Port BlairPort Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
Location of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
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CoordinatesA geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position...
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http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands¶ms=11.68_N_92.77_E_type:adm1st_region:IN-AN_11°41′N 92°46′E / 11.68°N 92.77°E / 11.68; 92.77]CoordinatesA geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position...
: http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands¶ms=11.68_N_92.77_E_type:adm1st_region:IN-AN_11°41′N 92°46′E / 11.68°N 92.77°E / 11.68; 92.77]
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Country
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IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
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District(s)
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EstablishedThe States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries and governance of India's states and territories. The act reorganised the boundaries of India's states along linguistic lines, and amended the Indian Constitution to replace the three types of states, known as Parts A, B,...
| | 1956-11-01
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Capital
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Port BlairPort Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
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Largest city
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Port BlairPort Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
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Lt. Governor
| | Lieutenant General
Bhopinder SinghLt. Gen. Bhopinder Singh , a PVSM awardee Indian Army officer. He is presently the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
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Population
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DensityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
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379,9441 (32)
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46 /km2 (119 /sq mi)
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HDIThe Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...
(2005)
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0.778 (
medium)
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Official language An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
s |
Hindi Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, BengaliBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, TeluguTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
, English, NicobareseThe Nicobarese languages form an isolated group of half a dozen closely related Austro-Asiatic languages, spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands of India. They have a total of about 30,000 speakers...
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Time zoneA time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
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ISTIndian Standard Time is the time observed throughout India and Sri Lanka, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments, although DST was used briefly during the Sino–Indian War of 1962 and the Indo–Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971...
(UTC+05:30)
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AreaThe geography of India describes the physical features of India, a country in South Asia, that lies entirely on the Indian Plate in the northern portion of the Indo-Australian Plate. The country lies to the north of the equator between 8°4' and 37°6' north latitude and 68°7' and 97°25' east...
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8250 km2 (3185 sq mi)
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ISO 3166-2ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1...
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IN-ANISO 3166-2:IN is the entry for India in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.Currently for India, ISO 3166-2 codes are defined...
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Footnotes
- Population data as per the Indian Census.
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Website
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www.and.nic.in//
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The
Andaman and Nicobar Islands ({{Audio|Andaman.ogg|pronunciation}}); (
BengaliBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
: আন্দামান ও নিকোবর দ্বীপপুঞ্জ;
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
: அந்தமான் நிக்கோபார் தீவுகள்,
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
: अंडमान और निकोबार द्वीपसमूह,
TeluguTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
:అండమాన్ నికోబార్ దీవులు) are a group of islands in the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
and a
Union TerritoryA Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India, in the federal framework of governance. Unlike the states of India, which have their own elected governments, union territories are ruled directly by the federal government; the President of India appoints an Administrator or...
of
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
The territory is located geographically 150 km (93.2 mi) north of
AcehAceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...
in
IndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and separated from
ThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Burma by the
Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
. It comprises two island groups, the
Andaman IslandsThe Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
and the
Nicobar IslandsThe Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean...
, separated by the 10° N parallel, with the Andamans to the north of this
latitudeIn geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
, and the Nicobars to the south. The Andaman Sea lies to the east and the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
to the west.
The territory's capital is the Andamanese town of
Port BlairPort Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
. The territory's population as per the most recent (2011) Census of India was 379,944. Added together, the total land area of the territory is approximately 6496 km² (2,508.1 sq mi).
First Inhabitants
The Andaman and Nicobar islands have been inhabited for several thousand years, at the very least. The earliest
archaeologicalArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
evidence yet documented goes back some 2,200 years; however, the indications from
geneticGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
,
culturalCulture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and isolation studies point to habitation going back 30,000 to 60,000 years, well into the
Middle PaleolithicThe Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age...
.
In the Andaman Islands, the various Andamanese people maintained their separated existence through the vast majority of this time, diversifying into distinct linguistic, cultural and territorial groups. By the 1850s when they first came into sustained contact by outside groups, the indigenous people of the Andamans were:
- the Great Andamanese
Great Andamanese is a collective term used to refer to related indigenous peoples who lived throughout most of the Great Andaman archipelago, the main and closely situated group of islands in the Andaman Islands. Numbering between 200 and 700, each of the Great Andamanese peoples maintained a...
