| 5th | Top archipelagos |
| 62nd | Top etymologies of country subdivision names |
| Andaman Islands | |
| Coordinates | |
| Country |  India |
| Population | 314,084 |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
The Andaman Islands (Hindi: अण्डमान द्वीप समूह, pronounced [əɳɖəˈmɑːn ˈdʋiːp səˈmuːɦ] Tamil: அந்தமான் தீவுகள்) are a group of archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India. The Andaman Archipelago is an oceanic continuation of the Burmese Arakan Yoma range in the North and of the Indonesian Archipelago in the South. It includes some two hundred islands.[1]
Port Blair is the chief community on the islands, and the administrative centre of the Union Territory. The Andaman Islands form a single administrative district within the Union Territory, the Andaman district (the Nicobar district was separated and established as a new district in 1974). The population of the Andamans was 314,084 in 2001.
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The climate is typical of tropical islands of similar latitude. It is always warm, but with sea-breezes. Rainfall is irregular, but usually dry during the north-east, and very wet during the south-west, monsoons.
For information on the indigenous languages, see Andamanese languages
Of the slightly more than 300,000 people that live in the Andaman Islands, a small minority of about 1,000 are indigenous Adivasis of the Andamans. The rest are mainly divided between Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Punjabi speaking people from the mainland.[2]
The Andamanese is a collective term to describe the peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. The term includes the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Shompen, Sentinelese and the extinct Jangil. Anthropologically they are usually classified as Negritos, represented also by the Semang of Malaysia and the Aeta of the Philippines.
The Andamans are theorized to be a key stepping stone in a great coastal migration of humans from Africa via the Arabian peninsula, along the coastal regions of the Indian mainland and towards Southeast Asia, Japan and Oceania.[3] Genetic analysis indicates that male Onges and Jarawas almost exclusively belong to Haplotype D, which is also found in Tibet and Japan, but is rare on the Indian mainland and elsewhere in Asia.[4] However, this is a subclade of the D haplogroup not been seen outside of the Andamans, which marks the insularity of these tribes.[5] The only other group that is known to predominantly belong to haplogroup D are the Ainu aboriginal people of Japan.[6] Male Great Andamanese, unlike the Onge and the Jarawa, have a mixed presence of Y-chromosome haplogroups O, L, K and P, which places them between mainland Indian and Asian populations.[5]
The mtDNA distribution, which indicates maternal descent, describes all the Onge and a heavy majority of the Great Andamanese as belonging to haplogroup M, found ubiquitously in India, where it represents 60% of all maternal lineages.[5][7] Given the insularity of the Andamanese, this has led geneticists to believe that this haplogroup originated with the earliest settlers of India during the coastal migration that brought the ancestors of the Andamanese to the Indian mainland, the Andaman Islands and further afield to Southeast Asia.[8] Some anthropologists postulate that Southern India and Southeast Asia was once populated largely by Negritos similar to those of the Andamans,[3] and that some tribal populations in the south of India, such as the Irulas are remnants of that period.[9][10]
The name "Andaman" first appears in the work of Arab geographers of the ninth century,[citation needed] though it is uncertain whether ancient geographers like Ptolemy also knew of the Andamans but referred to them by a different name. They were also described as being inhabited by fierce cannibalistic tribes by the Persian navigator Buzurg ibn Shahriyar of Ramhormuz in his tenth century book Ajaib al-Hind (The wonders of India), in which he also mentioned an island he called Andaman al-Kabir (Great Andaman).[11][12] During the Chola dynasty period in South India (800-1200AD), which ruled an empire encompassing southeastern peninsular India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Maldives, and large parts of current day Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia,[13] the island group was referred to as Timaittivu (or impure islands).[14] Marco Polo briefly mentions the Andamans (calling them by the name "Angamanain"), although it is doubtful that he visited the islands himself because he also claimed that the human inhabitants had dogs' heads.[15] Another Italian traveler, Niccolò Da Conti (c. 1440), mentioned the islands and said that the name means "Island of Gold". A theory that became prevalent in the late nineteenth century, and has since gained momentum, is that the name of the islands derives from the Sanskrit language, by way of Malay, and refers to the deity, Hanuman.[16] In the Age of Exploration, travelers often noted the "ferocious hostility" of the Andamanese.
The Maratha admiral Kanhoji Angre used the Andamans as a base and "fought the British off these islands until his death in 1729." [1][17]
In 1789 the government of Bengal established a penal colony on Chatham Island in the southeast bay of Great Andaman, now known as Port Blair (after the British Army officer Col. Blair who founded it). After two years, the colony moved to the northeast part of Great Andaman and was named Port Cornwallis after Admiral William Cornwallis. However, there was much disease and death in the penal colony, and the government ceased operating it in May 1796.[1]
In 1824 Port Cornwallis was the rendezvous of the fleet carrying the army to the First Burmese War. In the 1830s and 1840s, shipwrecked crews who landed on the Andamans were often attacked and killed by the natives, alarming the British government. In 1855, the government proposed another settlement on the islands, including a convict establishment, but the Indian Rebellion of 1857 forced a delay in its construction. However, since the rebellion gave the British so many prisoners, it made the new Andaman settlement and prison an urgent necessity. Construction began in November 1857 at Port Blair using inmates' labor, avoiding the vicinity of a salt swamp that seemed to have been the source of many of the earlier problems at Port Cornwallis.
In 1867, the ship Nineveh wrecked on the reef of North Sentinel Island. The 86 survivors reached the beach in the ship's boats. On the 3rd day, they were attacked with iron-tipped spears by naked islanders. One person from the ship escaped in a boat. (Goodheart)
For some time sickness and mortality were excessively high, but swamp reclamation and extensive forest clearance continued. The Andaman colony acquired notoriety following the murder of the Viceroy Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo on a visit to the settlement (8 February 1872) by a Muslim convict, a Pathan from Afghanistan, named Sher Ali. In the same year the two island groups, Andaman and Nicobar, were united under a chief commissioner residing at Port Blair.
