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Comparative map showing distributions of various Andamanese tribes in the Andaman Islands - early 1800s versus present-day (2004). Notables:
(a) Rapid depopulation of the original southeastern Jarawa homeland in the 1789-1793 period
(b) Onge and Great Andamanese shrinkage to isolated settlements
(c) Complete Jangil extinction by 1931
(d) Jarawa move to occupy depopulated former west coast homeland of the Great Andamanese
(e) Only the Sentinelese zone is somewhat intact

The Andamanese is a collective term to describe the adivasi peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which is the northern district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, located in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The term includes the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese and the extinct Jangil. Anthropologically, they are usually classified as Negritos (sometimes also called Proto-Australoids), represented also by the Semang of Malaysia and the Aeta of the Philippines. Their ancestors are thought to have arrived in the islands 60,000 years ago from coastal India (or crossed over a land bridge from Burma during a glacial period) as part of the first human peopling of India and Southeast Asia, in the initial expansion of humanity from Africa that began 100,000 years ago.^[1][2] With very little contact with external societies or each other for nearly all this period the tribes have mutually unintelligible languages. This comparatively long-lasting isolation and separation from external influences is unequaled, except perhaps by the aboriginal inhabitants of Tasmania.

Decline of the populations

Two Great Andamanese men, in an 1875 photograph

The Andamanese's protective isolation changed with the first British colonial presence (in 1789) and subsequent settlements, which proved disastrous for them. Lacking immunity against common diseases of the Eurasian mainland, the large Jarawa habitats on the southeastern regions of South Andaman Island were likely depopulated by disease within four years (1789-1793CE) of the initial British colonial settlement in 1789.^[3] Epidemics of pneumonia, measles and influenza spread rapidly and extracted heavy tolls, as did alcoholism.^[3] By 1875, the Andamanese were already "perilously close to extinction," yet attempts to contact, subdue and co-opt them continued unrelentingly and, in 1888, the British government set in place a policy of "organized gift giving" that has continued in varying forms ever since.^[4]

An official 1867 British government communication about organizing a punitive expedition against Andamanese tribespeople on Little Andaman Island

There is evidence that some sections of the British Indian administration were deliberately working to annihilate the tribes.^[5] After the mid-1800s, British also established penal colonies on the islands, and an increasing numbers of mainland Indian and Karen settlers arrived, encroaching on former territories of the Andamanese. This accelerated the decline of the tribes. At the time of first contact with the British there were an estimated 5,000 Great Andamanese. By 1901, 600 were left.^[6] By 1927 (about 20 years prior to Indian independence), only 100 survivors remained.^[7] Around independence, the number had shrunk to 25.^[8] Fourteen years after independence, in 1961, only 19 remained. The numbers have rebounded somewhat and today about 50 remain,^[2] which is still far too small for a self-sustaining society. The Aka-Kol of Middle Andaman were extinct by 1921.^[8] The last Jangil (also known as the Rutland Jarawa) were sighted in 1907, and were assumed extinct by 1931, as were the Oko-Juwoi.^[8] Today only the Sentinelese, who live exclusively on North Sentinel Island, have been able to completely maintain their independent state, resisting attempts to contact them.

Until the late 18th century, their habit of killing all shipwrecked foreigners and the remoteness of their islands prevented modification of their culture or language. With the arrival of the British, this hostility began to result in severe reprisals: in the 1867 Andaman Islands Expedition, dozens of Onge were killed by British naval personnel, which resulted in four Victoria Crosses for the British soldiers.^[7][9][10] In the 1940s, the Jarawa were bombed by Japanese forces for their hostility.^[8]

Cultivation was unknown to the Andamanese, and they lived off hunting indigenous pigs, fishing, and gathering. Their only weapons were the bow, adzes and wooden harpoons. Besides the aboriginal people of Tasmania, the Andamanese were the only people who in the 19th century knew no method of making fire, carefully preserving embers in hollowed-out trees from fires caused by lightning strikes.

Genetic legacy

Human migration map based on mitochondrial DNA. Note the route of the mtDNA haplogroup M through the Indian mainland and the Andaman Islands, possibly on to Southeast Asia.

The Andamans are theorized to be a key stepping stone in a great coastal migration of humans from Africa along the coastal regions of the Indian mainland and towards Southeast Asia, Japan and Oceania.^[1] Genetic analysis of the Andamans has included nuclear DNA ^[11] and haplotype DNA, both that inherited through the female line (mitochondrial DNA)^[12] and the male line (Y chromosomes)^[1].

The Andamanese belong to the broad Y-chromosome lineage designated as M130 (haplogroup C) by Spencer Wells^[1], who leads the Genographic Project. This is the lineage that seems to have emigrated from East Africa at least 50,000 years ago along the south coast of Asia eastwards to Australia. Within this lineage, the Andamanese (Onges and Jarawas) belong almost exclusively to the subtype designated Haplotype D, which is also common in Tibet and Japan, but rare on the Indian mainland.^[13] However, this is a subclade of the D haplogroup which has not been seen outside of the Andamans, marking the insularity of these tribes.^[14] The only other group that is known to predominantly belong to haplogroup D are the Ainu aboriginal people of Japan.^[15] Male Great Andamanese, on the other hand, have a mixed presence of Y-chromosome haplogroups O, L, K and P, which places them between mainland Indian and Asian populations.^[14]

The mitochondrial DNA haplogroup distribution, which indicates maternal descent, confirms these results. All Andamanese belong to the subgroup M^[12] which is widely distributed in the Indian subcontinent, but uncommon in Africa and other areas west of India.^[16] Furthermore, they belong to subgroups M2 and M4, which both occur frequently throughout India.^[14][17] On the Andamans, M4 occurs as a subtype also seen on the Indian mainland, whereas M2 occurs in two subgroups (M2 haplotypes 16344T and 16357C) that have not been observed on the mainland and are presumed unique to the Andamanese.^[12] This implies a long history of the Andamanese on the islands, which would allow the time for insulated local genetic development. Since the M2 and M4 lineages diverged 60,000-30,000 years before present and both occur outside the Andamans, it is likely that the Andaman islands were originally colonized by two different groups, which have kept separate for tens of thousands of years.^[12]

The results concerning nuclear DNA stress the uniqueness of the Andamanese people.^[11] First, they show a very small genetic variation, which is indicative of populations that have experienced a population bottleneck and then developed in isolation for a long period. Second, an allele has been discovered among the Jarawas which is found nowhere else in the world. Third, they present no specific affinity to any other population in the world. This has led some geneticists to conclude that the Andamanese "seem to have remained in isolation for a much longer period than any known ancient population of the world." A likely causal explanation for their uniqueness is that the Andamanese are the surviving descendants of early human migrants from Africa who remained genetically isolated in their habitat in the Andaman Islands since their arrival.^[11] This is in contrast to the neighboring Nicobarese, who are believed to mostly descend from more recent immigrants from mainland Asia.^[12]

Some anthropologists postulate that Southern India and Southeast Asia was once populated largely by Negritos similar to those of the Andamans,^[1][18] and that some tribal populations in the south of India, such as the Irulas are remnants of that period.^[19][20]

See also

• Andamanese languages
• Uncontacted peoples
• Irulas

External links

• The Andamanese by George Weber
• News by Survival International
• Videos by Survival International

References