, who collectively represented at least 10 distinct sub-groups and languages;
- the Jarawa
The Jarawa are one of the adivasi indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. Their present numbers are estimated at between 250-350 individuals. Since they have largely shunned interactions with outsiders, many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood...
;
- the Jangil
The Jangil were one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. They were formerly distributed through the interior of Rutland Island, and were given the name Rutland Jarawa because it was supposed that they were related to the neighbouring Jarawa...
(or Rutland Jarawa);
- the Onge; and
- the Sentinelese (most isolated of all the groups).
In total, these people numbered somewhere around 7,000 at the time of these first encounters. As the numbers of settlers from the mainland increased (at first mostly prisoners and involuntary indentured labourers, later purposely recruited farmers), these indigenous people lost territory and numbers in the face of punitive expeditions by British troops, land encroachment and the effects of various epidemic diseases. The Jangil and most of the Great Andamanese groups soon became extinct; presently there remain only approximately 400–450 indigenous Andamanese, the Jarawa and Sentinelese in particular maintaining a steadfast independence and refusing most attempts at contact.
The indigenous people of the Nicobars (unrelated to the Andamanese) have a similarly isolated and lengthy association with the islands. There are two main groups:
- the Nicobarese
The Nicobarese people are a Mon–Khmer-speaking people of the Nicobar Islands, a chain of 19 islands in the southeastern Bay of Bengal. Only 12 of the 19 islands are inhabited. The largest and main island is Great Nicobar. The term Nicobarese refers to the dominant tribes of the Nicobar Islands. On...
, or Nicobari, living throughout many of the islands; and
- the Shompen
The Shompen or Shom Pen are the indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.- Etymology and autonym :...
, restricted to the hinterland of Great NicobarGreat Nicobar is the largest of the Nicobar Islands of India, north of Sumatra. Indira Point, its southernmost tip, is also the southernmost point of India. The island of Sumatra is located to the south of Great Nicobar...
.
Pre-colonial era
Rajendra Chola IRajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I and was one of the greatest rulers of Tamil Chola dynasty of India. He succeeded his father in 1014 CE as the Chola emperor...
(1014 to 1042 CE), one of the Tamil Chola dynasty kings, occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands to use it as a strategic naval base to launch a naval expedition against
Sriwijaya EmpireSrivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...
(a Hindu-
MalayMalays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
empire based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia).
The cholas called the 'Nicobar' island as 'Nakkavaram' which is inscribed on the Tanjore inscription of 1050 CE. Nakkavaram in Tamil means "naked man" or "land of the naked" which should have been evolved to the modern name "Nicobar". Marco Polo(12-13th Century CE) also referred this island as 'Necuveran'.
The name of the island has always been 'Andaman' and might represent Handuman, the Malay form of Hanuman.
The islands provided a temporary maritime base for ships of the
MarathaThe Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...
s in the 17th century. The legendary admiral
Kanhoji AngreKanhoji Angre or Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angre was the first notable chief of the Maratha Navy in 18th century India. He fought successfully all his life against the British, Dutch and Portuguese naval interests in the Indian Ocean during the 18th century, and hence was alleged by them to be a...
established naval supremacy with a base in the islands and is credited with attaching those islands to India.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
Danish occupation of the Nicobar Islands
The history of organized European colonization on the islands began when the Danish settlers of the
Danish East India CompanyThe Danish East India Company was a Danish chartered company.-History:It was founded in 1616, following a privilege of Danish King Christian IV....
arrived on Nicobar Islands on 12 Dec 1755. On Jan 1, 1756, the Nicobar Islands was made a Danish colony and renamed 'New Denmark'. In Dec 1756, the Nicobar Islands was renamed 'Frederiksøerne' (Frederiks Islands). During 1754–1756 they were administrated under the name of
Frederiksøerne from
TranquebarTharangambadi is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 15 km north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary of the Kaveri River. Its name means "place of the singing waves"...
