There are four tribes on India's Andaman Islands, for three of whom genocidal colonialism has proven devastating over the last 40 years. One holds its ground.
The four tribes of the Andaman Islands are the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge and the Sentinelese.
The Great Andamanese have been the worst affected by colonisation. Only one percent of their original population remains, after the original conflicts with British invaders and the ensuing genocidal welfare programs. The survivors have been marooned on Strait Island, a tiny rock, where they depend upon the Indian government for rations, including alcohol, abuse of which is further ravaging the 50 survivors.
The Jarawa people still live on their traditional homelands on the islands, but these have become overcrowded with mainland Indian "settlers". The Jarawa currently retain more survivors than the Great Andamanese because they managed to avoid colonial contact until the end of millennium. These hunter-gatherers have been forced into contact because of a highway built through their forest in the 1970's, which has resulted in exponential colonisation and exploitation of their forest homelands.
In recent years the Indian Supreme court ruled that the road be closed. However, it has remained open, and while these discourages many new settlers, it has not discouraged the plague of pimps, rapists and poachers who have descended upon female and animal populations with a vengeance.
The Onge are another Andaman tribe, who have lost two thirds of their land and over three quarters of their population since British occupation. Their remaining territory is shared with settlers on Little Andaman Island, most of which has now been deforested, making traditional hunting and gathering subsistence impossible. Once forced by the Indian government into plantation slavery, the Onge now have no livelihood, and live off government rations.
On North Sentinel Island, the Sentinelese people are still holding out. 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."
