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The Sentinelese are one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. They are noted for vigorously and violently resisting attempts at contact by outsiders. They are perhaps the most isolated people in the world. The Sentinelese live on North Sentinel Island, a small and remote island to the west of the southern part of South Andaman Island. They are thought to number between 50 to 500 people.

The Sentinelese are believed to be pre-Neolithic and to have lived on their island for 60,000 years. They maintain a hunter-gatherer society, obtaining their subsistence through hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants. There is no evidence of either agricultural practices or use of fire technology. Based on helicopter surveys, the tsunami in 2004 did not appear to have affected the Sentinelese adversely.

In 1967, Indian authorities began their first meaningful attempt to engage the Sentinelese by leaving coconuts as gifts on the island's shores. Seven years later, anthropologist Trilokinath Pandit and a film crew attempted to woo the Sentinelese into friendly contact with gifts, such as fruit, a pig, some toys, and pots and pans. The result was not positive: a film director was shot in the thigh with an arrow.

In the 1990s, India cut off its permission for anthropological expeditions, citing the fear of introducing diseases from mainland India to the Sentinelese people. In 2006, two fishermen were fishing illegally off North Sentinel Island's shore. Sentinelese archers killed the fishermen. When a helicopter came to recover the bodies, the helicopter too was met with a hail of arrows, and retreated before fulfilling its mission.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/campaigns/mostisolated