(in continental
Danish IndiaDanish India is a term for the former colonies of Denmark, and until 1814 Denmark–Norway, in India. The colonies included the town of Tranquebar in present-day Tamil Nadu state, Serampore in present-day West Bengal, and the Nicobar Islands, currently part of India's union territory of the Andaman...
); missionaries from the Moravian Church Brethren's settlement in
TranquebarTharangambadi is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 15 km north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary of the Kaveri River. Its name means "place of the singing waves"...
attempted a settlement on
NancowryNancowry refers both to a single island and to the group of adjoining islands that make up the central part of the Nicobar Islands chain, located in the northeast Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea....
and died in great numbers from disease; the islands were repeatedly abandoned due to outbreaks of malaria between 14 Apr 1759 - 19 Aug 1768, from 1787-1807/05, 1814–1831, 1830–1834 and finally from 1848 gradually for good.
From 1 Jun 1778 to 1784, they were occupied by
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and renamed 'Theresia Islands', attempting to
establish a colonyAustrian colonisation of Nicobar Islands was a short-lived and unsuccessful attempt of Austrian Empire to make Nicobar Islands their colony. The colony was established in 1778. This had previously been a Danish colony and Austria established it with the mistaken assumption that Denmark had...
on the islands on the mistaken assumption that Denmark had abandoned its claims to the islands.
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
involvement ended formally on 16 October 1868 when the Danish rights to the Nicobar Islands were sold to Britain, which made them part of British India by 1869 when the British took possession
British colonial period
After an initial attempt to set up a colony in the islands by the British was abandoned after only a few years (1789–1796), a second attempt from 1858 proved to be more permanent. The primary purpose was to set up a
penal colonyA penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
for dissenters and independence fighters from the
Indian subcontinentThe Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
.
The British used the islands as an isolated prison for members of the
Indian independence movementThe term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
. The mode of imprisonment was called
Kala pani. The
Cellular JailThe Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī , was a colonial prison situated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. The prison was used by the British especially to exile political prisoners to the remote archipelago...
in Port Blair was regarded as the "
SiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
" of British India.
The islands were administered as a Chief Commissioner's Province.
The British continued their occupancy until the Japanese
invasion and occupation of the Andaman Islands during World War IIThe Japanese occupation of the Andaman Islands occurred in 1942 during World War II. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands , are a group of islands situated in the Bay of Bengal at about 780 miles from Kolkata, 740 miles from Chennai and 120 miles from Cape Nargis in Burma...
.
Indian Control
{{main|Japanese occupation of the Andaman Islands}}
The islands were only nominally put under the authority of the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind of Netaji
Subhash Chandra BoseSubhas Chandra Bose known by name Netaji was an Indian revolutionary who led an Indian national political and military force against Britain and the Western powers during World War II. Bose was one of the most prominent leaders in the Indian independence movement and is a legendary figure in...
, and the Islands were practically under Japanese control, who committed tremendous atrocities. Netaji visited the islands during the war, and renamed them as "Shaheed-dweep" (Martyr Island) & "Swaraj-dweep" (Self-rule Island). General
Loganathan, of the
Indian National ArmyThe Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj was an armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. The aim of the army was to overthrow the British Raj in colonial India, with Japanese assistance...
was made the Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. On 22 February 1944 he along with four INA officers—Major Mansoor Ali Alvi, Sub. Lt. Md. Iqbal, Lt. Suba Singh and stenographer Srinivasan—arrived at Lambaline Airport in
Port BlairPort Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
. On 21 March 1944 the Headquarters of the Civil Administration was established near the Gurudwara at Aberdeen Bazaar. On 2 October 1944, Col.
Loganathan handed over the charge to Maj. Alvi and left Port Blair, never to return. The islands were reoccupied by British and Indian troops of the 116th Indian Infantry Brigade on 7 October 1945, to whom the remaining Japanese garrison surrendered.
