Welcome to Shompen.com. The Shompen Tribe

The Shompen are an indigenous people living in the dense tropical rainforests of Great Nicobar Island in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They are classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), and their population is tiny, estimated at only a few hundred people.

Traditionally semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, the Shompen live in small, scattered groups along rivers and forest streams. They hunt wild pigs and monitor lizards, fish, and gather forest produce, with pandanus fruit as a staple. They also practise limited horticulture. Their homes are simple huts, and they use spears and bows, along with canoes for river travel.

Their language, Shompen, belongs to the Austroasiatic family and is related to the Nicobarese languages. They have long been wary of outsiders and maintain limited contact with the neighbouring Nicobarese community, mainly through barter. Their isolation also leaves them vulnerable to diseases they have little immunity against.

To protect them, the Indian government restricts entry to their reserve under the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956. Outsiders generally cannot settle or interact with them without permission.

Today, their main concern is development. Plans for infrastructure on Great Nicobar have raised debate over forest loss and the tribe’s survival, with activists and anthropologists calling for strong protection of their land and way of life.