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31-639: The Nicobar Islands / ˈ n ɪ k ə b ɑːr / are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean . They are located in Southeast Asia , 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of Aceh on Sumatra , and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea . Located 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) southeast of the Indian subcontinent , across the Bay of Bengal , they are part of India, as

62-850: A great island arc created by the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Eurasia . The collision lifted the Himalayas and most of the Indonesian islands, and created a long arc of highlands and islands, which includes the Arakan Yoma range of Burma , the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and the islands off the west coast of Sumatra , including the Banyak Islands and the Mentawai Islands . The climate

93-572: A population of 36,842 in 2011. The indigenous ethnic groups are the Nicobarese and the Shompen . Local languages include Shompen and the languages of the tin Nicobarese group . The Nicobar Islands are believed to have been inhabited for thousands of years. Six indigenous Nicobarese languages are spoken on the islands, which are part of the Austroasiatic language family , which includes

124-476: A population of 36,844 during the 2011 Census . They comprise three distinct groups: Northern Group : Central Group : Southern Group (Sambelong): Indira Point ( 6°45′23″N 93°49′40″E  /  6.756378°N 93.827765°E  / 6.756378; 93.827765 ) is the southernmost point of Great Nicobar Island and also of India itself, lying about 150 kilometres (93 mi) north of Sumatra , Indonesia . The Nicobar Islands are part of

155-576: Is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands , or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Archipelagos are sometimes defined by political boundaries. For example, while they are geopolitically divided, the San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands geologically form part of a larger Gulf Archipelago. The word archipelago is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄρχι-( arkhi- , "chief") and πέλαγος ( pélagos , "sea") through

186-750: Is inscribed on the Thanjavur (Tanjore) inscription of 1050 CE. Marco Polo (12th-13th century) also referred to this island as 'Necuverann'. In the 15th century, Great Nicobar Island was recorded as "Cui Lan island" (翠蘭嶼) during the voyages of Zheng He in the Mao Kun map of the Wu Bei Zhi . Organised European colonisation on the islands began with the Danish East India Company in 1754/56. During this time they were administered from Tranquebar (in continental Danish India ) under

217-525: Is warm and tropical, with temperatures ranging from 22 to 30 °C (72 to 86 °F). Rainfall is heavy due to annual monsoons and measures around 3,000 to 3,800 mm (120 to 150 in) each year. The Nicobar Islands are recognised as a distinct terrestrial ecoregion , the Nicobar Islands rain forests , with many endemic species. The vegetation of the Nicobars is typically divided into

248-941: The Nicobar district within the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Together with the Andaman Islands to their north, the Nicobar Islands serve as a maritime boundary between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east. UNESCO has declared the Great Nicobar Island as one of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves . The Nicobar Islands cover a land area of 1,841 square kilometres (711 sq mi) and had

279-775: The Italian arcipelago . In antiquity , "Archipelago" (from Medieval Greek * ἀρχιπέλαγος and Latin archipelagus ) was the proper name for the Aegean Sea . Later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands (since the sea has a large number of islands). Archipelagos may be found isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland, which form an archipelago. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots , but may also be

310-791: The Mon , Khmer , and Vietnamese languages of Southeast Asia , and the Munda languages of India. An indigenous tribe living at the southern tip of Great Nicobar called the Shompen, may be of Mesolithic Southeast Asian origin. The earliest extant references to the name "Nicobar" is in the Sri Lankan Pali Buddhist chronicles, the Dipavamsa (c. 3rd or 4th century CE) and the Mahavamsa (c. 4th or 5th century), which state that

341-421: The Nicobar Islands ever had a land bridge to the continent. Lower sea levels did link the islands to one another: Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar were linked to each other, and Nancowry, Chaura, Katchall, Trinka, Camorta, and the nearby smaller islands were linked to one another as well. Protected areas include Campbell Bay National Park and Galathea National Park on Great Nicobar. A World Biosphere Reserve

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372-433: The bad spirits. Their painted sculptures are related to the oral tradition and the myth of Nicobarese origins. In their conception of the world, they inhabit the kingdoms of the sea, the earth and the sky, which they cross through the magic-religious sphere. These anthropomorphic creations are the spirits of living beings, natural elements, even everyday objects. They live with human beings or visit them from another world. In

403-741: The children of the followers of the legendary founder of the Sri Lankan Kingdom, Vijaya, landed on Naggadipa (the island of the children, from the Pali nagga meaning 'naked'). In the ninth century, the Persian explorer Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī referred to the Nicobar Islands as Lanjabālūs. The modern name is likely derived from the Chola dynasty name for the islands, Nakkavaram (may be referring to open/naked land or naked man's land in Tamil ) which

434-539: The coastal mangrove forests and the interior evergreen and deciduous tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests . Additionally, several islands contain extensive inland grasslands , though these are thought to have resulted from human intervention. As a result of lower sea levels during the ice ages , the Andaman Islands were linked to the Southeast Asian mainland, but it is not believed that

465-598: The different islands speak different dialects of the Nicobarese language . The separate islands are categorized into four groups, although most of the people understand the Car Nicobar dialect. Most of the people of the islands are of the Christian religion , which was taught to them by a man named John Richardson who translated the New Testament into Nicobarese. Besides Christianity, other Nicobarese follow