At the independence of both India (1947) and Burma (1948), the departing British announced their intention to resettle all Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Burmese on the islands to form their own nation, although this never materialized. It became part of the Indian union in 1956. It was declared a union territory on 1956.{{rp|33}}
Recent history
On 26 December 2004 the coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were devastated by a 10 m (32.8 ft) high
tsunamiA tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
following the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquakeThe 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
. At least 5,930 people were believed to have been killed on the Nicobar and Andaman Islands during the disaster. The worst affected Nicobar islands were
KatchalKatchal is one of the Nicobar Islands, India. Its area is .It is approximately away from mainland and south to capital Port Blair....
and
Indira PointIndira Point is situated on the island of Great Nicobar in the Nicobar Islands, eastern Indian Ocean, and it represents the southernmost point of land in the territory of India. The point is located in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is named in honour of Indira Gandhi...
, the latter the southernmost point of India, which was submerged by the ocean.
While newer settlers of the islands suffered the greatest casualties from the tsunami, most of the aboriginal people survived because oral traditions passed down from generations ago warned them to
evacuateEmergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
from large waves that follow large earthquakes.
Geography
There are 572 islands in the territory having an area of 8249 km² (3,185 sq mi). Of these, only 38 are permanently inhabited. The islands extends from 6° to 14° North latitudes and from 92° to 94° East longitudes. The Andamans are separated from the Nicobar group by a channel (the
Ten Degree ChannelThe Ten Degree Channel is a channel that separates the Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. The two sets of islands together form the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
) some 150 km (93.2 mi) wide. The highest point is located in North Andaman Island (
Saddle PeakSaddle Peak is located on North Andaman Island in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands. At 732 m, it is the highest point of the archipelago in the Gulf of Bengal. It is surrounded by the Saddle Peak National Park....
at 732 m (2,401.6 ft)). The Andaman group has 325 islands which cover an area of 6408 km² (2,474 sq mi) while the Nicobar group has only 24 islands with an area of 1841 km² (711 sq mi).{{rp|33}}
The northernmost point of the Andaman and Nicobars group is 901 km (559.9 mi) away from the mouth of the Hooghly River and 190 km (118.1 mi) from Burma. The southernmost island, Great Nicobar's southernmost point, called
Indira Point, lies only 150 km (93.2 mi) from
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
in
IndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. The capital of the union territory, Port Blair, is located 1255 km (779.8 mi) from
KolkataKolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, 1200 km (745.6 mi) from
VisakhapatnamVisakhapatnam is a major sea port on the south east coast of India. With a population of approximately 1.7 million, it is the second largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the third largest city on the east coast of India after Kolkata and Chennai. According to the history, the city was...
and 1190 km (739.4 mi) from
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
.{{rp|33}}
Flora
Andaman & Nicobar Islands are blessed with a unique tropical rainforest canopy, made of a mixed flora with elements from Indian, Myanmarese, Malaysian and endemic floral strains. So far, about 2,200 varieties of plants have been recorded, out of which 200 are endemic and 1,300 do not occur in mainland India.
The South Andaman forests have a profuse growth of epiphytic vegetation, mostly ferns and orchids. The Middle Andamans harbours mostly moist deciduous forests. North Andamans is characterized by the wet evergreen type, with plenty of woody climbers. The North Nicobar Islands (including Car Nicobar and Battimalv) are marked by the complete absence of evergreen forests, while such forests form the dominant vegetation in the central and southern islands of the Nicobar group. Grasslands occur only in the Nicobars, and while deciduous forests are common in the Andamans, they are almost absent in the Nicobars. The present forest coverage is claimed to be 86.2% of the total land area.
This atypical forest coverage is made up of twelve types, namely:
- Giant evergreen forest
An temperate evergreen forest is a forest consisting entirely or mainly of evergreen trees that retain green foliage all year round. Such forests exist in the tropics primarily as broadleaf evergreens, and in temperate and boreal latitudes primarily as coniferous evergreens.-Tropical evergreen...
