Andaman & Nicobar Islands

© Lonely Planet Publications 1120 Andaman & Nicobar Andaman & Nicobar Islands Islands On old maps, the Andamans and Nicobars were the kind of islands whose inhabitants were depicted with dog heads or faces in their chests, surrounded by sea serpents coiled around a tempest-lashed sea known to Indians as Kalapani: The Black Waters. These were the islands that someone labelled, with a shaky hand, ‘Here be Monsters’. Likely, those maps were drawn by an early traveller who realised they had found a Very Good Thing and didn’t want to share it with the rest of us. Because the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are, unambiguously and without hyperbole, tropical bliss. If it weren’t for the tragic fact their indigenous populations have largely been wiped out and displaced, they’d be practically perfect. That depressing addendum aside, what’s the attraction here? Blue, blue, blue and blue: oceans and skies, streaked with silver sheets of flying fish. Pri- meval jungle cut by muddy rivers that run past villages as old as India itself, where some inhabitants still literally live in the Stone Age. Snow-white beaches melting under flame- and-purple sunsets, all populated by a friendly masala of South and Southeast Asian settlers and their laid-back descendants. ISLANDS ISLANDS Unfortunately the Nicobars are off limits to tourists, but that still leaves hundreds of islands ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ANDAMAN & NICOBAR to explore. When you do choose to wander, it will likely be by ferry. When the salt cuts the waves and dolphins shimmer in front of the next oncoming Eden, you’ll know you’ve found a wholly unexpected island allure to India. HIGHLIGHTS Regress to infantile laziness and happiness Diglipur on Neil Island ( p1134 ) Snorkel and socialise on Havelock Island Mayabunder ( p1133 ) Interact with a small town yet multicultural cast of Indians in Port Blair ( p1127 ) Take a road trip through the jungle heart of the Andamans around Mayabunder and Diglipur ( p1135 ) Havelock Island Neil Island Find Butler Bay; call God; say thanks for paradise on Little Andaman ( p1137 ) Port Blair Little Andaman lonelyplanet.com ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS •• History 1121 0 20 km History ANDAMAN ISLANDS 0 10 miles The date of initial human settlement in the Andamans and Nicobars is lost to history. Coco Channel Anthropologists say stone-tool crafters have lived here for 2000 years, and scholars of human migration believe local indigenous Landfall Island tribes have roots in Negrito and Malay ethnic East Island West Island groups in Southeast Asia. Otherwise, these White Cliff Island specks in the sea have been a constant source Reef Island To Narcondam Island (90km) of legend to outside visitors. Paget Island Even the name ‘Andaman’ is thought to Shyamnagar Smith derive from ‘Hanuman’; the Hindu monkey Island Lakshmipur Ross Island god supposedly used the islands as a stepping Phaiapong West Diglipur stone between India and Sri Lanka (although Coral Ramkrishnagram Reef North that really doesn’t make geographic sense). Andaman Nabagram Saddle Peak (732m) The 10th-century Persian adventurer Buzurg North Reef Island Ramnagar Ibn Shahriyar described an island chain inhab- Stewart Island ited by cannibals, a story Marco Polo repeated Austen Bay Sound with the slight embellishment that the natives ὄὄὄὄ Island of Interview had dog heads. With that said, stories of can- Bengal Island Mayabunder Pahlagaon nibalism may have been inflated by Malay Tugapur pirates, who liked to use the archipelago as ANDAMAN & NICOBAR Anderson Cuthbert Island Bay a secret raiding base. Tablets in Thanjavur Middle Santipur (Tanjore) in Tamil Nadu named the archi- Coral Reef Middle pelago Timaittivu: The Impure Islands. ISLANDS Andaman Dharmapur ὄ Rangat Amkunj None of the above was exactly tourism brochure stuff, but visitors kept coming: Long Island the Marathas in the late 17th century and To Barren 200 years later, the British, who used the Island North (65km) Andamans as a penal colony for political dis- Spike Island Passage Uttara Island Outram sidents. When WWII rolled around, some Island ὄ Kadamtala Strait islanders greeted the invading Japanese as South Island Henry Coral Reef Bharatang Lawrence liberators, but despite installing Indian politi- Rd Island Island South Peel Island John Lawrence cians as (puppet) administrators, the Japanese Andaman Trunk Island Port military proved to be far harsher occupiers an Havelock Meadows Defence Island am than the British. Ritchie's And Havelock Island Archipelago Following Independence in 1947, the Checkpoint Madhuban Neil Island Andaman and Nicobar Islands were incorpo- Sandy Island Wrightmyo Sir Hugh rated into the Indian Union. Migration from Mt Harriet (365m) Rose Island Herbertahad Viper Island the mainland has inflated their population Mahatma Bamboo Flat Ross Island Gandhi Port Blair from a few thousand to more than 350,000; Marine National Park Sippighat many of these arrivals were Bengali refugees Wandoor Red Skin fleeing the chaos of partition. During this Island Chiriya Tapu Jolly Buoy influx, tribal land rights and environmental Island Rutland protection were often disregarded, and while Island Twins some conditions are improving, the indig- Islands To North Cinque enous tribes remain largely in decline. Sentinel Island Island A N D A M A N Many of the aftershocks of the 2004 Indian (10km) S E A Ocean earthquake were concentrated off the Bay The Sisters of coast of the islands, which were doubly devas- Bengal The tated by the resulting tsunami and vibrations Brothers from the actual quakes. The Nicobars were Little Andaman To Nicobar especially hard hit; some estimate a fifth of Islands (260km); To Hut Bay Great Nicobar the population was killed. Numerous citizens (10km) (500km) were relocated to Port Blair after the tsunami, .

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