North Sentinel
2009 NASA image of North Sentinel Island; the island's protective fringe of coral reefs can be seen clearly.
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 North Sentinel Island
Location of North Sentinel Island
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| Geography | |
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| Location | Bay of Bengal |
| Coordinates | 11°33′25″N 92°14′28″E / 11.557°N 92.241°ECoordinates: 11°33′25″N 92°14′28″E / 11.557°N 92.241°E |
| Archipelago | Andaman Islands |
| Adjacent bodies of water | Indian Ocean |
| Total islands | 5 |
| Major islands |
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| Area | 59.67 km2 (23.04 sq mi) |
| Length | 7.8 km (4.85 mi) |
| Width | 7.0 km (4.35 mi) |
| Coastline | 31.6 km (19.64 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 122 m (400 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Union territory | Andaman and Nicobar Islands |
| District | South Andaman |
| Tehsil | Port Blair Tehsil |
| Demographics | |
| Demonym | North Sentinelese |
| Population | 39 (2011) (census estimate, actual population highly uncertain) |
| Ethnic groups | Sentinelese |
| Additional information | |
| Time zone | |
| PIN | 744202 |
| ISO code | IN-AN-00 |
| Official website | www |
| Avg. summer temperature | 30.2 °C (86.4 °F) |
| Avg. winter temperature | 23.0 °C (73.4 °F) |
| Census Code | 35.639.0004 |
North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, which includes South Sentinel Island, in the Bay of Bengal. It is home to the Sentinelese who, often violently, reject any contact with the outside world, and are among the last people worldwide to remain virtually untouched by modern civilization. As such, only limited information about the island is known.
Nominally, the island belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In practice, Indian authorities recognise the islanders' desire to be left alone and restrict their role to remote monitoring.
North Sentinel lies 36 kilometres (22 mi) west of the town of Wandoor in South Andaman Island, 50 km (31 mi) west of Port Blair, and 59.6 kilometres (37.0 mi) north of its counterpart South Sentinel Island. It has an area of about 59.67 km2 (23.04 sq mi) and a roughly square outline.
North Sentinel is surrounded by coral reefs, and lacks natural harbours. The entire island, other than the reefs, is forested. There is a narrow beach encircling the island, behind which the ground rises 20 m (66 ft), and then gradually to between 46 m (150 ft) and 122 m (400 ft) near the centre. Reefs extend around the island to between 800 and 1,290 metres (0.5–0.8 mi) from the shore. A forested islet, Constance Island, also "Constance Islet", is located about 600 metres (2,000 ft) off the southeast coastline, at the edge of the reef.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake tilted the tectonic plate under the island, lifting it by 1 to 2 metres (3 to 7 ft). Large tracts of the surrounding coral reefs were exposed and became permanently dry land or shallow lagoons, extending all the island's boundaries – by as much as 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) on the west and south sides – and uniting Constance Islet with the main island.
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Wikipedia