Андаманские и Никобарские острова: Территория Индии

Union territory of India

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India. It consists of 836 islands (of which only 31 are inhabited) grouped into two island groups: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a wide channel. Port Blair is the capital and largest city of the territory, located about from Chennai and from Kolkata in mainland India. The islands are sandwiched between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east with the northern most point located from the mouth of Hooghly river. Indira Point at 6°45’10″N and 93°49’36″E at the southern tip of Great Nicobar is the southernmost point of India. The territory shares maritime borders with Indonesia located about to the south, Myanmar located to the north east and Thailand located to the south east. The islands occupy a total land area of approximately with a population of 380,581 as per the 2011 census. The territory is divided into three districts: Nicobar, South Andaman, and North and Middle Andaman with the capitals at Car Nicobar, Port Blair and Mayabunder respectively. Genetic and cultural studies suggest that the indigenous Andamanese people may have been isolated from other populations during the Middle Paleolithic era, more than 30,000 years ago. Archeological evidence of civilization has been dated back to 2,200 years. In the 11th century CE, Cholas, one of the three Tamil kingdoms, used the islands as a naval base to launch expeditions in South East Asia. The Danish were the first Europeans to arrive on the islands in 1755. The islands became part of the British Raj in 1868. During the Second World War, the islands were invaded by the Japanese Empire. After Indian Independence in 1947, the region became a province and later a union territory after the adoption of the Constitution of India in 1950. The islands host the Andaman and Nicobar Command, the only geographical command operated jointly by the three major wings of the Indian Armed Forces: the Army, the Air Force and the Navy. While Hindi and English are the official languages, the major spoken languages include Bengali, Tamil and Telugu. Indigenous people speak any of the Andamanese or Nicobarese family of languages. Hinduism is the majority religion in the union territory, with a significant Christian minority. The islands are also home to the Sentinelese people, an uncontacted tribe.

The name Andaman might have been derived from Handuman, after the Indian God Hanuman from the Hindu epic Ramayana. The place was called with a similar name by the Malay, who used to be involved in slave trade in the region. The place was also referred by various names such as Angademan by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE and Angamanian by Marco Polo in 13th century CE. In the middle ages (500 1500 AD), Nicobar was known as Lankhabatus in Arabia, probably a mis transcription of the name Nakkavaram. An 11th century CE work Kathasaritsagar indicates the name as Narikel Dweep. Archeological evidence obtained from middens have been dated the earliest civilisations back to 200 300 BCE. The islands have been mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE. It was part of an established Chola trade route connecting India and South East Asia, with the practice continuing in the subsequent years during the reigns of Rajendra II and Kulothunga I. Chola inscriptions from Thanjavur, dated to 1050 CE, describe the islands as Ma Nakkavaram meaning "great open/naked land" in Tamil. The islands are later mentioned by Marco Polo in the 13th century CE and Friar Oderic in early 14th century CE.

The European colonisation on the islands began when settlers from the Danish East India Company arrived on the Nicobar Islands on 12 December 1755. On 1 January 1756, the Nicobar Islands were made into a Danish colony, first named Nye Danmark (New Denmark) and later Frederiksøerne (Frederick's Islands). The islands were managed from the Dutch colony of Tranqebar in the Indian mainland. However, various attempts to settle on the islands were unsuccessful due to repeated outbreaks of malaria, which led to the death of the colonists. Between 1778 and 1783, William Bolts tried to establish an Austrian colony on the Nicobar islands, mistakenly assuming that the Danish had abandoned the claims to the islands, renaming them Theresa Islands. In 1789, the British colonised the Andaman islands to set up a naval base and establish a penal colony. In 1794, a first batch of 100 prisoners were sent to the island but the settlement was abandoned in 1796. Between 1864 and 1868, Italy tried to buy the island from the Danish. On 16 October 1868, the Danish sold the rights to the Nicobar islands to the British, which was made part of the British India in 1869.