The garrison consists of 140 British and 300 Indian troops, with a few local European volunteers. The police are organised as a military battalion 643 strong. The number of convicts has somewhat diminished of late years and in 1901 stood at 11,947. The total population of the settlement, consisting of convicts, their guards, the supervising, clerical and departmental staff, with the families of the latter, also a certain number of ex-convicts and trading settlers and their families, numbered 16,106. The labouring convicts are distributed among four jails and nineteen stations; the self-supporters in thirty-eight villages. The elementary education of the convicts' children is compulsory. There are four hospitals, each under a resident medical officer, under the general supervision of a senior officer of the Indian medical service, and medical aid is given free to the whole population. The net annual cost of the settlement to the government is about six pounds per convict. The harbour of Port Blair is well supplied with buoys and harbour lights, and is crossed by ferries at fixed intervals, while there are several launches for hauling local traffic. On Ross Island there is a lighthouse visible for 19 miles (31 km). A complete system of signaling by night and day on the Morse system is worked by the police. Local posts are frequent, but there is no telegraph and the mails are irregular.
The above accounts, written while Britain still controlled India, may leave the impression that these settlements were a model of progressive penal reform. Indian accounts, however, paint a different picture. From the time of its development in 1858 under the direction of James Pattison Walker, and in response to the mutiny and rebellion of the previous year, the settlement was first and foremost a repository for political prisoners. The Cellular Jail at Port Blair when completed in 1910 included 698 cells designed for solitary confinement; each cell measured 4.5 m (15 ft) by 2.7 m (9 ft) with a single ventilation window 3 metres (10 ft) above the floor. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was one of the notable prisoners there.
This was the second concentration camp in the world, the first being in South Africa after the Boer War, and was founded by the British to suppress the Indian independence movement; the Indians imprisoned here referred to the Island and its prison as "Kala Pani" (Black water)[18] (See also movie by the same name, which deals with some of these events Kalapani[19]). While the exact number of prisoners who died in this camp is not fully known, it is estimated they number in the thousands (some of the names of the political prisoners who perished can be found here [20] - this list is predominantly of those from eastern India and is incomplete). Many more died of harsh treatment, as well as through the harsh living and working conditions, in this camp.[21]
The Viper Chain Gang Jail on Viper Island was reserved for troublemakers, and was also the site of hangings. In the 20th century it became a convenient place to house prominent members of India's independence movement.
The Andaman islands were later occupied by Japan during World War II. The islands were nominally put under the authority of the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind (Provisional Government of Free India) headed by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Netaji visited the islands during the war, and renamed them as Shaheed (Martyr) & Swaraj (Self-rule). On December 30, 1943 during the Japanese occupation, Subhas Chandra Bose, who was controversially allied with the Japanese, first raised the flag of Indian independence. General Loganathan, of the Indian National Army, was Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which had been annexed to the Provisional Government. After the end of the war they briefly returned to British control, before becoming part of the newly independent state of India.
At the close of the Second World War the British government announced its intention to abolish the penal settlement. The government proposed to employ former inmates in an initiative to develop the island's fisheries, timber, and agricultural resources. In exchange inmates would be granted return passage to the Indian mainland, or the right to settle on the islands. The penal colony was eventually closed on August 15, 1947 when India gained its independence. It has since served as a museum to the independence movement.
In 1974, a film crew and anthropologist Mr. Trilokinath Pandit attempted friendly contact by leaving a tethered pig, some pots and pans, some fruit and toys on the beach at North Sentinel Island. One of the islanders shot the film director in the thigh with an arrow. The following year, European visitors were repulsed with arrows. (Pandit, Goodheart, McGirk)
On August 2, 1981, the ship Primrose grounded on the North Sentinel Island reef. A few days later, crewmen on the immobile vessel observed small black men were carrying spears and arrows and building boats on the beach. The captain of the Primrose radioed for an urgent airdrop of firearms so the crew could defend themselves, but did not receive them. Heavy seas kept the islanders away from the ship. After a week, the crew were rescued by an Indian navy helicopter. (Goodheart)
On January 4, 1991, Mr. Pandit had the first known friendly contact with the Sentinelese. (McGirk)
Until 1996, the Jarawa met all visitors with flying arrows. From time to time they attacked and killed poachers on the lands reserved to them by the Indian government. They also killed some workers building the ATR Andaman Trunk Road, which traverses Jarawa lands. The first peaceful contact with the Jarawa occurred in 1996. Settlers found a teenage Jarawa boy named Emmei near Kadamtala town. The boy was immobilized with a broken foot. They took Emmei to a hospital where he received good care. Over several weeks, Emmei learned a few words of Hindi before returning to his jungle home. The following year, Jarawa individuals and small groups began appearing along roadsides and occasionally venturing into settlements to steal food. The ATR may have interfered with traditional Jarawa food sources. (Sekhsaria, Valelly, Survival)
In April 1998, American photographer John S Callahan organized the first surfing project in the Andamans, starting from Phuket in Thailand with the assistance of Southeast Asia Liveaboards (SEAL), a UK owned dive charter company. With a crew of international professional surfers including Chris Malloy (USA), Tamayo Perry (USA), James Catto (AUS), Hans Hagen (USA), Aaron Lambert (USA) and Josh Bradbury (USA), they cross the Andaman Sea on the yacht Crescent and clear formalities in Port Blair. The group proceeds to Little Andaman Island, where they spend ten days surfing several spots for the first time, including Jarawa Point near Hut Bay, and the long right reef point at the southwest tip of the island, named Kumari Point.
The resulting article in SURFER Magazine "Quest for Fire" from journalist Sam George puts the Andaman Islands on the surfing map for the first time http://www.surfermag.com/magazine/archivedissues/quest-for-fire/. Footage of the waves of the Andaman Islands also appears in the film "Thicker than Water", shot by cinematographer Jack Johnson, who later achieves worldwide fame as a popular musician.