- Andamans tropical evergreen forest
- Southern hilltop tropical evergreen forest
- Cane brakes
- Wet bamboo brakes
- Andamans semi-evergreen forest
- Andamans moist deciduous forest
- Andamans secondary moist deciduous forest
- Littoral
The littoral zone is that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to...
forest
- Mangrove forest
- Brackish water mixed forest
- Submontane hill valley swamp forest
Timber
Andaman Forest abounds in a plethora of timber species numbering 200 or more, out of which about 30 varieties are considered to be commercial. Major commercial timber species are Gurjan
(
DipterocarpusDipterocarpus is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus has about 70 species, occurring in Southeast Asia. It is an important component of dipterocarp forests...
spp.) and Padauk (
PterocarpusPterocarpus is a pantropical genus of trees in the family Fabaceae, most of which yield valuable timber traded as padauk ; other common names are mukwa or narra...
dalbergioides). The following ornamental woods are noted for their pronounced grain formation:
- Marble Wood (Diospyros
Diospyros is a genus of about 450–500 species of deciduous and evergreen trees. The majority are native to the tropics, with only a few species extending into temperate regions. They are commonly known as ebony or persimmon trees...
marmorata)
- Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides)
- Silver Grey (a special formation of wood in white chuglam)
- Chooi (Sageraea elliptical)
- Kokko (Albizzia lebbeck)
Padauk being sturdier than teak is widely used for furniture making.
There are burr wood and buttress{{Clarify|date=November 2009}} formations in Andaman Padauk. The largest piece of
buttressA buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
known from Andaman was a dining table of 13 foot. The largest piece of
burrBurr may refer to:Things* Bur, type of seed or fruit with short, stiff bristles or hooks* The Burr distribution, continuous probability distribution* A burr , deformation of metal wherein a raised edge forms on a metal part which has been machined...
was again a dining table to seat eight persons at a time.
The holy
RudrakshaRudraksha Rudraksha Rudraksha (also Rudraksh; Sanskrit: ("Rudra's tears") is a large evergreen broad-leaved tree whose seed is traditionally used for prayer beads in Hinduism. The seed is borne by several species of Elaeocarpus, with E. ganitrus being the principal species used in the making of a...
(Elaeocarps sphaericus) and aromatic Dhoop/Resin trees also are found here.
Fauna
These islands because some like turbo,
trochusTrochus is a genus of medium-sized to very large sea snails. They are marine gastropod molluscs in the family Trochidae, the top snails....
&
nautilusNautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...
etc. are used as
noveltiesA novelty item is a small manufactured adornment, especially a personal adornment.- Novelty item :This term covers a range of small manufactured goods, such as*antiques*collectables*chocolates*esoterica*executive toys*gadgets*tools and implements...
supporting many cottage industries producing a wide range of decorative items & ornaments. Shells such as
giant clamThe giant clam, Tridacna gigas , is the largest living bivalve mollusc. T. gigas is one of the most endangered clam species. It was mentioned as early as 1825 in scientific reports...
, green mussel and
oysterThe word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
support edible
shellAn exoskeleton is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton of, for example, a human. In popular usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells". Examples of exoskeleton animals include insects such as grasshoppers...
fishery, a few like
scallopA scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
,
clamThe word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
, and
cockleCockle is the common name for a group of small, edible, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae.Various species of cockles live in sandy sheltered beaches throughout the world....
are burnt in kilns to produce edible lime.
Demographics
{{IndiaCensusPop
| title= Population growth
| 1951= 31000
| 1961= 64000
| 1971= 115000
| 1981= 189000
| 1991= 281000
| 2001= 356000
| estimate=
| estyear=
| estref=
| footnote=Source:Census of India
}}
The major languages spoken in the Andamans in numerical order are
BengaliBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
(32.6%),
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
(25.95%),
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
including Sri Lankan Tamils (17.84%), Nicobarese and
TeluguTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
(18.93%). Other languages include Malayalam and English.
The majority of Andamans are Hindus, with significant
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
,
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and
SikhA Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
minorities.
Foreigners wishing to visit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands require a Restricted Area Permit; however, they are now{{Clarify|date=January 2010|post-text=(possibly dated info)}} available on arrival at Port Blair's Veer Savarkar Airport.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
Administration
In 1874, the British had placed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in one administrative territory headed by a Chief Commissioner as its judicial administrator. On 1 August 1974, the Nicobar islands were hived off into another revenue district with district headquarters at
Car NicobarCar Nicobar is the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands. It is also one of two local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Nicobar, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
under a Deputy Commissioner. In 1982, the post of Lieutenant Governor was created who replaced the Chief Commissioner as the head of administration. Subsequently a "Pradesh council" with representatives of the people was constituted to advise the Lieutenant Governor.
