Great Andamanese people

The Great Andamanese are an ethnic group in the Andaman Islands. It originally consisted of ten indigenous peoples, numbering between 200 and 700 people and all had their own language, including the Bea, Bo, Jeru, Khora and Pucikwar.

The people of the Great Andamanese counted at the beginning of the colonization by the British East India Company more than 5,000 members. In addition to diseases brought in hundreds lost their lives during the clashes with British settlers. Initiated by the British resettlement in an Andaman Home survived many of the locals not last long. Of the 150 children born there was no older than two years.

In 1970, the Great Andamanese were resettled by the Indian authorities on the 2 km ², Indian Strait Iceland, where they are dependent on the government. Today ( 2010) are still alive 52 Andamanese.

The sub-tribe of Bo to have lived on the Andaman Islands since 65,000 years. He arrived around 1901 as the last people in contact with the British and included at that time 48 people. End of January 2010 died Boa Sr., the last survivor, who still dominated the Bo language according to the linguist Anvita Abbi, at the age of 85 years.