Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Location of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Capital Port Blair
11.68° N 92.77° E
Abbreviation IN-AN
Official languages Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, Punjabi, Tamil, Nicobarese, English
Lt. Governor Ramchandra Ganesh Kapse
Formation 1956- 11-01
Area 8,249 km² ( 27th)
Population ( 2001) 356,152 1 ( -)
Density 43/km²
Districts 2
Time zone IST ( UTC +5:30)

Seal of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
1: population as per final 2001 Census of India figures
Map of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with an extra detailed area around Port Blair
Map of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with an extra detailed area around Port Blair

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India. Informally, the territory's name is often abbreviated to A & N Islands, or ANI. It is located in the Indian Ocean, in the southern reaches of the Bay of Bengal. It is comprised of two island groups -the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands - which separate the Andaman Sea to the east from the Indian Ocean. These two groups are separated by the 10° N parallel, the Andamans lying to the north of this latitude, and the Nicobars to the south. The capital of this territory is the Andamanese town of Port Blair.

The territory's population as per the most recent ( 2001) Census of India was 356,152. Added together, the total land area of the territory is approximately 8,249 km2.

History

Name origins

The name Andaman presumably comes from Handuman, which is Malay for the Hindu god Hanuman. The name Nicobar is Malay for land of the naked (people).

First inhabitants

The Andaman and Nicobar islands have been inhabited for several thousand years, at the very least. The earliest archaeological evidence yet documented goes back some 2,200 years; however, the indications from genetic, cultural and linguistic isolation studies point to habitation going back 30,000 to 60,000 years, well into the Middle Paleolithic.

In the Andaman Islands, the various Andamanese peoples 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 peoples of the Andamans were:

  • the Great Andamanese, who collectively represented at least 10 distinct sub-groups and languages;
  • the Jarawa;
  • the Jangil (or Rutland Jarawa);
  • the Onge; and
  • the Sentinelese (most isolate of all the groups).

In total, these peoples 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 peoples lost territory and numbers in the face of 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 peoples of the Nicobars (unrelated to the Andamanese) have a similarly isolated and lengthy association with the islands. There are two main groups:

  • the Nicobarese, or Nicobari, living throughout many of the islands; and
  • the Shompen, restricted to the interior of Great Nicobar.

Pre-colonial era

The islands provided a temporary maritime base for ships of the Marathas in the 17th century. The legendary privateer and admiral Kanhoji Angre harassed colonial shipping routes with a base in the islands.

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 colony for dissenters and independence fighters from the Indian subcontinent.

The British used the islands as an isolated prison for members of the Indian independence movement. The mode of imprisonment was called Kalapani. The Cellular Jail in Port Blair was regarded as the "Siberia" of British India.

The islands were administered as a Chief Commissioner's Province.

The British continued their occupancy until the Japanese took over during World War II.

Indian control

The islands were nominally put under the authority of the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Netaji visited the islands during the war, and renamed them as "Shaheed" (Martyr) & "Swaraj" (Self-rule). General Loganathan, of the Indian National Army was Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

It became an Indian union territory (UT) in 1950.

Recent history

On 26 December 2004 the coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were devastated by a 10 metre high tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. At least 7,000 people (possibly a conservative estimate) were believed to have been killed on the Nicobar and Andaman Islands during the disaster.

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 evacuate from large waves that follow large earthquakes. [1]

Geography

There are over 570 islands in the territory, of which only some 38 are permanently inhabited. Most of the islands (about 550) are in the Andamans group, 26 of which are inhabited. The smaller Nicobars are comprised of some 22 main islands (12 inhabited). The Andmans and Nicobars are separated by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel) some 150 km wide.

The total area of the Andaman Islands is some 6,408 km2; that of the Nicobar Islands approximately 1,841 km2.

Administration

As a Union Territory, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is nominally under the direct control of the Indian Head of State. In practice, a Lt. Governor is appointed to directly administer the territory.

The territory is divided into two districts for administrative purposes. These are the Andaman district and Nicobar district, responsible for their respective island groups. Each district is headed by a Deputy Commissioner, in charge of the various local administrative service departments, assisted by several Assistant Commissioners and sundry other posts. the districts also have Indian Administrative Service-appointed post of district collector, responsible for overseeing revenue collection and some other related services. In both cases, this post forms part of the Deputy Commissioners' portfolios, rather than being held by a separate individual.

In turn, these two districts are further sub-divided into administrative entities known locally as tehsils, which are roughly equivalent to local councils or counties. The tehsils are also grouped into local Sub-Divisions, another administrative level which primarily serves as a basis for the combining of local resources. In the case of the Nicobars, the Sub-Divisions and the tehsils are effectively one and the same.

By district, these Sub-Divisions and tehsils are:

Andaman district—

  • Mayabunder subdivision:
    • Diglipur tehsil
    • Mayabunder tehsil
    • Rangat tehsil
  • South Andaman subdivision:
    • Port Blair tehsil
    • Ferrargunj tehsil

A third tehsil for the South Andaman subdivision is proposed, but not yet implemented, for Little Andaman Island.

Nicobar district—

  • Nancowry subdivision:
    • Nancowry tehsil
  • Car Nicobar subdivision:
    • Car Nicobar tehsil

Nancowry tehsil covers all of the Nicobars except for Car Nicobar; it has two administrative centres, one on Kamorta and the other at Campbell Bay, each directed by a Deputy Commissioner.