The only place in the world outside the law

In our mind killing to pay for life and pay debts is a natural thing, whether it is the law of our country or the law of other countries in the world, killing is undoubtedly one of the most unforgivable felonies, even in those countries where have banned the death penalty, killing also requires a very high sentence, but can you imagine that in this civilized society there is a place where killing can be done without breaking the law? It is the protagonist in this article, North Sentinel Island.

North Sentinel Island

This is an extra-legal place, it is located in the Bay of Bengal, one of the Andaman Islands, according to the division of the country, the island belongs to the jurisdiction of India, but Indian law does not bind the residents of this island, although nominally the land of India, but and India is far away from the sea, the local people communication closed and backward technology, they do not even know that there is India this country, let alone talk about They do not even know that there is an Indian country, let alone understand the laws of India, and listen to the discipline of India.

The remote geographical location, resulting in their little contact with modern humans, the development of modern society is not at all understood, which also led to their special xenophobia, and their population size is also very small, with only 400 indigenous inhabitants of this small island, scientists call them to sentinel people.

According to scientists, their ancestors are likely to be Homo sapiens from Africa, but due to changes in plate movement, resulting in this island began to be gradually isolated from the mainland, so the island's inhabitants formed a unique community.

Due to the lack of contact with the outside world, resulting in their technology level is extremely backward, so let alone talk about the island has any industry or technology, also due to the small geographical area, they even agriculture and farming are not developed, and are still relying on traditional hunting for a living, still maintain the original style, using stone weapons to hunt.

Bloody contact history

And with such a closed island, how did modern humans find these people on North Sentinel Island? Let's turn the clock back to 1867, the 1st contact of modern humans with the Sentinel. In 1867, during the British colonial expansion phase, the East India Company ship ran aground on North Sentinel Island and the 100 crew members boarded the island for repairs, which led to the first contact with these primitive people.

But the first contact did not happen happily, because, for the primitive people of North Sentinel Island, these crew members were a new species, a species that seemed unsuspecting, so they launched a fierce attack on the crew who boarded the ship, and the battle lasted for three days and nights until the East India Company's crew was rescued by a passing British naval ship, which put them out of danger.

But this discovery also brought an undeserved disaster to the local natives, because at that time the British colonial policy is like a dog peeing, found a piece of land unoccupied, like a dog mark it, and claim that this is a British colony, belongs to the British territory, in 1880 the British sent an officer stationed here, as the local governor over this island.

Instead of bringing advanced civilization to the island, the British took over the island and brought endless suffering, as many of the local natives were kidnapped by slave traders and sold to other regions. At the same time, due to the long isolation from the mainland, their immune system could not adapt to the germs of the mainland, and many of the viruses considered well-treated on the mainland could easily kill the North Sentinel. This also led to the local population especially hating the British government, so they also launched a counter-attack, but they made the bow and arrow spear, how can be the British Navy's strong ships and cannons opponent, although the fight can not be, the two of the beam has been formed.

North Sentinel Island Encounter

In 1896 three prisoners escaped from prison, and these three prisoners, I don't know whether to say lucky or unlucky, after struggling to escape the grasp of the prison, they took a small boat to drift at sea, but two of them drowned, while the only one fugitive managed to drift to North Sentinel Island. But if this man was given the choice again, it is estimated that he would most likely choose to die at sea, because after drifting here, the North Sentinel killed him brutally.

Other British people found him when he had become a corpse, with multiple scratches on his body and his throat slit. If this was already last century, when the law was not sound and justifiable, then just in 2006, Indian fishermen were similarly brutalized when they docked near North Sentinel Island.

Efforts on North Sentinel Island

But what can be said about law and governance on such a primitive island? Now there are not even modern humans, not to mention finding the killer to give him a sentence, so this is also known as a modern civilization forbidden, not that the suspect is not convicted, but because there is no way to catch the perpetrator and bring him to justice. Since it is impossible to govern, then simply let the local people not go to this island. In 1996, India enacted a law prohibiting other people from coming near North Sentinel Island. Even so, many people are not afraid to die and try to approach North Sentinel Island.

Alan Chow, a missionary from the United States, was not convinced. He thought that since the law could not restrain these savages, let me use the great Christianity to convince them. So he hired fishermen from the Indian sea, bypassed the Indian marine police, and landed on North Sentinel Island, trying to use the power of religion to make these barbarians submit to Christ.

But the idea is very rich, but the reality is very bone, these sentinel people, can not even understand English, so how can preach to them? The Bible recited for them might be the most truthful words in the ears of the missionaries, but in the eyes of these people, it might be the whispers of the devil. So on the 2nd day of the landing of the American missionary Allen Chan on North Sentinel Island, his body was buried on the beach of North Sentinel Island. This time there was no God to save him because it was a forbidden cultural land where no civilized legal religion could spread up.

For the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island, we do not know whether such isolation is good or bad for them, the isolated environment makes them away from colonization, away from the then fierce colonial oppression, they are like orphans abandoned by the earth, but at the same time for them, this island is not their paradise.

The other side of the story is that when a place is not governed by law and morality, it can be very bad.