Administrative Divisions
{{Main|List of districts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands}}
Andaman & Nicobar Islands are divided into 3 districts. Each districts are again sub-divided into Sub-Divisions and taluks.
North and Middle Andaman district
Headquarters:
MayabunderMayabunder is one of 5 local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Andaman, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
- Diglipur Sub-Division
- Diglipur
Diglipur is one of three local administrative divisions of the Indian district of North & Middle Andaman, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Diglipur is the largest and farthest town of North Andamans, 290 km from Port Blair.It is located at 13°16'0N 93°0'0E at...
taluk
- Mayabunder Sub-Division
- Mayabunder
Mayabunder is one of 5 local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Andaman, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
taluk
- Rangat
Rangat is one of 5 local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Andaman, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
taluk
South Andaman district
Headquarters:
Port BlairPort Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
- Port Blair Sub-Division
- Port Blair
Port Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...
taluk
- Ferrargunj
Ferrargunj is one of 5 local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Andaman, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The name is after Michael Lloyd Ferrar, a commissioner and butterfly collector....
taluk
- Little Andaman Sub-Division
- Little Andaman
Little Andaman island is the fourth largest of the Andaman Islands of India with an area of 734.39 km², lying at the southern end of the archipelago. It is separated from Rutland Island in Great Andaman by the Duncan Passage. It is home to the Onge tribe, who call the island Egu Belong, and...
taluka (Hut Bay)
Nicobar District
Headquarters:
Car NicobarCar Nicobar is the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands. It is also one of two local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Nicobar, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
- Car Nicobar Sub-Division
- Car Nicobar
Car Nicobar is the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands. It is also one of two local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Nicobar, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....
taluk
- Nancowrie Sub-Division
- Nancowrie taluk
- Kamorta
Kamorta is part of the Nicobar Islands chain, located in the northeast Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea....
taluk
- Teressa
Teressa is one of the Nicobar Islands, India. Austria and Denmark claimed Nicobar Islands as colony. Teressa is named after the Austrian Arch-duchess Maria Theresia....
taluk
- Katchal
Katchal is one of the Nicobar Islands, India. Its area is .It is approximately away from mainland and south to capital Port Blair....
taluk
- Great Nicobar Sub-Division
- Great Nicobar
Great Nicobar is the largest of the Nicobar Islands of India, north of Sumatra. Indira Point, its southernmost tip, is also the southernmost point of India. The island of Sumatra is located to the south of Great Nicobar...
taluk (Campbell BayCampbell Bay is located on the island of Great Nicobar, the largest of the Nicobar Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean some 190 km to the north of Sumatra....
)
- Little Nicobar
Little Nicobar is one of the Nicobar Islands, India. Its area is 157 km². There are a few smaller islands of Little Nicobar's shores: Menchal, Pulomilo, Treis/Albatei, Trak/Mafuya and Meroe. The island of Katchal is located about 70 km to the north.The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami...
taluk
Economy
Agriculture
A total of 48675 hectares (120,278.4 acre) of land is used for agriculture purposes. Paddy, the main food crop, is mostly cultivated in Andaman group of islands, whereas coconut and arecanut are the cash crops of Nicobar group of islands. Field crops, namely pulses, oilseeds and vegetables are grown, followed by
paddyRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
during
RabiRabi may refer to:* Rabi crop, spring harvest in India and Pakistan* Rabi cycle, in physics is the cyclic behaviour of a two-state quantum system in the presence of an oscillatory driving field...
season. Different kinds of fruits such as
mangoThe mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
, sapota,
orangeAn orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
,
bananaBanana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
,
papayaThe papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
, pineapple and root crops are grown on hilly land owned by farmers. Spices such as pepper,
cloveCloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
,
nutmegThe nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
, and
cinnamonCinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
are grown under a multi-tier cropping system.