Callahan goes on to make several more surfing projects in the Andamans, including a trip to the Nicobar Islands in 1999.
On 26 December 2004 the coast of the Andaman Islands was devastated by a 10-metre (33 ft) high tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
On 11 August 2009 a magnitude 7 earthquake struck near the Andaman Islands, causing a tsunami warning to go into effect.
Boa Sr, the last speaker of the ancient language Bo, died on Janaury 28, 2010, at the age of 85.[22]
The only airport in the islands is Vir Savarkar Airport in Port Blair, which has scheduled services to Kolkata and Chennai. The airport is under control of the Indian Air Force, so night flights are not allowed.
Due to the length of these routes and the small number of airlines flying to the islands, fares have traditionally been relatively expensive, although cheaper for locals than visitors.
Fares are high during peak seasons of spring and winter, but fares have been decreased over the time due to large expansion of aviation industry in India. Now going to Andaman through air is almost equal to the fares given via ship route.[citation needed]
The islands are prominently featured in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Sign of the Four, as well as in M.M. Kaye's "Death in the Andamans." The magistrate in Lady Gregory's play Spreading the News had formerly served in the islands. A principal character in the book "Six Suspects" (ISBN 0385608152) by Vikas Swarup is from the Andaman Islands.Kalapani (Malayalam) Kala Pani (hindi) Sirai Chaalai (tamil) a 1996 Indian film by Priyadarshan on freedom struggle and the lives of prisoners in Andaman Islands.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Coordinates: 12°30′N 92°45′E / 12.5°N 92.75°E
Andaman and Nicobar [1] are a large group of nearly 600 islands in the Bay of Bengal. Though they are a part of India, geographically, they are closer to Myanmar and Thailand than to the Indian mainland. They are grouped here with Southern India. They were just north of the epicenter of the "Boxing Day" quake of 2004, and were the site of dozens of aftershocks. The Nicobars were badly hit the by the resulting tsunami, while the Andamans escaped with a few bruises. With the exception of Little Andaman Island and the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, the rest of the tourist destinations are back up to speed.
Andaman and Nicobar islands are located in the Bay of Bengal. These islands are one of the few amazing islands in world, which has lots of hidden natural beauty on land as well as in deep sea also. Best time to explore the deep sea beauty in Andaman and Nicobar is from October to May. Water is clear at these beaches, which gives a very good visibility.
1400 km from mainland India and 1000 km from Thailand, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are one of the more remote spots on the planet. The original inhabitants are a bunch of aboriginal tribes who exist more or less out of the mainstream. There are some tribes who have had no contact whatsoever with the rest of the world. Of nearly 600 islands, only 9 are open to foreign tourists, and all of these are in the Andamans.
The islands exist in India's popular consciousness mainly because they were used as a penal colony by the British rulers to imprison rebels and freedom fighters, in addition to hardened criminals. Most of the inhabitants of these islands are in fact migrants from the mainland, some of them being descended from the prisoners.
During World War II, the Andamans were the only part of India briefly occupied by the Japanese. While notionally handed over to Subhash Chandra Bose's Free India, in practice the Japanese held the reins of power. The territory was run brutally — suspected resistance members were tortured and executed, and when food started to run out towards the end of the war, people were deported to uninhabited islands to fend for themselves as best they could.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands stretch out almost 500 km in length, with the Andamans in the north and the Nicobars in the south. The main island, aptly known as Great Andaman, is divided into 3 portions - North Andaman, Middle Andaman and South Andaman. Port Blair is located on South Andaman.
In the Andamans the main spoken languages are Bengali and Telugu. Tamil, English and Hindi are widely understood by the inhabitants of the islands that are open to tourism.
Non-Indians need a Restricted Area Permit to visit the islands, but these are now issued on arrival at the Port Blair airport. (If you plan to arrive by sea, you'll need to arrange your permit before arrival, either in Chennai or when applying for your Indian visa.) Visitors usually receive a 30 day permit, although some travellers arriving without a confirmed flight back have only received a 15 day permit. Ask for the full 30 days in your application; if you write in your return flight date, your permit will be issued to end on that date, which will cause unnecessary pain if you choose to extend your stay or, worse yet, get unexpectedly delayed by weather.
Permits can be extended by 15 days in Port Blair, for a maximum single stay of 45 days, although this extension is granted only in, to quote the local police guidelines, "deserving cases". You must then leave the islands and can return after 72 hours. The permit is checked when arriving at most islands, checking into hotels and booking ferries, and must be surrendered when you leave the islands, so don't lose it!
The permit allows overnight stays in the following locations: South Andaman Island, Middle Andaman Island and Little Andaman Island (except tribal reserves), Neil Island, Havelock Island, Long Island, Diglipur, Baratang, North Passage and islands in the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park (excluding Boat Hobday Island, Twin Island, Tarmugli Island, Malay Island and Pluto Island). Overnight stays in the Park are with permission only.
The permit allows for day-trips to: South Cinque Island, Ross Island, Narcondum Island, Interview Island, Brother Island, Sister Island and Barren Island (Barren Island can be visited on board vessels only, no landing is possible).
Indian nationals do not require a permit to visit the Andamans. However, permits are required to visit Nicobar Islands and other tribal areas, which are rarely given. Application on a prescribed form may be addressed to the Deputy Commissioner, Andaman District, Port Blair.
For now the only way to reach the Andamans by air is from the Indian mainland to Port Blair. There are talks of opening up flights from Bangkok, which could drastically change the situation in the islands, but as of 2009 these remain just plans. Flights can fill up in peak season and immigration doesn't look kindly on people arriving without confirmed flights back, so book a return ticket and change the flight date if you decide to hang around longer.
Flights to Port Blair are not really "low-cost", if compared to the same airlines' mainland India flights, but still cheaper than any other way to get to islands. Price varies significantly with date, so if your travel dates aren't fixed, you can save significantly by choosing the right day to fly. Advance booking (available on respective airline's website) at least several days before trip is recommended.
