UN American instagrammer killed by uncontacted tribe in Andaman Islands - becomes pincushion for Stone Age arrows

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46286215

An American man has been killed by an endangered tribe in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Fishermen who took the man to North Sentinel island say tribespeople shot him with arrows and left his body on the beach.

He has been identified as John Allen Chau, a 27 year old from Alabama.

Contact with the endangered Andaman tribes living in isolation from the world is illegal because of the risks to them from outside disease.

Estimates say the Sentinelese, who are totally cut off from civilisation, number only between 50 and 150.

Local media have reported that Chau may have wanted to meet the tribe to preach Christianity to them.

But on social media the young man presented himself as a keen traveller and adventurer.

"Police said Chau had previously visited North Sentinel island about four or five times with the help of local fishermen," journalist Subir Bhaumik, who has been covering the islands for years, told BBC Hindi.

"The number of people belonging to the Sentinelese tribe is so low, they don't even understand how to use money. It's in fact illegal to have any sort of contact with them."

In 2017, the Indian government also said taking photographs or making videos of the aboriginal Andaman tribes would be punishable with imprisonment of up to three years.

The AFP news agency quoted a source as saying that Chau had tried and failed to reach the island on 14 November. But then he tried again two days later.

"He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking.

"The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body. They were scared and fled," the report added.

Chau's body was spotted on 20 November. According to the Hindustan Times, his remains have yet to be recovered.

"It's a difficult case for the police," says Mr Bhaumik. "You can't even arrest the Sentinelese."

getting BTFO by Pajeet an-prims is pretty embarrassing way to go

 

[AnOminous]

If there's only a hundred or two hundred of them, and they kill anyone who washes up on the island ... Well, I'm sorry to say it, but Darwin is going to solve the problem much faster than Jesus will. Another few generations, and they'll be too inbred to function. Sooner or later they'll stop shooting arrows at helicopters (or hoverships or giant eagles or whatever we have by that time), and when a couple of scientists with body armor and Navy SEAL escorts land to investigate what's going on, they'll find a load of modern-day Habsburgs too sick to even kill anyone anymore.

Supposedly they've been there as long as 55,000 years, so either there used to be more of them (or there actually are more of them than estimated), or they've somehow survived this long anyway. Or they used to have more contact with other tribes that no longer exist. Or they're already dying off and this is just the remnants.

 

[Marvin]

Perhaps India is getting tired of all the Eat Pray Love types visiting and saw an opportunity for the problem to resolve itself.

Indians swim in poo-and-corpse river because it's holy or some shit. I can't imagine spiritual hippie nonsense bothers them that much.

 

[Fleshy Sanik]

If there's only a hundred or two hundred of them, and they kill anyone who washes up on the island ... Well, I'm sorry to say it, but Darwin is going to solve the problem much faster than Jesus will. Another few generations, and they'll be too inbred to function. Sooner or later they'll stop shooting arrows at helicopters (or hoverships or giant eagles or whatever we have by that time), and when a couple of scientists with body armor and Navy SEAL escorts land to investigate what's going on, they'll find a load of modern-day Habsburgs too sick to even kill anyone anymore.

If you are good at math you can avoid inbreeding in a group of six people.
These absolute heroes have been hanging out on this island for thousands of years and have protected their community from 100% of all illegal immigrants so i think it is safe to say they are not going anywhere anytime soon.

That being said, being surrounded on every side by miles of water and shooting lethal arrows at anyone approaching is not really a clear indoindica that you do not want company. If only there was a non lethal way to tell people to fuck off from your borders

 

[Marvin]

If you are good at math you can avoid inbreeding in a group of six people.

No you can't. It's just a matter of time. It's inherently a tiny population bottleneck.

 

[c-no]

People are chimping out and getting euphoric in the comments:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqcidjnhz7Z/

I get the idea that the proselytism is bad and all but damn can the euphoria be cringeworthy. It won't excuse the guy being an idiot when told how dangerous the Sentinelese are along with the fact the presence of an outsider can fuck up the tribe but even then, the instagrammer being religious would just be a factor. You could of just thrown in a dumb shit American that's an atheist or whatnot that's seeking thrills and adventure and can still get the same end result.

 

[Hatoful Dandy]

Are you talking about derka derkastans or Detroit?

Funnily enough, they were talking about the Wicker Man remake.

But I suppose those two work as well...

 

[Teri-Teri]

I could imagine that it goes like this:

 

[Some Manajerk]

Fun fact, the cheetah population is actually in the same situation, albeit with more numbers. At some point they went through an evolutionary bottleneck so that now the whole species is incredibly similar genetically. The Sentinelese are likely the same, though we haven't been able to determine that due to the mentioned arrow-y death. The fact that they haven't bred themselves out does suggest something similar, and i bet thier genetic makeup would be a wonder to examine.

