“Curiosity or Confrontation? YouTuber’s Bold Attempt to Reach World’s Most Isolated Tribe – with a Shocking Gift!”
YouTubeAuthorities say that Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov is lucky to have made it off North Sentinel Island alive.
What’s more, the 24-year-old was lucky to escape with his life.
The Danger Of Contacting Isolated Tribes Like The Sentinelese
Known contact with the Sentinelese tribe was first made in the 19th century, by the British. But since then, the tribe has shown no desire to interact with the outside world.
In 1956, India passed a law banning outsiders from going to the island. Though there has been limited contact since then — Indian officials or scientists sometimes leave gifts for the tribe, such as coconuts or bananas — the Sentinelese tribe has largely demonstrated a desire to be left alone. In 2004, following the Indian Ocean tsunami, they even fired arrows at a helicopter that flew overhead to check on them.
Indian Coast Guard/Survivor InternationalA Sentinelese tribe member shooting an arrow at a helicopter when officials went to check on the island in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
And the Sentinelese have acted aggressively toward people who have landed on their shore. In 2006, the tribe killed two fishermen who’d accidentally arrived on the island. In 2018, they reportedly killed American missionary John Allen Chau, who had hoped to convert the tribe to Christianity.
While some people who contact isolated tribes escape with their lives — like Polyakov, and like Steve Campbell, a U.S. missionary, who inadvertently passed through the territory of Brazil’s isolated Hi-Merimã tribe in 2019 — their actions can be terribly dangerous to the tribes themselves. Outsiders can bring diseases like the flu or measles, which could be devastating to uncontacted tribes who have no vaccinations or natural immunity.
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