Port Blair's Vir Sarvarkar Airport is probably one of the most quaint and idyllic airport in India. There is a scenic view point where the whole airport can be seen. There are no night flights as the airport is handed over to the Indian Air Force after 3pm.
It is still possible to take a ship from Kolkata, Chennai or Visakhapatnam which takes almost 4 days to arrive in Port Blair. However, with the arrival of the Kingfisher Red flights that allow foreigners to fly for the same rate as Indians, and cost about the same as the boat, there is little reason to spend 4 days at sea unless you're in it for the experience. Apparently at the same time of the new flights arriving the ship operators stopped letting foreigners into the most basic budget class, which would actually make this more expensive than flying. Facilities are basic and, in a bizarre incident in 2003, an Israeli tourist was stabbed to death by the ship's cook.
Andaman and Nicobar are a vast archipelago, and aside from some erratic, infrequent and expensive helicopter shuttles, passenger ferries are the only way to get between the islands.
All passenger transport in the islands is handled by the government-run Directorate of Shipping Services (DSS), which also runs the ferries back to the mainland. The DSS operates basically two kinds of vessels: small "tourist" ferries, and larger "local" ferries. Despite the names, fares are more or less identical on both, at Rs.150-200 one way from Port Blair to Havelock Island.
Tourist ferries seat about 100 people in padded bucket seats in a notionally air-conditioned cabin (which can still get sweltering hot). While you can access the top deck, there are no seats, shade or shelter outside. These boats are fast(er) and seaworthy, but top-heavy, and sway quite a bit in high seas. There is no canteen on board, so bring snacks or at least drinks.
Local ferries are considerably larger, seating up to 400 in two levels: padded "bunk" or "luxury" seating upstairs, and plain old benches on the "deck" downstairs. Neither class is air-conditioned, but ocean breezes keep temperatures tolerable, and a canteen dishes out chai, samosas and bottled water. Due to their larger size, they're more stable in heavy seas, but take about twice as long as tourist ferries to get anywhere.
There's a new a/c catamaran ferry from Port Blair to Havelock. Tickets are 600, 700 or 1000 (which gets you a leather seat and your own tv) and can be booked from a dedicated ticket booking window at Port Blair, thus avoiding the queue barging, and through your guesthouse (or wild orchid, emerald gecko & andaman bubbles) on Havelock.
In high season demand often exceeds supply, so book your tickets at least one day in advance, either through a travel agent or directly at Port Blair's harbour. Ferry ticket booking has now been computerised. This means you can book any ferry from any jetty - i.e. Rangat to Havelock from the Diglipur ferry jetty. This obviously depends on the computers working! Services may be changed or cancelled at short notice due to inclement weather, notably cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. If you're prone to sea-sickness, pop a pill an hour before you get on board.
Most people come here for the beaches and the scuba diving, especially on Havelock Island and Neil Island.
The only place with historical attractions of note is Port Blair, which houses both British-era colonial buildings, including the notorious Cellular Jail, and a few World War II bunkers dating from the brief Japanese occupation.
Neil Island: It is an amazing beautiful island with lush green forests and sandy beaches. This island is located at a distance of around 36 kms from the Port Blair. This is a perfect outing and holiday destination for the Eco-tourists.
Seafood is the order of the day. From upscale restaurants in Port Blair to local dhabas on Havelock, fish abounds. Be prepared to pay a little more for good fish and seafood dishes than for standard indian food, but it's well worth it. Basic Indian food is also available, and as cheap as on the mainland in most of the small dhabas. Resort restaurants on Havelock can also whip up a limited set of more or less Western dishes, but the resort restaurants are pretty expensive for Indian standards.
There are a variety of hotels around the islands which are run by Andaman & Nicobar Tourism. You can book all A&N tourism hotels both in person at A&N tourism in Port Blair, by phone on 03192 232694, or by email on accomodation@and.nic.in. Hours are 0830-1100,1400-1500.
The Andamans are a fairly safe destination. Tourism is still in its early stages which makes it almost hassle free. That said, you should keep your wits about you as you would anywhere.
The Andaman Islands are the home of some of the last uncontacted tribes of Eurasia. These tribes have resisted modernization for some time. An example of these tribes is the Sentinelese tribe, who inhabit North Sentinel Island. They maintain their sovereignty over the island and are hostile towards outsiders. However, as a tourist, you will go nowhere near them, so this is not really an issue.
The Andaman Islands are home to a population of Saltwater Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), which can grow up to 30 feet in length (although rarely more than 16 feet, the biggest on record being 28.7 feet long). While they are of course capable of attacking humans it is extremely rare to find these reptiles anywhere near a public beach as they prefer mangrove river systems, although they are very common on beaches within close proximity to river mouths and estuaries. That being said, don't expect anything near population sizes you'd experience in Australia or New Guinea.
Andaman and Nicobar are malarial, although generally no more so than mainland India.
The Indian country code applies here (91) and the area code for the entire Andamans is (3192). So, from outside India, you dial +913192xxxxxx. Within India, you dial 03192xxxxxx.
Mobile phone coverage nominally exists on many islands, but the coverage is poor and dropped signals are the norm. State owned BSNL, and private operators Airtel and Vodafone-Essar are the operators providing mobile services there. Landlines are frequent in Port Blair, but more erratic as you move around the islands.
Internet access is slow but tolerable in Port Blair, and glacially slow and unreliable anywhere else. Don't count on being able to do anything more than check your mails, if even that.
Tourism is still relatively new on the Andamans and as such the traveler has a special responsibility in guiding its developement. Leave the bikinis on the beach, and even then use discretion. Remember that this is India and local women are very conservative in their attire. Alcohol should be consumed on the premises of your hotel. The quiet and peacefulness of the islands are one of its best assets... help to maintain these. This is emphatically not Goa, and any attempt to turn it into that would be absolutely shameful.