During the Partition of India, the British announced their intention to retain possession of the islands and use them to resettle Anglo Indians and Anglo Burmese on these islands. The islands were claimed by the Indian National Congress for India and the Muslim League for Pakistan during the partition negotiations. After the India Independence in 1947, the islands became part of the Dominion of India. As per the Constitution of India, the Islands were designated as the only part D territory in 1950, to be administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the Government of India. The islands were later used to resettle people displaced during the partition with a substantial number of displaced immigrants establishing agricultural colonies. The islands became a separate union territory administered by the Government of India, following the re organization in 1956. The islands have been developed into a key defence establishment since the 1980 due to its strategic location in the Bay of Bengal across the Strait of Malacca. On 26 December 2004, the coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar islands experienced high tsunami waves following an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean which resulted in more than 2,000 casualties, 46,000 injuries and rendering at least 40,000 homeless. The locals and tourists on the islands suffered the greatest casualties while the indigenous people largely survived unscathed due to movement to high grounds following the oral traditions passed down over generations that warned them to evacuate following earthquakes.

The Andaman islands were populated by the indigenous people (the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese) who were isolated and spoke Andamanese languages for thousands of years. The Nicobar islands, which was part of trade routes and was frequented by travelers, were populated by Shompen people before the islands were settled by Nicobarese people, who spoke Austroasiatic languages. When the islands were first colonized, the population of the natives were estimated to be around 5,000 and while the population of islands temporarily increased during colonization, the population saw a massive spike post 1960s due to the policies of the Union Government that encouraged settlers from other parts of the country. In the early 21st century, the population of indigenous people has drastically dropped and as of 2016, it was estimated to consist of 44 Great Andamanese, 380 Jarawas, 101 Onges, 15 Sentinelese and 229 Shompens. The Government of India is trying to protect the remnant population by providing access to healthcare facilities, communication and social engagement. There are two unattested languages: Sentinelese, spoken by Sentinelese people, who refuse contact with outsiders, which might be related to Ongan as per Anvita Abbi and Jangil, which became extinct in the 1920s. Indigenous to the Nicobar Islands are the Shompen language, spoken by Shompen people and the five Nicobarese languages, which form part of the Austroasiatic language family and are spoken by about people or 7.6% of the population. Hindi is the official language of the region, while English is declared an additional official language for communication purposes.

The islands are served by Veer Savarkar International Airport near Port Blair which has regular flights to major cities in India. The airport operates as a civil enclave, sharing airside facilities with INS Utkrosh of the Indian Navy. The airport has a single runway of in length, with the civilian terminal operated by the Airports Authority of India with air traffic operations managed by the Indian Navy. Andaman and Nicobar Command of Indian Armed Forces operates air bases of Car Nicobar AFS, INS Kohassa, INS Utkrosh and INS Baaz. There are 23 ports along the islands with a major port at Port Blair and eight other significant ports including Diglipur, Mayabunder, Rangat, Hut Bay, Car Nicobar, Katchal and Campbell Bay. In 2022, the Government of India proposed the development of a new container ship terminal and an airport at Great Nicobar. There are 39 light houses situated across the islands. as of 2018, there are long national highways in the state with the major highway being the long NH 4 connecting Port Blair and Diglipur.

There is no single power grid connecting all the islands and independent power houses caters to the power requirements of individual islands. The islands have an installed power capacity of 68.46 MW with majority of the power generated from diesel power plants and a single hydroelectric powerplant of 5.25MW on Kalpong river. In 2016, a new 15 megawatt diesel power plant was established in South Andaman with Japanese assistance. IN 2022, the government proposed additional power plants and infrastructure to be developed in Great Nicobar. 4G mobile service is provided by various telecom operators in the islands. Till 2020, Internet was provided through satellite links and access was limited. Bharat Broadband Network started work on laying fiber optic submarine cables connecting the islands with Chennai in December 2018. On 10 August 2020, the undersea optical fibre cable went live, which enabled high speed broadband connections in the islands.

The first primary school in the islands was established in 1881. Jawaharlal Nehru Rajkeeya Mahavidyalaya was the first institute of higher education, established in 1967. Mahatma Gandhi Government College was established in 1990 and is affiliated to Pondicherry University. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Government Polytechnic was established in 1984 and the affiliated engineering college, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Institute of Technology was established in 1989. Andaman Law College is the only law college in the state, established in 2016. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Institute of Medical Sciences was established in 1963.

Arthur Conan Doyle refers to the Andaman islands in the Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of the Four. Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyay based the events of one his Kakababu series adventure thriller novels, Sabuj Dwiper Raja (1976), on the islands. In 1979, it was made into a film of the same name, shot extensively on the islands. The National Award winning Malayalam film Kaalapani was set against backdrop of the Port Blair's Cellular Jail and was extensively shot in the islands. The Netflix Original Series, Kaala Paani, is based on a fictional illness that spreads in the islands.