History of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The history of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an archipelago of 572 islands, begins from very ancient times because of its strategic importance. It was known to the ancient word because of its location on the ancient sea trade route between China and west lands. Its islands were used by voyagers to land their vessels to replenish water and take refuge in bad weathers.

The Islands found mention as early as 2nd century AD in the writings of Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria, a famous geographer and astronomer of the time. The Chinese Buddhist monk I'Tsing mentioned it in 672, Arab travelers in 9th century, Marcopolo in 1292, and Friar Odonic in 1322. Nicolo Conti mentioned it in 1430 by the name 'Andemona'.

It was infested by Malay pirates who also traded in Andamanese slaves called by them 'Handuman'. Sir Richard Temple has suggested in the first Census Report of India, 1901 that 'Andaman' might be the derivation of the Malay term 'Handuman'.

The great Tanjore inscription of 1050 mentioned the term 'Nakkavaram' which means 'a land of naked people' to refer to the southern region which we know as Nicobar. Nicobar thus seems to be a corrupt derivation of the term 'Nakkavaram'. The name has been in use after the times of Marcopolo in the late thirteenth century.

We do not know much about the history of the archipelago before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, by the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias on 12 March 1488, which paved the way to bring these islands en route to the West and the Far East. European expedition became quite frequent to these islands since then. The French, Portuguese, Dutch, and English started to enter these islands under their policy of colonialism and imperialism.

By later part of 18th century the East India Company was alarmed by the events of sea piracy and murders of ship-wrecked crews along the Andaman coast. In 1788, Lord Cornwallis sent Lt Archibald Blair and Lt Colebrook to survey the Islands to make a settlement. Lt Blair established the first settlement of a free colony in 1789 at Chatham Island, which is now part of Port Blair, though it was then named Port Cornwallis. The settlement was shifted in 1792 to the present Port Cornwallis at North Andaman for strategic reasons, however, was abolished in 1796 due to unhealthy climate and high mortality rate.

Six decades after, an idea of a naval settlement cropped up again in the British establishment due to continued harassment and killings of ship-wrecked crews. In the meantime, the first war of Indian Independence in 1857 began. The fire ignited at Barrackpore Cantonment in West Bengal in the form of mutiny of sepoys under the leadership of Mangal Pandey spread all over India. The British government then needed a penal settlement for the convicts outside the reach of the people of the mainland India. An 'Andaman Committee' was constituted for establishment of a penal settlement. It was on the recommendation of the committee, the abolished first settlement was re-established in 1858 with headquarters at the Ross Island. The same year in March, Dr J P Walker arrived here with 50 guards of the Old Naval Brigade and 200 mutineers. Within three months the total number of convicts increased to 773 but only 481 remained. The other 292 convicts were either died of diseases, escaped, or hanged after being captured in their bid to escape.

The aborigines revolted against occupation of their land by aliens resulted into frequent confrontation between them. The great war of liberation, also called the Battle of Aberdeen, was fought on May 17, 1859. By 1865, when General Man took the charge of Superintendent, the number of convicts increased to 8875. Many activists of the Wahabi movement were also deported here in 1869-70. It is worth mentioning here that Lord Mayo, the then Viceroy of India was assassinated by a Wahabi activist Md Sher Ali Khan on February 8, 1872 at Hope Town Jetty.

The construction of the Cellular Jail was started in 1896 and was completed by 1906. Before that, the male convicts were kept in Viper Island while the female convicts in a barrack at South Point. Convicts showing good conducts were allowed to live in free style in villages, marry female convicts, bring their wives from mainland India, or cultivate land to support their livelihoods.

A large number of revolutionaries were deported to the Cellular Jail between 1909 and 1922. Those political prisoners included revolutionaries like Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his elder brother, of Nasik conspiracy case; Ullashkar Dutta, Barindra Kumar Ghosh – brother of revolutionary and Yogi Sri Aurobindo of Alipur Bomb case; Wamanrao Joshi of Jackson murder case; Babu Sohan Singh with about 40 companions of Lahore conspiracy case; Mujtaba Husain of Mandalay conspiracy case; and Sachindranath Sanyal of Banaras conspiracy case; etc. They were subjected to great inhuman treatment and torture resulting in death of 8-10 of them. The brutality of the British officials drove many of them to lose their mental balance and many became even physically handicapped due to torture.