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ANDAMAN ISLANDS, a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal. Large and small, they number 204, and lie 590 m. from the mouth of the Hugli, 120 m. from Cape Negrais in Burma, the nearest point of the mainland, and 340 m. from the northern extremity of Sumatra. Between the Andamans and Cape Negrais intervene two small groups, Preparis and Cocos; between the Andamans and Sumatra lie the Nicobar Islands, the whole group stretching in a curve, to which the meridian forms a tangent between Cape Negrais and Sumatra; and though this curved line measures 700 m., the widest sea space is about 91 m. The extreme length of the Andaman group is 219 m. with an extreme width of 32 m. The main part of it consists of a band of five chief islands, so closely adjoining and overlapping each other that they have long been known collectively as "the great Andaman." The axis of this band, almost a meridian line, is 156 statute miles long. The five islands are in order from north to south: North Andaman (51 m. long); Middle Andaman (59 m.); South Andaman (49 m.); Baratang, running parallel to the east of the South Andaman for 17 m. from the Middle Andaman; and Rutland Island (11 m.). Four narrow straits part these islands: Austin Strait, between North and Middle Andaman; Homfray's Strait between Middle Andaman and Baratang, and the north extremity of South Andaman; Middle (or Andaman) Strait between Baratang and South Andaman; and Macpherson Strait between South Andaman and Rutland Island. Of these only the last is navigable by ocean-going vessels. Attached to the chief islands are, on the extreme N., Landfall Islands, separated by the navigable Cleugh Passage; Interview Island, separated by the very narrow but navigable Interview Passage, off the W. coast of the Middle Andaman; the Labyrinth Island off the S.W. coast of the South Andaman, through which is the safe navigable Elphinstone Passage; Ritchie's (or the Andaman) Archipelago off the E. coast of the South Andaman and Baratang, separated by the wide and safe Diligent Strait and intersected by Kwangtung Strait and the Tadma Juru (Strait). Little Andaman, roughly 26 m. by 16, forms the southern extremity of the whole group and lies 31 m. S. of Rutland Island across Duncan Passage, in which lie the Cinque and other islands, forming Manners Strait, the main commercial highway between the Andamans and the Madras coast. Besides these are a great number of islets lying off the shores of the main islands. The principal outlying islands are the North Sentinel, a dangerous island of about 28 sq. m., lying about 18 m. off the W. coast of the South Andaman; the remarkable marine volcano, Barren Island (1 so ft.), quiescent for more than a century, 71 m. N.E. of Port Blair; and the equally curious isolated mountain, the extinct volcano of Narcondam, rising 2330 ft. out of the sea, 71 m. E. of the North Andaman. The land area of the Andaman Islands is 2 508 sq. m. About 18 m. to the W. of the Andamans are the dangerous Western Banks and Dalrymple Bank, rising to within a few fathoms of the surface of the sea and forming, with the two Sentinel Islands �, the tops of a line of submarine hills parallel to the Andamans. Some 40 m. distant to the E. is the Invisible Bank, with one rock just awash; and 34 m. S.E. of Narcondam is a submarine hill rising to 377 fathoms below the surface of the sea. Narcondam, Barren Island and the Invisible Bank, a great danger of these seas, are in a line almost parallel to the Andamans inclining towards them from north to south. Topography. - The islands forming Great Andaman consist of a mass of hills enclosing very narrow valleys, the whole covered by an exceedingly dense tropical jungle. The hills rise, especially on the east coast, to a considerable elevation: the chief heights being in the North Andaman, Saddle Peak (2400 ft.); in the Middle Andaman, Mount Diavolo behind Cuthbert Bay (1678 ft.); in the South Andaman, Koiob (1505 ft.), Mount Harriet (1193 ft.) and the Cholunga range (1063 ft.); and in Rutland Island, Ford's Peak (1422 ft.). Little Andaman, with the exception of the extreme north, is practically flat. There are no rivers and few perennial streams in the islands. The scenery is everywhere strikingly beautiful and varied, and the coral beds of the more secluded bays in its harbours are conspicuous for their exquisite colouring.
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The coasts of the Andamans are deeply indented, giving existence to a number of safe harbours and tidal creeks, which are often surrounded by mangrove swamps. The chief harbours, some of which are very capacious, are (starting northwards from Port Blair, the great harbour of South Andaman) on the E. coast: Port Meadows, Colebrooke Passage, Elphinstone Harbour (Homfray's Strait), Stewart Sound and Port Cornwallis. The last three are very large. On the W. coast: Temple Sound, Interview Passage, Port Anson or Kwangtung Harbour (large), Port Campbell (large), Port Mouat and Macpherson Strait. There are besides many other safe anchorages about the coast, notably Shoal Bay and Kotara Anchorage in the South Andaman; Cadell Bay and the Turtle Islands in the North Andaman; and Outram Harbour and Kwangtung Strait in the archipelago. The whole of the Andamans and the outlying islands were completely surveyed topographically by the Indian Survey Department under Colonel Hobday in 1883-1886, and the surrounding seas were charted by Commander Carpenter in 1888-1889.
==Geology== The Andaman Islands, in conjunction with the other groups mentioned above, form part of a lofty range of submarine mountains, 700 m. long, running from Cape Negrais in the Arakan Yoma range of Burma, to Achin Head in Sumatra. This range separates the Bay of Bengal from the Andaman Sea; and it contains much that is geologically characteristic of the Arakan Yoma, and formations common also to the Nicobars and to Sumatra and the adjacent islands. The older rocks are early Tertiary or late Cretaceous but there are no fossils to indicate age. The newer rocks, common also to the Nicobars and Sumatra, are in Ritchie's Archipelago chiefly and contain radiolarians and foraminifera. There is coral along the coasts everywhere, and the Sentinel Islands are composed of the newer rocks with a superstructure of coral. A theory of a still continuing subsidence of the islands was formed by Kurz in 1866 and confirmed by Oldham in 1884. Signs of its continuance are found on the east coast in several places. Barren Island is a volcano of the general Sunda group which includes also the Pegu group to which Narcondam belongs. Barren Island was last in eruption in 1803, but there is still a thin column of steam from a sulphur bed at the top and a variable hot spring at the point where the last outburst of lava flowed into the sea.
