Great Nicobar Island
Great Nicobar (English Great Nicobar, Hindi: बड़ा निकोबार, Bara Nicobar, nico barbaric: टोकिओंग लोंग or Tokieong Long ) belongs to the Indian archipelago of the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal to the east lies the Andaman Sea. Politically, the island is part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Geography
It is sparsely populated with 9,439 residents in 1,045 square kilometers. The island is the largest and southernmost of the Nicobar Islands, located about 600 km west of Malaysia and 140 km north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. A few kilometers north, beyond the St. George Street, lies the small neighboring island of Nicobar. Directly in front of the western coast lies the islet Megapod, off the northern coast Kondul.
Capital is Campbell Bay on the east coast, with 5,257 inhabitants, more than half the island's population. There are also 25 other inhabited villages. The second largest city is Govind Nagar with 875 inhabitants.
The southernmost point of the island, Indira Point, the southernmost point of India also represents dar. The highest mountain, the Thuillier with 642 m, rising to the north of the island, a mountain range stretches from here to the south. The rivers, including Alexandra, Amrit Kaur, Dogmar and Galatea, flowing mostly westward and south.
History
Arab, Malay and Burmese ships ran from the 7th century to the Nicobar Islands. 1711 landed three French Jesuits from Pondicherry on the island and lived there for 30 months before they moved on after Car Nicobar.
Beginning in 1756 reached a Danish ship from Tranquebar under Lieutenant Thanck the inhabited island, then called Sianbalong, and took them to Denmark in possession. But 150 men lived soon only 30, the rest died of disease. For the failure especially the unfavorable selected location of the settlement was blamed, although the disagreement and the inappropriate behavior of the colonizers may have played a role. The base was laid in October 1756 after Camorta.
1989, a large part of the island was made a biosphere reserve under protection.
Great Nicobar has been hit hard by the tsunami as a result of the tsunami of 26 December 2004.
Population
The people of the Shomps still has 400 speakers in the hinterland of the island.
Animals and Plants
The island is home to a variety occurring only here (endemic ) species.
Important plant species are fig trees (Ficus ), screw pines (Pandanus ), Stinkbäume ( Sterculia ), morning glory ( Ipomoea ). Only on this island grows the tree Nicobariodendron sleumeri. Unique and only in the south of the island there are the tree fern Cyathea albosetacea and the orchid Phalaenopsis speciosa.
Important species include saltwater crocodile ( Crocodylus porosus ), leatherback turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea ), Nicobar tree shrew ( Tupaia nicobarica ), Amboina Box Turtle ( Cuora amboinensis ), reticulated python (Python reticulatus ), Nicobar long-tailed (Macaca fascicularis umbrosa ), the sailors Weißnestsalangane ( Aerodramus fuciphagus, Syn: Collocalia fuciphaga ) and belonging to the decapods coconut crab ( Birgus latro ).
Biosphere Reserve
Approximately 85 % of the island was made in January 1989 as a Biosphere Reserve "Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve" under protection (on the map right above it is shown in green). The core of the protected area covers approximately 885 km ², surrounded by a 12 km wide buffer zone and consists of two parts: the larger Campbell Bay National Park in the north and the smaller Galathea National Park in the Heart of the South.
The 15% island area, which are not under protection are formed by the western and eastern coastal areas in the south of the island.
On May 28, 2013, the Biosphere Reserve was recognized by UNESCO ..