However, the correspondence of the revolutionaries with the mainland Indians exposed the deplorable conditions prevailing in the penal settlement and in the Cellular Jail. Rashtraguru Surendra Nath Banerjee raised the issue in the Central Legislative Assembly resulting in setting up a Jail Commission to examine the conditions of Jails in India. The commission visited the Island in 1919-20 and recommended abolition of the penal settlement.

Prisoners from mainland India were continued to be deported here, but only those who volunteered to come to settle with their families. Among them were the Moplah rebels from Malabars, who started a rebellion here also in 1921 against the British rule. The other rebellions brought here included Rampa revolutionaries from West Godavari and Visakhapattanam districts, Tharawady Rebels of Burma, now Myanmar, and Bhantus from the then United province.

The British withdrew their policy to send political convict and revolutionaries here but again renewed it in 1932. They sent a large number of political prisoners until 1938. In this phase, the political prisoners were mostly from Bengal which included Shri Batukeshwar Dutta of Legislative Assembly bomb case; Shri Jai Dev Kapur of 2nd Lahore Conspiracy case; Lok Nath Ball, Ananta Singh and Ganesh Ghosh of Chittagong Armoury Raid case; and Shambu Nath Azad of Travancore Bank dacoity case among others.

Brutal tortures to the inmates of the Cellular Jail forced them to organise a series of agitation in the Jail. Three of the freedom fighters died during the first hunger strike in 1933. It shocked the nation, and strike was called off only after the British government agreed to the demands such as availability of reading and writing materials, relaxation in the rules of communication, supply of improved quality of food and other basic amenities.

A new phase in the Freedom struggle of India began in July 1937 with formation of Congress Ministries in seven provinces. The prisoners of the Cellular Jail then went on the second hunger strike demanding civil liberties and unconditional release of all political prisoners. The news spread throughout India, which triggered demonstrations starting in Bengal, followed by telegrams to the strikers in the Cellular Jail. The first telegram was sent by Fazlul Haque. Mahatma Gandhi sent a telegram on August 28 on behalf of Indian National Congress Working Committee. The strike was called off after 45 day on assurance of the British government to repatriate all political prisoners to the mainland India. Repatriation started forthwith and the last batch left on January 1938.

Japanese occupied these islands on March 23, 1942 during the World War II. Japan announced their decision on November 6, 1943 to hand over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the Provisional Government of Azad Hind. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the head of the state of Azad Hind, landed here on December 29, 1943 and hoisted the tri-coloured National Flag of India next day at Gymkhana ground, Port Blair. He had decided to rename the islands Sahid and Swaraj respectively.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands under the Japanese occupation were blockaded by the British. The islanders suffered near starvation situation due to such blockade on the one hand and the Japanese prosecution of the English knowing people on charges of espionage on the other. Many islanders were even killed. The Allied Forces of the Second World War finally recaptured the islands on October 8, 1945. The British closed the penal settlement and granted general amnesty to all convicts. About four thousand convicts were repatriated to the mainland India. It became part of the India when the country got independence on August 15, 1947.

The Islands were governed by the British under Indian Penal settlement since 1858 to 1872, and thereafter put under a Chief Commissioner until Independence of India in 1947, barring the period of Japanese occupation of the Islands in between March 23, 1942 and October 7, 1945. The Executive Engineer & Superintendent of Convicts annexed Andaman Islands to the Government of British India and hoisted the British Flag for the first time on its soil on January 22, 1858.

In Independent India, the Islands were continued to be governed through Chief Commissioner up to 1982, and thereafter by Lt Governor who is also the Chief Administrator of this Union Territory. It had only one district until 1974 called the District of Andaman and Nicobar. On July 19, 1974, the territory was divided into two districts - Andaman and Nicobar. Andaman District was abolished on August 17, 2006 and two districts were created in its place called North and Middle Andaman, and South Andaman districts.