Why British chose to leave Andamans tribes alone?

Andaman and Nicobar was the part of India before Independence. When Britishers had control over India they also want to control Andaman tribes. But they didn’t understand that how to control with the indigenous inhabitants of the archipelago (Jarawas and Sentinelese).

 

According to Portman, in March 1896, 3 Jarawas attacked Britishers working in the jungle near Mild Tilek (South Andaman). They killed one man and wounded another one. The search for the murderers was futile, they did not find out that who do this. The peoples who are not aware of Andaman jungles, or the habitats of the savages, think to talk about exterminating them but they could not get success.

 

 

After several years Portman’s book, THE ANDAMAN FIGURED in a very very famous book, had proved that the noble savage had on the British imagination. After some time, Portman records some incidents of Andaman jungles like murder on 30 March 1896.

 

When the British did not control over tribes they thought an alternative to resolve this problem. The idea was to capture the Sentinelese batch by batch and try to force them to live in camps where they would interact with the British. Search parties went into the jungle and catch some male tribes and keep them in camps. And after some time allow them to return their homes with presents and food items. This shows that the idea was to show the tribes that outsiders would not harm them but this idea did not work so Britishers left them alone.