This is NOT an image of a Tribe from North Sentinel Island, India! (PHOTO)

Despite technological advancements and globalization, we still find reports on various tribes from different parts of the world, who have had very little contact with civilization. These tribes have unique rituals, habits, and way of living and many social media users are often keen on learning more about them as well.

This is our investigation on an image claiming to be of one such tribe from the remote North Sentinel Island, India.  Let’s have a look at the viral image first.

Social Media Posts

A Facebook user added a photo with the note below trying to convince that the photo depicts a tribe group who were living in North Sentinel Island in India.

“North Sentinel Island, India. On this remote island of 72 square kilometers located in the Indian Ocean, lives the Sentinelese tribe, one of the last human groups that have no contact with civilization. It is estimated that there are between 50 Sentinelese left, who do not hesitate to resort to violence when foreign visitors approach. In 2004, when the famous tsunami occurred, a helicopter approached for help, but was greeted with arrows. In 2006 two fishermen accidentally landed on the island, and were killed. It is one of the fascinating places that is illegal to visit.”

Facebook | Archived

We decided to do a fact check on this.

Fact Check

First, we did a Google Reverse Image search and were able to find the original context of this image.

The aerial image was taken around 2010/11 by the Brazilian Authority, named as FUNAI which is responsible for the welfare of the tribes in Amazon rainforest near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. They took this aerial image while travelling from helicopter and handed over this and some other photos to the British charity, Survival International, and some other NGOs to help to keep the survival of these Amazon tribes and preserve the isolated existence of these people.

When this Amazon tribe was photographed from the air, they were trying to fire arrows and flung spears towards the helicopter. Details about this incident can be read from here. Archived. The original photo can be found from Survival International data base ,here |Archived. 

News reports including the same image from can be read here and here

Sentinelese People of North Sentinel Island

The Sentinelese people are a hunter-gatherer tribe, related to other indigenous groups in the Andaman Islands, a chain of islands in India’s Bay of Bengal. But they’ve been isolated for long enough from other Andaman groups, that the tribes like the Onge and the Jarawa, can’t understand their language.

The exact number of Sentinelese currently occupying the North Sentinel Island is unknown, as they are considered as one of the most uncontacted tribes in the world, and their population is estimated to be around 50-200.

Sentinelese, like many other indigenous tribes, are vulnerable to many diseases that a visitor might introduce. They are known to respond vigorously and reject any contacts with outsiders and are known to shoot arrows at approaching boats, helicopters, and people.

Even during the 2014 Tsunami disaster, Sentinelese managed on their own. Sentinel Island belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

As these islanders live in isolation, at times, some facts are misinterpreted about these islanders as well. Sentinelese made headlines after the death of the American Christian missionary, John Allen Chau, in 2018.

More details about Sentinelese can be read from here, here and here. Archived

A video about North Sentinel Island of India can be watched from below video.

The attire seen in the photo and video reports about the Sentinelese tribes are also evidently different from the viral photo as well. 

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Conclusion

According to our investigation, we were able to find out that the viral image does not depict the tribe Sentinelese living on the North Sentinel Island of India.

While the Sentinelese, one of the most uncontacted tribes, are known to respond violently to any outsiders and often flinging arrows at them as well, the viral photo taken in 2010/11 depicts another isolated tribe living in Amazon rainforest in Brazil near the Brazil-Peruvian border.