how much do we know about our planet people are constantly studying it they climb mountains descend to the ocean floor and wander through dense forests it seems that by the 21st century there should be no mysteries left on earth but it's not so it's enough to visit the bay of bengal to find one of the most mysterious places on the planet i suggest north sentinel island it won't be an easy journey in this video you'll learn what's hidden on a closed island in the indian ocean i'm going to show you how dangerous other people's secrets
can be and what sacrifices curiosity leads to you may even get to know one of the most mysterious tribes on the planet and it's better to do so virtually why you'll see for yourself first a few facts you've probably already heard of north sentinel island this is just one of the many islands in the indian ocean not very large about 60 square kilometers or 23 square miles however this particular island is completely closed to the public neither tourists nor residents of the nearby islands can approach it even scientists aren't allowed here but why is this
particular place so infamous i'll tell you right now it's not because of poisonous spiders or snakes and certainly not an ancient curse it's just that this island is home to the most unusual people on earth on a small square of land there lives anywhere from 15 to 400 people and this spread isn't accidental today there are simply no guests on north sentinel there's no one to count the people to create any records most likely the local population can't read or write i say most likely because there's no confirmation of these facts scientists can only speculate
and observe from afar of course in such a situation you can call on modern technology for help for example satellite images but even here we fail the island is covered in dense forests everything but the shore it's simply impossible to see anything through the vegetation theoretically anything could be hidden there living dinosaurs traces of an alien civilization the underground city of atlantis why not little is known about the people who live on this island they're called the sentinelese they're one of the andaman indigenous peoples that live on their own according to scientists for about 60
000 years the sentinel people have lived in almost complete self-isolation that is since primitive times all of this time they've developed independently without seeing the rest of the world yes these are people who have no idea what bitcoin global warming and netflix are why they don't even know what a horse is some researchers have still managed to get a look at the natives the local residents are described as relatively short people about 165 centimeters or five and a half feet this may be due to island dwarfism scientists also noted dark shiny skin even teeth and
strong muscles sentinel people are hunter-gatherers despite the past millennia they haven't changed their habits the tribe probably uses bows arrows and spears to hunt land animals they collect seafood by hand such as crabs and shellfish it's believed that the natives eat them in large quantities their settlements are full of empty shells some of their practices haven't developed at all since primitive times it's believed that sentinel people don't engage in agriculture though they can build canoes but the most interesting thing is that it's not clear whether the natives know how to make fire although they do
use it even in the year 2020 just imagine that the sentinel people live in small temporary huts appreciate metal dance and speak an unknown language that's about it a unique island of a unique civilization scientists would be willing to do anything to learn about the local tribe but it's forbidden not by the islanders themselves of course officially north sentinel island is administered by india although there's no agreement between the natives and the government however the indian authorities make sure that the sentinels are not disturbed the main reason is the isolation of the tribe having lived
for thousands of years without contact with the outside world the tribe hasn't been able to develop immunity to common diseases even a short interaction with a person from the outside could end very sadly within a primitive community the disease would spread very quickly the sentinels risk simply being killed and these aren't empty threats in the 19th century british officer maurice vidal portman studied the inhabitants of the island these studies cannot be called humane at one point portman kidnapped six sentinels he then took them to the nearest major city all the natives soon fell ill and
two adults died portman returned four sick children to the island and left them on the beach fortunately despite such experiments the tribe survived the island is protected so that diseases from the mainland don't reach it indian border patrol boats periodically patrol the coastal waters you can only come within nine plus kilometers or about five nautical miles anything closer is a restricted area north sentinel island is protected as a rare treasure and this is partly true there are very few non-contact peoples like the sentinels left however the islanders can also stand up for themselves moreover they
do it regularly they deliberately refuse to contact the outside world and they react very aggressively to foreigners when i say aggressive i mean that the sentinels are ready to kill any outsider even if they aren't threatened of course there have also been peaceful contacts the first one took place in 1991 but in 1997 visits to the island stopped now they try not to contact the sentinels at all in 2004 after an earthquake in the indian ocean the government of india sent a helicopter to the island the disaster which claimed the lives of more than 200
000 people should have destroyed the sentinels but the natives survived the disaster how did they manage it's unknown the elements damaged the coral reef where they foraged for food though the islanders adapted but they weren't too happy about the helicopter they began throwing stones and spears at it and shot at it with arrows in general they made it clear they were okay by the way scientists believe that the hostility of sentinels is a sign of the physical and cultural stability of the community not just a desire to shoot down a huge iron bird despite official
bans and life-threatening risks people are still drawn to north sentinel island on january 27 2006 indian fishermen were illegally fishing for crabs near the forbidden island they didn't respond to the warning signals of other vessels as their boat drifted into shallow water alas these fishermen never returned home the ship was attacked by sentinel soldiers killing the intruders three days later an indian coast guard helicopter flew to the island to collect the fisherman's bodies the sentinels met them with spears and arrows the resistance was so strong that the bodies had to be left on the island
they say the natives buried the fishermen almost everything that reaches north sentinel island disappears without a trace in the year 2018 the fate of the unfortunate crab catchers was repeated by missionary john allen chao to get to the island he paid two fishermen about thirty thousand dollars chow tried to make contact with the natives several times but it all ended as expected the sentinels killed him with bows and arrows the fishermen who brought him to the island were later arrested chow's body remained on north sentinel and may have been buried today north sentinel island remains
one of the most poorly studied places on earth we can only guess what's hidden in the depths of its forests and what's really hidden by tribe that is forever stuck in the primeval era if you like this video give it a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe to the channel if you haven't already click on the bell to receive timely notifications of new interesting videos that are waiting for you [Music] ahead
