The Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Geography and History

Scattered across the Bay of Bengal, closer to Myanmar and Indonesia than to the Indian mainland, lie the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This chain of emerald islands is a Union Territory of India, but its story reaches far beyond the nation's borders. It includes ancient seafarers, colonial prisons, wartime occupation and some of the world's most isolated peoples.

Geography

The territory consists of about 836 islands and islets, of which only around 37 are inhabited, with a total land area of roughly 8,250 square kilometres. The islands stretch for nearly 750 kilometres from north to south and lie about 1,200 kilometres from the Indian mainland. At their northern end, some islands are only a few dozen kilometres from Myanmar's Coco Islands, and at the southern tip, Indira Point on Great Nicobar lies about 150 kilometres from Sumatra in Indonesia.

The archipelago is divided into two groups by the Ten Degree Channel, a stretch of water about 150 kilometres wide. To the north are the Andamans, comprising North, Middle and South Andaman (together called the Great Andaman), along with Little Andaman, Rutland Island and Ritchie's Archipelago. To the south are the Nicobars, including Car Nicobar, the Nancowry group, Little Nicobar and Great Nicobar, the largest island of the group.

Geologically, the islands are the peaks of a submerged mountain range, part of the arc that runs from Myanmar's Arakan Yoma to Sumatra. Saddle Peak in North Andaman, at around 732 metres, is the highest point. The region lies on an active tectonic boundary, which explains its frequent earthquakes. It also hosts Barren Island, which is the only confirmed active volcano in South Asia.

The climate is tropical and humid, with heavy rainfall during the southwest monsoon and temperatures that stay warm all year. Rainfall is often around 3,000 millimetres a year. This supports dense evergreen and deciduous forests that cover most of the land, along with mangroves, coastal swamps and extensive coral reefs. The islands are a biodiversity hotspot with many endemic species, and several areas are protected as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves, including the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve.

Early History and Indigenous Peoples

The islands have been inhabited for tens of thousands of years. The Andamans are home to the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese, who are believed to be among the earliest human groups to settle in the region. In the Nicobars live the Nicobarese, who form the majority there, and the Shompen of Great Nicobar. These peoples developed distinct languages and ways of life, shaped by sea and forest, and many resisted outside contact for centuries.

Outside awareness of the islands dates back to antiquity. The Greek geographer Ptolemy referred to islands in the Bay of Bengal in the second century CE, and later Arab and Chinese travellers recorded them as well. Marco Polo, passing through in the thirteenth century, described the islands and their inhabitants in unflattering terms, which fed the long-held reputation of the islanders as hostile. Medieval Indian history also touches the islands. The eleventh-century Chola ruler Rajendra I is believed to have used the islands as a naval base during his campaigns against Southeast Asian kingdoms, and the Cholas' name for the Nicobars appears in inscriptions.

European Contact

European powers took an interest in the islands from the seventeenth century. Denmark was the first to attempt colonisation, establishing settlements in the Nicobars in 1756 and calling them New Denmark. Disease, mainly malaria, repeatedly defeated these efforts, and missionaries, including the Moravian Brethren, struggled too. The Danes eventually abandoned their claims, and Britain annexed the Nicobars in 1869.

The British had meanwhile turned to the Andamans. In 1789 the East India Company's Lieutenant Archibald Blair set up a small settlement, but it was abandoned within a few years because of illness. The islands' reputation changed after the Indian uprising of 1857. Looking for a remote place to hold rebels and convicts, the British established a penal colony at Port Blair in 1858.

The Penal Settlement

For the next several decades, the Andamans became synonymous with exile and punishment. Convicts were transported from across India to clear forests and build the settlement, and conditions were brutal. Disease, forced labour and harsh punishments killed thousands. In 1896 construction began on the Cellular Jail, completed in 1906, which held political prisoners in individual cells. Many leaders of the freedom movement, including Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, were imprisoned there. The jail came to be known as Kala Pani, or "black water," because of the fear of being sent across the sea.

The settlement also had a heavy cost for the islands' original inhabitants. The Great Andamanese, in particular, suffered terribly from disease, alcohol and conflict, and their numbers fell from several thousand to a few dozen.

World War II and Independence

The Second World War brought a sharp change. Japan occupied the islands in March 1942, and the occupation lasted until 1945. On 30 December 1943, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose hoisted the Indian tricolour at Port Blair, symbolically declaring the islands free and renaming them Shaheed and Swaraj. The reality of the occupation was harsh, however, and local people suffered torture, executions and hardship, including a massacre at Homfraygunj in January 1944. British forces returned after Japan's surrender in 1945.

After India's independence in 1947, the islands became part of the new nation and were later declared a Union Territory in 1956. The government encouraged resettlement from the mainland, including refugees from East Pakistan, which transformed the territory's population and placed pressure on forests and indigenous communities. At the same time, protective laws such as the 1956 regulation on aboriginal tribes sought to limit outsider access to tribal reserves.

Recent Developments

The islands have faced major events in the modern era. The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of December 2004 devastated the Nicobars, killing thousands and altering the coastline. Land at Indira Point sank by several metres, and the shock reshaped many communities. In recent years, the islands have also been renamed in some places to reflect national heroes. Port Blair became Sri Vijaya Puram in 2024, and islands such as Havelock and Neil were renamed Swaraj Dweep and Shaheed Dweep. Tourism, based on beaches, diving and history, is a major driver of the economy, while strategic planning has focused on the islands' location near key shipping lanes, notably through the Great Nicobar development project.

Conclusion

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a place where geography has shaped history at every stage. Their remoteness protected indigenous peoples for millennia, drew colonial rulers who wanted a distant prison, and now makes them central to India's strategic and environmental future. The challenge today is to balance development with the protection of a fragile ecosystem and the rights of the communities that call the islands home.