 

[2al]

 

[Commander X]

 

[repentance]

Supposedly they've been there as long as 55,000 years, so either there used to be more of them (or there actually are more of them than estimated), or they've somehow survived this long anyway. Or they used to have more contact with other tribes that no longer exist. Or they're already dying off and this is just the remnants.

They know how to build boats and they're aware that civilisations other than their own exist, so it's entirely possible that they had some contact with other primitive tribes until relatively recent times. From what I've read, their language doesn't resemble other languages in the region so their contact with outsiders was either limited or those outsiders no longer exist.

We're constantly discovering things on this planet that we didn't know existed, and what we know of these people is almost entirely based on speculation. Some, if not most, of our assumptions about them are likely to be wrong.

 

[Maxliam]

Indians swim in poo-and-corpse river because it's holy or some shit. I can't imagine spiritual hippie nonsense bothers them that much.

I'm sure they are happy to exploit and rip off rich westerners who think they're some sort of amusement park staff for them to be entertained by.

Funnily enough, they were talking about the Wicker Man remake.

But I suppose those two work as well...

I avoid going anywhere shitty that I can't carry a weapon on me if I can help it.

Man Amanda Seyfreid should have kept that chubby face. I think she's the hottest with a bit of that chub on her face. She was always my favorite of that movie. I'd go to Taco Bell with her any time! I wish I was her first cousin so she could go after me.

 

[Affluent Reptilian]

This has made me think of how primitive many cultures when first encountered by Europeans must have been. Certainly there are still some out there relatively untouched by modernity that practice awful, awful things (eg the Smabia and Etoro people who practice ritualised homosexual paedophilia). I'm wondering if anyone is aware of any reasonably scholarly books or articles that might give some highlights on the worst cultures seen in past centuries?

 

[Shitassdeaddude]

What's the phrase? "Play stupid games?"

 

[AmpleApricots]

The Wikipedia article points out that an British exploration party in the 19th century actually explored the island and found a network of pathways and abandoned villages. They abducted two elders and four children, the elders basically died immediately. They then brought the children back with presents. Apparently that contact didn't wipe out the tribe either. Funnily enough in the 70s a National Geographic Team brought them presents too, via motorboat on the beach. Amongst them a live pig and a doll. It ended up with the director of the documentary being shot in the thigh and the pig being killed with spears and buried on the beach together with the doll while the guy who shot the director laughing at the film crew from afar.

There were tons of such attempts to make peaceful contact with the tribe, especially through gift-giving, but apparently the gifts besides one event in '91 always have been refused. For a while around that time the islanders even responded more peaceful by showing up unarmed, but would always revert to threatening gestures and firing arrows without arrowheads if foreigners hung around for too long or got too close. It's pretty clear that they're very aware of an outside world but just don't want any contact.

 

[Battlecruiser3000ad]

We should enact economic sanctions on those stone age Nazis. That will fuken show them.

 

[Maxliam]

The Wikipedia article points out that an British exploration party in the 19th century actually explored the island and found a network of pathways and abandoned villages. They abducted two elders and four children, the elders basically died immediately. They then brought the children back with presents. Apparently that contact didn't wipe out the tribe either. Funnily enough in the 70s a National Geographic Team brought them presents too, via motorboat on the beach. Amongst them a live pig and a doll. It ended up with the director of the documentary being shot in the thigh and the pig being killed with spears and buried on the beach together with the doll while the guy who shot the director laughing at the film crew from afar.

There were tons of such attempts to make peaceful contact with the tribe, especially through gift-giving, but apparently the gifts besides one event in '91 always have been refused. For a while around that time the islanders even responded more peaceful by showing up unarmed, but would always revert to threatening gestures and firing arrows without arrowheads if foreigners hung around for too long or got too close. It's pretty clear that they're very aware of an outside world but just don't want any contact.

I would love to show up there with an m240 and just give them all some good ol' 7.62mm justice for being pathetic and violent savages.

I just want to see them wiped out.

 

[theshep]

I think I'm going to give this a go the next time I have religious door knockers on my doorstep.

I remember a while back a couple of Indian fishermen got drunk and passed out on their boat. They washed ashore and ended up meeting the same fate as this bloke.

 

[Marvin]

We should enact economic sanctions on those stone age Nazis. That will fuken show them.

Heh, we should like drop shit from planes just to fuck with them. Nothing harmful, just like random shit, like a ton of feathers or yugioh cards or pictures of Donald Trump.

 

[ADN_VIII]

Considering that these tribesmen have a history of violence against any and all outsiders, the smartest way to go there would be with a bunch of trigger happy mercs behind you.

Never go into potentially hostile territory without some capacity for violence. That's just asking for trouble.