Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Two groups of islands in the Bay of Bengal, 1,200 km/745 mi off the east coast of India, forming a Union Territory of the Republic of India; capital Port Blair; area 8,293 sq km/3,202 sq mi; population (2001 est) 356,300. Many of the islands are densely forested but the economy is based mainly on agriculture, with rice, maize, coconuts, betel nuts, cassava, and chillies as leading crops; timber production and copra manufacture are also significant.

The Andamans consist of five principal islands (forming the Great Andaman), the Little Andaman, and about 204 islets; area 6,340 sq km/2,447 sq mi; population (2001 est) 304,800. They were used as a penal settlement 1858-1942. More than 32,000 displaced families from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were settled on the islands between 1949 and 1961, and more recently Tamils from Sri Lanka; about 700 indigenous inhabitants remain. The main items of trade here are timber, coconut, coffee, and rubber.

The Nicobars, consisting of 19 islands (7 of which are uninhabited), are 120 km/75 mi south of Little Andaman; area 1,953 sq km/754 sq mi; population (2001 est) 49,750, around 30,000 of whom are indigenous people. The main trade here is in coconuts and areca nuts. The Nicobars were British 1869-1947.

Although the indigenous Andaman people are generally thought to be racially and culturally related to the indigenous peoples of southeast Asia, studies conducted in 1998 on mitochondrial DNA taken from hair of Andamanese individuals collected in 1907 by British anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown indicate a closer connection to southern African pygmies than to Asians.The indigenous Nicobar people are Indo-Chinese.

Both groups of islands were occupied by Japan 1942-45.