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Rarely affected by a cyclone, though within the influence of practically every one that blows in the Bay of Bengal, the Andamans are of the greatest importance because of the accurate information relating to the direction and intensity of storms which can be communicated from them better than from any other point in the bay, to the vast amount of shipping in this part of the Indian Ocean. Trustworthy information also regarding the weather which may be expected in the north and east of India, is obtained at the islands, and this proves of the utmost value to the controllers of the great trades dependent upon the rainfall. A well-appointed meteorological station has been established at Port Blair since 1868. Speaking generally, the climate of the Andamans themselves may be described as normal for tropical islands of similar latitude. It is warm always, but tempered by pleasant sea-breezes; very hot when the sun is northing; irregular rainfall, but usually dry during the north-east, and very wet during the south-west monsoon. Not only does the rainfall at one place vary from year to year, but there is an extraordinary difference in the returns for places quite close to one another. The official figures in inches for the station at Port Blair, which is situated in by far the driest part of the settlement, were: - A tidal observatory has also been maintained at Port Blair since 1880.
==Flora== A section of the Forest Department of India has been established in the Andamans since 1883, and in the neighbourhood of Port Blair 156 sq. m. have been set apart for regular forest operations which are carried on by convict labour. The chief timber of indigenous growth is padouk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides) used for buildings, boats, furniture, fine joinery and all purposes to which teak, mahogany, hickory, oak and ash are applied. This tree is widely spread and forms a valuable export to European markets. Other first-class timbers are koko (Albizzia lebbek), white chuglam (Terminalia bialata), black chuglam (Myristica irya), marble or zebra wood (Diospyros kurzii) and satin-wood (Murraya exotica), which differs from the satinwood of Ceylon (Chloroxylon swietenia). All of these timbers are used for furniture and similar purposes. In addition there are a number of second-and third-class timbers, which are used locally and for export to Calcutta. Gangaw (Messua ferrea) the Assam iron-wood, is suitable for sleepers; and didu (Bombax insigne) is used for tea-boxes and packing-cases. Among the imported flora are tea, Siberian coffee, cocoa, Ceara rubber (which has not done well), Manila hemp, teak, cocoanut and a number of ornamental trees, fruit-trees, vegetables and garden plants. Tea is grown in considerable quantities and the cultivation is under a department of the penal settlement. The general character of the forests is Burmese with an admixture of Malay types. Great mangrove swamps supply unlimited fire-wood of the best quality. The great peculiarity of Andaman flora is that, with the exception of the Cocos islands, no cocoanut palms are found in the archipelago.
==Fauna== Animal life is generally deficient throughout the Andamans, especially as regards mammalia, of which there are only nineteen separate species in all, twelve of these being peculiar to the islands. There is a small pig (Sus andamanensis), important to the food of the people, and a wild cat (Paradoxurus tytleri); but the bats(sixteen species) and rats(thirteen species) constitute nearly three-fourths of the known mammals. This paucity of animal life seems inconsistent with the theory that the islands were once connected with the mainland. Most of the birds also are derived from the distant Indian region, while the IndoBurmese and Indo-Malayan regions are represented to a far less degree. Rasorial birds, such as peafowl, junglefowl, pheasants and partridges, though well represented in the Arakan hills, are rare in the islands; while a third of the different species found are peculiar to the Andamans. Moreover, the Andaman species differ from those of the adjacent Nicobar Islands. Each group has its distinct harrier-eagle, red-cheeked paroquet, oriole, sunbird and bulbul. Fish are very numerous and many species are peculiar to the Andaman seas. Turtles are abundant and supply the Calcutta market. Of imported animals, cattle, goats, asses and dogs thrive well, ponies and horses indifferently, and sheep badly, though some success has been achieved in breeding them.
The Andaman Islands, so near countries that have for ages attained considerable civilization and have been the seat of great empires, and close to the track of a great commerce which has gone on at least 2000 years, are the abode of savages as low in civilization as almost any known on earth. Our earliest notice of them is in a remarkable collection of early Arab notes on India and China (A.D. 851) which accurately represents the view entertained of this people by mariners down to modern times. "The inhabitants of these islands eat men alive. They are black, with woolly hair, and in their eyes and countenances there is something quite frightful .... They go naked and have no boats. If they had, they would devour all who passed near them. Sometimes ships that are windbound and have exhausted their provision of water, touch here and apply to the natives for it; in such cases the crews sometimes fall into the hands of the latter and most of them are massacred." The traditional charge of cannibalism has been very persistent; but it is entirely denied by the islanders themselves, and is now and probably always has been untrue. Of their massacres of shipwrecked crews, even in quite modern times, there is no doubt, but the policy of conciliation unremittingly pursued for the last forty years has now secured a friendly reception for shipwrecked crews at any port of the islands except the south and west of Little Andaman and North Sentinel Island. The Andamanese are probably the relics of a negro race that once inhabited the S.E. portion of Asia and its outlying islands, representatives of which are also still to be found in the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines. Their antiquity and their stagnation are attested by the remains found in their kitchen-middens. These are of great age, and rise sometimes to a height exceeding 15 ft. The fossil shells, pottery and rude stone implements, found alike at the base and at the surface of these middens, prove that the habits of the islanders have not varied since a remote past, and lead to the belief that the Andamans were settled by their present inhabitants some time during the Pleistocene period, and certainly no later than the Neolithic age. The population is not susceptible of accurate computation, but probably it has always been small. The estimated total at a census