496-479: The houses, the spirits of the ancestors of the family inhabit the sculptures and are thus an integral part of the domestic environment: the inhabitants of today live in harmony with those of the other worlds, represented by the images. The Nicobarese are headed by a matriarchal chief. The first matriarchal chief of the Nicobarese was Islon who married Mewalal, tahsildar of Nancowry in 1941–42, and became

527-470: The islands on the mistaken assumption that Denmark–Norway had abandoned its claims to the islands. Italy attempted to buy the Nicobar Islands from Denmark between 1864 and 1865. The Italian Minister of Agriculture and Commerce Luigi Torelli started a negotiation that looked promising but failed due to the unexpected end of his office and the second La Marmora Cabinet . The negotiations were interrupted and never brought up again. Denmark 's presence in

558-527: The islands consist of sporadically placed huts strewn about in designated areas. The huts are normally round with dome-shaped roofs. They are typically raised above the ground and have ladders that the residents pull up after they climb into the huts at night. The Nicobarese have a traditionally horticultural economy; they base their monetary existence on the growing of coconuts , pandanus , areca nut palms, bananas, mangoes and other fruits. They also hunt, fish, raise pigs, make pottery and make canoes. Many of

589-653: The islands ended formally on 16 October 1868 when it sold the rights to the Nicobar Islands to the UK, which, in 1869, made them part of British India . During the Second World War , the islands were invaded and occupied by Japan between 1942 and 1945 . In May 1945, HMS  Ceylon shelled Japanese positions on the islands. The British regained possession of the islands after the Surrender of Japan announced on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945. After

620-478: The islands with Shompen who came to the islands earlier. The islands have been under the power of various Asian empires in the 16th century, Denmark from 1754–1869, United Kingdom from 1869–1947, and India from 1947. Today they are administered by India as part of the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands . The Nicobarese language is part of the Austroasiatic language family. All of

651-402: The most influential person in the Nicobar Islands. On the Nicobar Islands, men and women have approximate equal status. The women can choose their husbands, and after marriage they are free to live with either of the couple's parents. The Nicobarese men value the women economically because they not only take care of household duties, but also tend to the plantations and gardens. The villages on

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682-538: The name of Frederiksøerne . Missionaries from the Moravian Church Brethren's settlement in Tranquebar attempted a settlement on Nancowry and died in great numbers from disease. The islands were repeatedly abandoned due to outbreaks of malaria : 1784–1807/09, 1830–1834, and finally from 1848 gradually for good. Between 1778 and 1783, William Bolts attempted to establish an Austrian colony on

713-465: The result of erosion , deposition , and land elevation . Depending on their geological origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands , continental fragments , or continental islands . Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, and widely separated from any adjacent continent. The Hawaiian Islands and Galapagos Islands in the Pacific , and Mascarene Islands in

744-670: The shelf. The islands of the Inside Passage off the coast of British Columbia and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are examples. Artificial archipelagos have been created in various countries for different purposes. Palm Islands and The World Islands off Dubai were or are being created for leisure and tourism purposes. Marker Wadden in the Netherlands is being built as a conservation area for birds and other wildlife. The largest archipelago in

775-432: The south Indian Ocean are examples. Continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. The Farallon Islands off the coast of California are an example. Sets of islands formed close to the coast of a continent are considered continental archipelagos when they form part of the same continental shelf, when those islands are above-water extensions of

806-437: The traditional religion of the islands, which is animistic in nature. They believe in spirits, ghosts, and the existence of the soul. A person becomes a ghost after their death when their soul leaves their body and the ghosts of all the Nicobarese are all around the islands. They believe that the spirits are responsible for all of the unfortunate occurrences on the islands, in the event of which shamans are called upon to handle

837-474: The war, Choudhry Rahmat Ali proposed that the Nicobars (which he called the "Balus Islands") would have a sizeable Muslim population and thus would be integrated to the Dominion of Pakistan . This hasn't materialized either. Together with the Andaman Islands , it became part of India in 1950 and was declared as a union territory of the nation in 1956. On 26 December 2004, the coast of the Nicobar Islands

868-545: The world by number of islands is the Archipelago Sea , which is part of Finland . There are approximately 40,000 islands, mostly uninhabited. The largest archipelagic state in the world by area, and by population, is Indonesia . Nicobarese people The Nicobarese are a designated Scheduled Tribe in India. The Nicobarese may not have been the last people to live on the islands; they appear to have shared

899-483: Was declared on Grand Nicobar by UNESCO on May 31, 2013. Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve has a total area of 103,870 hectares (256,700 acres). The core area of 53,623 hectares (132,510 acres) comprises Cambell Bay and Galathea National Parks. A buffer area of 34,877 hectares (86,180 acres) includes lands adjacent to and between the two parks. There is also a transitional area of 10,070 hectares (24,900 acres), including 5,300 marine hectares (13,000 acres). The islands had

930-408: Was devastated by a 10-to-15-metre-high (33 to 49 ft) tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake . At least 6,000 people were killed on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with reports putting the death toll on Katchal Island alone at 4,600. Several islands were heavily damaged with initial reports of islands broken in two or three pieces and coral reefs moved above water. Teressa Island

961-467: Was said to have been split into two pieces and Trinkat Island into three pieces. Some estimates said that the islands were moved as much as 30 metres (100 ft) by the earthquake and tilted. Indira Point subsided 4.25 metres (13.9 ft) and the lighthouse there was damaged. Archipelago An archipelago ( / ˌ ɑːr k ə ˈ p ɛ l ə ɡ oʊ / AR -kə- PEL -ə-goh ), sometimes called an island group or island chain ,

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