The Sentinelese are indigenous people on Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in India, located in the northeastern Indian Ocean. They are a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group and a Scheduled Tribe and are part of the larger group of Andamanese peoples.
The sentinel is one of the six native tribes living on the islands and often keeps to themselves, Unlike other tribes.
The sentence does not like interacting with the outside world and is known to kill people approaching them.
The sentinel appears relatively short, and they are an average of 5'3 due to insular dwarfism. They attribute this type of dwarfism to nutrition or genetic heritage.
The number of sentinel people is unknown, but it is estimated to be between 200 and 500 people. They intermarry between themselves. Because they are in complete isolation, very little is known about their language.
In 1956, the Indian government passed a law prohibiting people from travelling to North Sentinel Island or within 5.6 kilometres of it. Photography of thither the people or the island is not permitted. A constant armed patrol prevents intrusions by outsiders.
In 2018 the tribe came to the limelight after the killing of a 26-year-old American who had tried to go to the island to spread the gospel. He paid a fisherman to take him there and offered them gifts. The sentinel people reacted in hostility, but this did not scare him.
Chau kept coming back to the island with gifts and trying to speak various languages hoping they would understand him.
During Chau's final visit to the island in mid-November, he instructed some fishermen to leave without him after dropping him at the border. They later saw the islanders dragging his body to the beach, and the next day they saw his body on the shore.
Police arrested seven fishermen for helping Chau reach the island. Officials in the neighbouring villages made several attempts to recover Chau's body, but they were unsuccessful and eventually abandoned those efforts.
