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The Endangered Jarawas of the Andaman
Islands
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| http://www.mapsofindia.com/stateprofiles/andamanandnicobar/
History
The existence of
these islands was first reported in the 9th century by Arab
merchants, who sailed past them, on their way to the straits
of Sumatra. The first Western visitor was Marco Polo, who
called it `the land of the head - hunters'. The islands were
annexed by the Marathas in the late 17th century. In the early
18th century, the islands were the base of Maratha admiral
Kanhoji Angre, whose navy frequently captured British, Dutch
and Portugese merchant ships. Angre remained undefeated by the
combined British / Portuguese naval task force, right up to
his death in 1729.
The Nicobar Islands
were annexed by Britain in 1869 and were joined with the
Andaman Islands to form a single administrative unit in 1872.
Japanese forces occupied the islands from 1942 until the end
of World War in 1945, and control of the territory was
transferred to India when it gained independence from Britain
in 1947 |
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Article courtesy:
Survival.org |
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Country:
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Andaman Islands, India |
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Population:
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unknown, estimates from 200-300 |
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Who are they? The Jarawa are a largely
uncontacted people, living on the Andaman Islands in the Indian ocean.
Both British and Indian settlers have moved onto their islands over
the last 150 years, but the Jarawa have chosen to maintain an almost
complete isolation. They are very different in appearance to their
Indian neighbours, and DNA tests suggest that their closest relatives
are African. |
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How do they live? Because of the Jarawa's
voluntary isolation, and the fact that no one outside the tribe really
speaks their language, very little is known about them. We do know
that the they live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, hunting pig and
monitor lizard, fishing with bows and arrows, and gathering seeds,
berries and honey. They are nomadic, living in bands of 40-50 people.
They resisted all contact with the outside world until 1998, when some
Jarawa started coming out of their forest to visit nearby towns and
settlements. From what can now be understood of their language, it
seems that pressure from poachers on the coast had driven them inland.
Although a few Jarawa, particularly women and children, still come out
onto the road or into settlements to visit they continue to live a
self-sufficient life in the forest. |
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What problems do they face? The main threats
to the Jarawa are encroachment on their land – sparked by the building
of a road through their forest in 1970 – and the risk of being settled
forcibly – as planned by the authorities in 1991 and urged by a local
lawyer in a court case brought in 1999. The road has increasingly
brought settlers, poachers and loggers into Jarawa land, who steal the
tribe's game and expose them to disease. Forced resettlement was fatal
for other tribes in the Andaman Islands, and has always been so for
newly contacted tribal peoples worldwide: it introduces diseases;
destroys the sense of identity and society; robs tribes of their
self-sufficiency; and leaves them vulnerable to alcoholism and
despair. In the wake of Survival's campaign, however, it seems that
the authorities will have to take action to remove all these threats.
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How does Survival help? Survival has for
some years been urging the Indian government to respect the Jarawa's
rights to their land and to self-determination, and protesting against
the particular threats to them. The first success for this campaign
was that by 2001, the Indian government had clearly abandoned its
plans to resettle the Jarawa, and was claiming that it never intended
to do so. Survival wanted the court hearing a case on the issue to
make this official, and gathered expert testimonies on the dangers of
forced settlement. The court's interim judgment incorporated many of
our recommendations; we are working to have this made permanent.
After the authorities' change of
position on settlement, Survival focused on trying to get the road
through Jarawa land closed and the settlers removed. In May 2002, the
Indian Supreme Court ordered the closure of the road, the removal of
settlers, and a ban on all logging. Survival is now trying to make
sure that the court's order is implemented properly. We are continuing
to lobby for recognition of the Jarawa's right to own their land and
to make their own choices about how they live. |
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