Nicobar Islands

In 2013, UNESCO added the Great Nicobar Island to its World Network of Biosphere Reserves, a list of internationally designated protected areas.

History

Etymology

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 children of followers of Vijaya, the legendary founder of Tambapanni, landed on Naggadipa ("the island of the children", from 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 name for the islands, Nakkavaram (Tamil: நக்கவரம் "naked man's land" from நக்க nakka "naked"), which is inscribed on the Thanjavur (Tanjore) inscription of 1050 CE. Marco Polo (12th-13th century) also referred to this island as 'Necuverann'.

The Mao Kun map in the Wu Bei Zhi made for the voyages of Zheng He in the 15th century annotated Great Nicobar Island as "Cui Lan island" (翠蘭嶼).

Prehistory

The Nicobar Islands are believed to have been inhabited for several thousands of years. Six indigenous Nicobarese languages are spoken on the islands, which are part of the Austroasiatic language family, which include the Mon, Khmer, and Vietnamese languages of Southeast Asia, as well as the Munda languages of India. An indigenous tribe living at the southern tip of Great Nicobar, known as the Shompen, may be of Mesolithic Southeast Asian origin.

Colonial period

Organized European colonization 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 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 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 the islands ended formally on 16 October 1868 when it sold the rights to the Nicobar Islands to the United Kingdom, which, in 1869, made them part of British India.

Second World War

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 the war, Pakistani politician 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. However, this never materialised.

Indian union territory

Together with the Andaman Islands, it became part of India in 1950 and was declared as a union territory of the nation in 1956.

26 December 2004 tsunami

On 26 December 2004, the coast of the Nicobar Islands 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 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.