taken in 1901 was only 2000. Though all descended from one stock, there are twelve distinct tribes of the Andamanese, each with its own clearly-defined locality, its own distinct variety of the one fundamental language and to a certain extent its own separate habits. Every tribe is divided into septs fairly well defined. The tribal feeling may be expressed as friendly within the tribe, courteous to other Andamanese if known, hostile to every stranger, Andamanese or other. Another division of the natives is into Aryauto or long-shore-men, and the Eremtaga or jungle-dwellers. The habits and capacities of these two differ, owing to surroundings, irrespectively of tribe. Yet again the Andamanese can be grouped according to certain salient characteristics: the forms of the bows and arrows, of the canoes, of ornaments and utensils, of tattooing and of language. The average height of males is 4 ft. 102 in.; of females, 4 ft. 6 in. Being accustomed to gratify every sensation as it arises, they endure thirst, hunger, want of food and bodily discomfort badly. The skin varies in colour from an intense sheeny black to a reddish-brown on the collar-bones, cheeks and other parts of the body. The hair varies from a sooty black to dark and light brown and red. It grows in small rings, which give it the appearance of growing in tufts, though it is really closely and evenly distributed over the whole scalp. The figures of the men are muscular and well-formed and generally pleasing; a straight, well-formed nose and jaw are by no means rare, and the young men are often distinctly good-looking. The only artificial deformity is a depression of the skull, chiefly among one of the southern tribes, caused by the pressure of a strap used for carrying loads. The pleasing appearance natural to the men is not a characteristic of the women, who early have a tendency to stoutness and ungainliness of figure, and sometimes to pronounced prognathism. They are, however, always bright and merry, are under no special social restrictions and have considerable influence. The women's heads are shaved entirely and the men's into fantastic patterns. Yellow and red ochre mixed with grease are coarsely smeared over the bodies, grey in coarse patterns and white in fine patterns resembling tattoo marks. Tattooing is of two distinct varieties. In the south the body is slightly cut by women with small flakes of glass or quartz in zigzag or lineal patterns downwards. In the north it is deeply cut by men with pig-arrows in lines across the body. The male matures when about fifteen years of age, marries when about twenty-six, begins to age when about forty, and lives on to sixty or sixty-five if he reaches old age. Except as to the marrying age, these figures fairly apply to women. Before marriage free intercourse between the sexes is the rule, though certain conventional precautions are taken to prevent it. Marriages rarely produce more than three children and often none at all. Divorce is rare, unfaithfulness after marriage not common and incest unknown. By preference the Andamanese are exogamous as regards sept and endogamous as regards tribe. The children are possessed of a bright intelligence, which, however, soon reaches its climax, and the adult may be compared in this respect with the civilized child of ten or twelve. The Andamanese are, indeed, bright and merry companions, busy in their own pursuits, keen sportsmen, naturally independent and not lustful, but when angered, cruel, jealous, treacherous and vindictive, and always unstable - in fact, a people to like but not to trust. There is no idea of government, but in each sept there is a head, who has attained that position by degrees on account of some tacitly admitted superiority and commands a limited respect and some obedience. The young are deferential to their elders. Offences are punished by the aggrieved party. Property is communal and theft is only recognized as to things of absolute necessity, such as arrows, pigs' flesh and fire. Fire is the one thing they are really careful about, not knowing how to renew it. A very rude barter exists between tribes of the same group in regard to articles not locally obtainable. The religion consists of fear of the spirits of the wood, the sea, disease and ancestors, and of avoidance of acts traditionally displeasing to them. There is neither worship nor propitiation. An anthropomorphic deity, Puluga, is the cause of all things, but it is not necessary to propitiate him. There is a vague idea that the "soul" will go somewhere after death, but there is no heaven nor hell, nor idea of a corporeal resurrection. There is much faith in dreams, and in the utterances of certain "wise men," who practise an embryonic magic and witchcraft. The great amusement of the Andamanese is a formal night dance, but they are also fond of simple games. The bows differ altogether with each group, but the same two kinds of arrows are in general use: (1) long and ordinary for fishing and other purposes; (2) short with a detachable head fastened to the shaft by a thong, which quickly brings pigs up short when shot in the thick jungle. Bark provides material for string, while baskets and mats are neatly and stoutly made from canes and buckets out of bamboo and wood. None of the tribes ever ventures out of sight of land, and they have no idea of steering by sun or stars. Their canoes are simply hollowed out of trunks with the adze and in no other way, and it is the smaller ones which are outrigged; they do not last long and are not good sea-boats, and the story of raids on Car Nicobar, out of sight across a stormy and sea-rippled channel, must be discredited. Honour is shown to an adult when he dies, by wrapping him in a cloth and placing him on a platform in a tree instead of burying him. At such a time the encampment is deserted for three months. The Andaman languages are extremely interesting from the philological standpoint. They are agglutinative in nature, show hardly any signs of syntactical growth though every indication of long etymological growth, give expression to only the most direct and the simplest thought, and are purely colloquial and wanting in the modifications always necessary for communication by writing. The sense is largely eked out by manner and action. Mincopie is the first word in Colebrooke's vocabulary for "Andaman Island, or native country," and the term - though probably a mishearing on Colebrooke's part for Mongebe (" I am an Onge," i.e. a member of the Onge tribe) - has thus become a persistent book-name for the people. Attempts to civilize the Andamanese have met with little success either among adults or children. The home established near Port Blair is used as a sort of free asylum which the native visits according to his pleasure. The policy of the government is to leave the Andamanese alone, while doing what is possible to ameliorate their condition.
