Camorta Island

Camorta ( nico barbaric: Kamorta ) is an Indian island and belongs to the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean.

It is 2.6 km west of the neighboring islands trinket, 760 meters north of Nancowry and 8 km east of Katchal. According to the Indian census of 2001, there were 2859 people on the island, the largest villages were: Kamorta / Kalatapu, Pilpilow, Kakana and Daring. At this time, the island had an area of ​​188.2 km ². In the south of the island reaches a height of 186 meters.

Between Nancowry and Camorta is an ideal natural harbor, which was designated as one of the safest natural harbors in the world and the Europeans was already known in the 17th century extends. Often pirates used this port, until the British secured it in 1869 with a base.

A base now on Camorta built and the island as a new grain fields ( Nye Sädland ) repossessed - in October 1756 by a Danish expedition under Volquart - after the failure of the United Nicobar. At that time it was uninhabited, the inhabitants of the neighboring island Nancowry talked some fields with coconut and areca or betel nut palms. In addition to Europeans and Indians also Nikobareser came to the island, which soon sparked an uprising and the stranger drove away.

1768 Moravian missionaries reached the island, but moved on to them better geeigenet appearing Nancowry. 1778 the island from the East India Trading Company Trieste was declared an Austrian crown colony. 1784, this claim has been abandoned.

In the great tidal waves of the tsunami as a result of severe tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 Camorta was devastated.