What did the Sentinelese make of the contact and of its subsequent withdrawal? It is hard to tell without communicating and it seems presumptuous to understand their actions in terms of “ choice”, a concept that might make little sense outside our individualistic societies. The expeditions only stopped after it became clear that contact carries the risk of an epidemic. Between the 1960s and 1990s, the Indian government sent gift-giving expeditions to the Sentinelese. But at other times, there has been peaceful interaction. There has been speculation that they choose to reject contact because of previous bad experience. We know that they have been hostile to outsiders historically. The population is estimated to number between 50 and 150 people, and it is unclear if the number is stable. Very little is known about the Sentinelese. Thanks to the efforts of indigenous advocates there is now an agreement, enshrined in the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), that they have a right to self-determination and autonomy. The once-common opinion that their best option is to modernise and integrate with the dominant society has lost legitimacy. This reaction highlights the fact that much has changed in the last few decades in the way we think about indigenous people and their rights. Even fellow missionaries expressed little sympathy.
His mission was deemed at best misguided and at worst plain wrong. Most of the media coverage has focused on the fact that Chau approached the Sentinelese in violation of Indian law, which protects them from external interference. Indian police refrained from retrieving it. He was killed shortly after arrival, his body visible from a distance on the beach. No missionary has ever got close enough to proselytise to them. Most past efforts to contact the Sentinelese have been met with hostility. It is home to the Sentinelese people, who are among the world’s last uncontacted tribes – that is, indigenous groups that maintain no contact with modern civilisation. North Sentinel Island is part of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
He saw this as his life’s mission – and understood the risks. The 26-year-old US evangelical missionary was killed, in late November, on North Sentinel Island, by members of the indigenous community that he sought to convert to Christianity.
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