THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

The Stone Age hunter-gatherers who live on North Sentinel Island in the Andaman archipelago east of India may be the world’s most isolated people – and they intend to stay that way, despite the increasing encroachment of the industrialized world. From 1967 through to the mid-1990s, Indian anthropologists embarked on periodic “contact expeditions” to North Sentinel Island. Approaching by boat, they attempted to coax out members of the tribe by depositing coconuts, machetes, candy, and, once, a tethered pig onto the beach. The Sentinelese almost always responded to these “gifts” by shooting arrows, throwing stones, and shouting at the unwelcome visitors. India discontinued its attempts at peaceful contact in 1997 and ruled that the islanders be left alone, but visits still occur – in 2006, a fishing boat drifted too close to the shore, and Sentinelese archers killed the two men on board. An Indian helicopter was sent to retrieve the bodies, but was also fired upon and could not land.

Foer/Obscura