RubberNatural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
,
red oilRed oil is defined as a substance of varying composition formed when an organic solution, typically tri-n-butyl phosphate and its diluent, comes in contact with concentrated nitric acid at a temperature above 120 °C.Red oil is relatively stable below 130 °C, but it can decompose explosively when its...
, palm and
cashewThe cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...
are grown on a limited scale in these islands.
Industry
There are 1,374 registered small-scale, village and handicrafts units. Two units are export oriented in the line of fish processing activity. Apart from this, there are shell and wood based handicraft units. There are also four medium sized industrial units. SSI units are engaged in the production of polythene bags, PVC conduit pipes and fittings, paints and varnished, fibre glass and mini flour mills, soft drinks and beverages, etc. Small scale and handicraft units are also engaged in shell crafts, bakery products, rice milling, furniture making , etc. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation has spread its wings in the field of tourism, fisheries, industries and industrial financing and functions as authorised agents for
Alliance AirAir India Regional is an Indian airline which was started as a low-cost arm of Indian as Alliance Air . As part of Indian's merger with Air India, it was renamed Air India Regional. It operates 357 weekly flights to 25 domestic destinations as a subsidiary of Air India.- History :The airline was...
/
Jet AirwaysJet Airways is a major Indian airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is India's largest airline and the market leader in the domestic sector. It operates over 400 flights daily to 76 destinations worldwide. Its main hub is Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, with secondary hubs at Delhi,...
.
Macro-economic trend
This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Andaman and Nicobar Islands at market prices, estimated by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, with figures in millions of Indian Rupees.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Gross State Domestic Product
|-
| 1980
| 530
|-
| 1985
| 1,060
|-
| 1990
| 1,900
|-
| 1995
| 6,750
|-
| 2000
| 9,560
|-
| 2005
| 13,130
|}
Andaman and Nicobar Islands' gross state domestic product for 2004 was estimated at $354 million in current prices.
Tourist places
- Cellular Jail
The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī , was a colonial prison situated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. The prison was used by the British especially to exile political prisoners to the remote archipelago...
- Baratang
Baratang, less commonly known as Baratang Island, is an island in the Andaman Islands, India, with an area of approximately . It is one of the main islands of the Great Andaman group, a closely set archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, adjoining the Andaman Sea. Middle Andaman is to its north, and...
- Barren Island
Barren Island is located in the Andaman Sea, one of the most easterly of the Andaman Islands. It is the only confirmed active volcano in South Asia...
- Havelock Island
Havelock Island is the largest of the islands with an area of 113.93 km2 which comprise Ritchie's Archipelago, a chain of islands to the east of Great Andaman in the Andaman Islands. Havelock is situated 57 km North East of Capital City Port Blair...
See also
{{satop|Geography|Eurasia|Asia|South Asia|Southeast Asia|Indian Ocean|India|Andaman and Nicobar Islands}}
- Effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on India
In India, 10,136 people, according to official estimates, were killed and hundreds of thousands were rendered homeless when a tsunami triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake near the Indonesian island of Sumatra hit the southern peninsular coast on 26 December 2004. The earthquake registered...
- Andamanese languages
The Andamanese languages form a proposed language family spoken by the Andamanese peoples, a group of Negritos who live in the Andaman Islands, a union territory of India. Its validity is disputed...
- Nicobarese languages
The Nicobarese languages form an isolated group of half a dozen closely related Austro-Asiatic languages, spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands of India. They have a total of about 30,000 speakers...
- Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve
The Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve encompasses a large part of the island of Great Nicobar, the largest of the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Nicobars lie in the Bay of Bengal, eastern Indian Ocean, 190 km to the north of the Indonesian island of...
- Great Nicobar
Great Nicobar is the largest of the Nicobar Islands of India, north of Sumatra. Indira Point, its southernmost tip, is also the southernmost point of India. The island of Sumatra is located to the south of Great Nicobar...
- Endemic birds of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
This article is one of a series providing information about endemism among birds in the World's various zoogeographic zones. For an overview of this subject see Endemism in birds.-Endemic Bird Areas:...
{{clear}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{India}}
{{GeoSouthAsia}}
{{Countries and territories of Southeast Asia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andaman And Nicobar Islands}}