Quiz

Answer: Bay of Bengal

North Sentinel Island lies in the Bay of Bengal, which is located in the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. The photo shows a Bengal tiger, which is the national animal of India.

Among the incorrect options, Horseshoe Bay is the name of a beach in Bermuda and a city in Texas, USA. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Vietnam. The site is renowned for its stunning limestone karst formations. The Bay of Fundy is a bay located in Canada and the USA.

Answer: Andaman Islands

North Sentinel Island is one of the 325 islands that make up the Andaman Islands, which is part of the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, administratively controlled by India.

Among the incorrect options, the Galapagos Islands belong to Ecuador. The Maluku Islands, also known as Moluccas, are located in eastern Indonesia. The Channel Islands are situated in the English Channel.

Answer: San Marino

With a total land area of 61.2 square kilometers (23.6 square miles), the Republic of San Marino is one of the world's smallest nations. It is an enclave within Italy.

Comparatively, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Sri Lanka are much larger. Saudi Arabia occupies a total land area of 2.15 million square kilometers (830,000 square miles). South Korea has a total land area of 100,363 square kilometers (38,750 square miles), whereas Sri Lanka has a total land area of 65,610 square kilometers (25,332 square miles).

Answer: Port Blair

Port Blair is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, one of India's eight union territories.

British politician Tony Blair (born 1953) served as the Prime Minister of the UK from 1997 to 2007.

Port Vila is the capital of Vanuatu, an island nation in the subregion of Melanesia. Port Moresby is the capital of Papua New Guinea, whereas Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius.

Answer: Nineveh

The 86 passengers and 20 crewmen on board the Nineveh ship were reported to have reached the beach of North Sentinel Island safely, but they were attacked by the Sentinelese on their third day on the island.

The captain described the Sentinelese as "perfectly naked, with short hair and red painted noses, and were opening their mouth and making sounds like 'pa on ough'". All passengers and crew were later rescued by the British Royal Army.

The photo depicts the aerial view of North Sentinel Island.

Answer: Maurice Portman

Maurice Vidal Portman (1860 - 1935) served as the Officer in Charge of the Andamanese between 1879 and 1899. In 1880, he led an expedition to North Sentinel Island. Upon the arrival of Portman's team, the native Sentinelese tribe fled.

Six Sentinelese individuals, including two adults and four children, were subsequently kidnapped and taken to the nearby city of Port Blair. Unfortunately, the two adults succumbed to diseases, while the children were eventually returned to the island. One of the officers recorded, "The old man and his wife died, so the four children were sent back to their home with quantities of presents."

In recognition of her convincing and memorable portrayal of the role of Nina Sayers in "Black Swan" (2010), Natalie Portman won the Academy Award for Best Actress during the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony held in 2011.

Answer: Leopold III

Leopold III (1901 - 1983) served as the King of Belgium from 1934 until 1951. His visit to the Andaman Islands, including an encounter near North Sentinel Island, was documented by Indian anthropologist Triloknath Pandit, who described the event as follows: " As soon as his [Leopold III] boat got too close, they [the Sentinelese] shot an arrow in his direction.

The king was overjoyed and said it was the best day of his life!"

Answer: Coconut

The milestone took place on 4 January 1991. The team led by Triloknath Pandit, also known by T. N. Pandit, dropped coconuts into the water as gifts to the Sentinelese. Prior to this friendly encounter, Pandit had visited the island frequently since 1967. Pandit was affiliated with the Anthropological Survey of India, where he served as the head of the Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre.

Answer: Tsunami

The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, also known as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, occurred on December 26, 2004. This devastating event resulted in more than 227,000 deaths and is considered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

Three days after the earthquake, a helicopter was dispatched to North Sentinel Island to observe the Sentinelese. To the officers' surprise, the Sentinelese survived the disaster. Upon sighting their arrival, the Sentinelese were reported to shoot arrows and throw spears at the helicopter.

Answer: Christianity

John Allen Chau (1991 - 2018) was born in Alabama, USA. In 2017, he joined a missionary boot camp organized by All Nations. He travelled to Port Blair in October 2018 and made multiple attempts to greet and communicate with the Sentinelese starting in November 2018. He paid two fishermen and convinced them to take him to North Sentinel Island.

During his final visit to the island on November 17, 2018, Chau instructed the fishermen to leave him there. Much to the fishermen's horror, they witnessed the Sentinelese dragging Chau's body, which was later found on the shore the following day.

The fishermen subsequently returned Chau's diary to his friend in Port Blair. Indian officials made several unsuccessful attempts to recover Chau's body from the island.

In an article published in "Anthropology Today", German anthropologist Michael Schönhuth responded to the incident and commented, "When we talk the situation of indigenous peoples, the disappearance of their cultures and so on, we should always think about our own desires and projections. It is this reversal of the gaze that also characterizes an anthropological reading of the case. It does not necessarily make the media event and the attitudes of its actors more understandable, but it is an invitation to reinterpret the media hype and our role within it by thus adopting a more informed approach towards a complex subject matter."