The indigenous people of the Andaman, generally called ‘the Great Andamanese', who collectively represent at least 10 distinct sub-groups and languages comprise of:

•  Jarawa
• The Jangil (or Rutland Jarawa)
• The Onge
• The Sentinelese (most isolated of all the groups).

                              The Jarawa tribals

As the numbers of settlers from the mainland increased (at first mostly as prisoners and involuntary indentured labourers and later as purposely recruited farmers), these indigenous people lost their territory.

Various diseases over a period also reduced their number. The Jangil and most of the Great Andamanese groups became extinct. Now, there are only approximately 400-450 indigenous Andamanese.  

The Jarawa and Sentinelese tribes maintain a distance and independence and generally refuse other human contacts.  The Sentinelese is the least studied tribe still living in isolation on the North Sentinel Island.

Their number is estimated at 250. Outsiders attempting to make contact with them are driven away with bows and arrows. They continue to maintain a unique lifestyle living in harmony with nature just as they have done for thousands of years.

The Nicobar tribals (unrelated to the Andamanese) have remained similarly isolated. There are two main groups:  Nicobarese, or Nicobari, living throughout many of the islands; and  the Shompen, restricted to the interior of Great Nicobar.