The point of enduring interest as regards the Andamans is the penal system, the object of which is to turn the life-sentence and few long-sentence convicts, who alone are sent to the settlement, into honest, self-respecting men and women, by leading them along a continuous course of practice in self-help and self-restraint, and by offering them every inducement to take advantage of that practice. After ten years' graduated labour the convict is given a ticket-of-leave and becomes selfsupporting. He can farm, keep cattle, and marry or send for his family, but he cannot leave the settlement or be idle. With approved conduct, however, he may be absolutely released after twenty to twenty-five years in the settlement; and throughout that time, though possessing no civil rights, a quasi-judicial procedure controls all punishments inflicted upon him, and he is as secure of obtaining justice as if free. There is an unlimited variety of work for the labouring convicts, and some of the establishments are on a large scale. Very few experts are employed in supervision; practically everything is directed by the officials, who themselves have first to learn each trade. Under the chief commissioner, who is the supreme head of the settlement, are a deputy and a staff of assistant superintendents and overseers, almost all Europeans, and sub-overseers, who are natives of India. All the petty supervising establishments are composed of convicts. The garrison consists of 140 British and 300 Indian troops, with a few local European volunteers. The police are organized as a military battalion 643 strong. The number of convicts has somewhat diminished of late years and in 1901 stood at 11,947. The total population of the settlement, consisting of convicts, their guards, the supervising, clerical and departmental staff, with the families of the latter, also a certain number of ex-convicts and trading settlers and their families, numbered 16,106. The labouring convicts are distributed among four jails and nineteen stations; the self-supporters in thirtyeight villages. The elementary education of the convicts' children is compulsory. There are four hospitals, each under a resident medical officer, under the general supervision of a senior officer of the Indian medical service, and medical aid is given free to the whole population. The net annual cost of the settlement to the government is about £6 per convict. The harbour of Port Blair is well supplied with buoys and harbour lights, and is crossed by ferries at fixed intervals, while there are several launches for hauling local traffic. On Ross Island there is a lighthouse visible for 19 m. A complete system of signalling by night and day on the Morse system is worked by the police. Local posts are frequent, but there is no telegraph and the mails are irregular.
It is uncertain whether any of the names of the islands given by Ptolemy ought to be attached to the Andamans; yet it is probable that his name itself is traceable in the Alexandrian geographer. Andaman first appears distinctly in the Arab notices of the 9th century, already quoted. But it seems possible that the tradition of marine nomenclature had never perished; that the 'AyaOov SaL�ovos vijvos was really a misunderstanding of some form like Agdaman, while Ni crot Bapouavac survived as Lanka Balus, the name applied by the Arabs to the Nicobars. The islands are briefly noticed by Marco Polo, who probably saw without visiting them, under the name Angamanain, seemingly an Arabic dual, "The two Angamans," with the exaggerated but not unnatural picture of the natives, long current, as dog-faced Anthropophagi. Another notice occurs in the story of Nicolo Conti (c. 1440), who explains the name to mean "Island of Gold," and speaks of a lake with peculiar virtues as existing in it. The name is probably derived from the Malay Handuman, coming from the ancient Hanuman (monkey). Later travellers repeat the stories, too well founded, of the ferocious hostility of the people; of whom we may instance Cesare Federici (1569), whose narrative is given in Ramusio, vol. iii. (only in the later editions), and in Purchas. A good deal is also told of them in the vulgar and gossiping but useful work of Captain A. Hamilton (1727). In 1788-1789 the government of Bengal sought to establish in the Andamans a penal colony, associated with a harbour of refuge. Two able officers, Colebrooke of the Bengal Engineers, and Blair of the sea service, were sent to survey and report. In the sequel the settlement was established by Captain Blair, in September 1789, on Chatham Island, in the S.E. bay of the Great Andaman, now called Port Blair, but then Port Cornwallis. There was much sickness, and after two years, urged by Admiral Cornwallis, the government transferred the colony to the N.E. part of Great Andaman, where a naval arsenal was to be established. With the colony the name also of Port Cornwallis was transferred to this new locality. The scheme did ill; and in 1796 the government put an end to it, owing to the great mortality and the embarrassments of maintenance. The settlers were finally removed in May 1796. In 1824 Port Cornwallis was the rendezvous of the fleet carrying the army to the first Burmese war. In 1839, Dr Helfer, a German savant employed by the Indian government, having landed in the islands, was attacked and killed. In 1844 the troop-ships "Briton" and "Runnymede" were driven ashore here, almost close together. The natives showed their usual hostility, killing all stragglers. Outrages on shipwrecked crews continued so rife that the question of occupation had to be taken up again; and in 1855 a project was formed for such a settlement, embracing a convict establishment. This was interrupted by the Indian Mutiny of 1857, but as soon as the neck of that revolt was broken, it became more urgent than ever to provide such a resource, on account of the great number of prisoners falling into British hands. Lord Canning, therefore, in November 1857, sent a commission, headed by Dr F. Mouat, to examine and report. The commission reported favourably, selecting as a site Blair's original Port Cornwallis, but pointing out and avoiding the vicinity of a salt swamp which seemed to have been pernicious to the old colony. To avoid confusion, the name of Port Blair was given to the new settlement, which was established in the beginning of 1858. For some time sickness and mortality were excessively large, but the reclamation of swamp and clearance of jungle on an extensive scale by Colonel Henry Man when in charge (1868-1870), had a most beneficial effect, and the health of the settlement has since been notable. The Andaman colony obtained a tragical notoriety from the murder of the viceroy, the earl of Mayo, by a Mahommedan convict, when on a visit to the settlement on the 8th of February 1872. In the same year the two groups, Andaman and Nicobar, the occupation of the latter also having been forced on the British government (in 1869) by the continuance of outrage upon vessels, were united under a chief commissioner residing at Port Blair.
See Sir Richard Temple, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Indian Census, 1901); C. B. Kloss, In the Andamans and Nicobars (1903); E. H. Man, Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands (1883); M. V. Portman, Record of the Andamanese (Ii volumes MS. in India Office, London, and Home Department, Calcutta), 18 931898, Andamanese Manual (1887), Notes on the Languages of the South Andaman Group of Tribes (1898), and History of our Relations with the Andamanese (1899); S. Kurz, Vegetation of the Andamans (1867); G. S. Miller, Mammals of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (vol. xxiv. of the Proceedings of the National Museum, U.S.A.); A. L. Butler, "Birds of the Andamans and Nicobars" (Proc. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vols. xii. and xiii.); and A. Alcock, A Naturalist in Indian Seas (1902).
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