Andamman or Handuman Islands?

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Historical Background

Prakash Nanda

About the Author

"Author of two books concerning Indian foreign policy, the author,

formerly The Times of India's Diplomatic Correspondent, is writing, in

his present capacity as a National Fellow with Indian Council of

Historical Research, a book titled "Rediscovering the East: Evolution

Of India's Look-East Policy".

 

 

The Andaman and Nicobar islands, also known as the Bay Islands or the

Emerald Islands, is an archipelago of 572 islands situated in the Bay

of Bengal. They are situated 1200 km off the southeastern coast of the

Indian mainland. They are spread over an area of 8249 sq.km. in a

north-south direction. These historically significant islands, of

which only 36 are inhabited, are a treasure trove of nature's bounty,

beauty and resources. Mythologically, the name Andaman is presumed to

have derived from the monkey-God "Hanuman", who was known to the

Malayas as Handuman. The name Nicobar seems to be a corruption of the

South Indian term "Nakkavaram" (Land of the Naked) as indicated in the

great Tanjore inscription of 1050 AD. Historically, the islands were

well known to geographers and travelers like Ptolemy, Marcopolo and

other Chinese travelers. Their maps have references to these islands

and heir inhabitants. Ptolemy talked of "Angdaman islands" (Islands of

good fortune), implying thereby that these islands were being visited

by the Western and then Arab merchants going to the Far East.

 

However, it was after the British period that these islands gained

disrepute. The British took control of Andaman group of islands in

1790 and the Nicobar group in 1869. The Nicobar group, it may be

noted, here under the Dutch colonialists in between 1758 and 1869. Be

that as it may, under the foreign rule, the islands became more famous

(or notorious?) as "Kalapani", meaning island of black water. The

Cellular Jail, Ross Island and Viper Island were used by the British

to imprison and punish the dreaded prisoners from the mainland,

majority of whom were fighters for Indian freedom, particularly after

the 1857, the year of India's First War of Independence. During the

World War II, the islands fell under the Japanese. The British

regained them in 1945.

 

Geographically, the Andaman and Nicobar groups are separated by 160 km

of sea, the former lying to the north of 100 channel and the latter to

its south. The total population of the islands is, as per the 2001

Census, 356,265. The Andaman Group comprises of, from the North, the

North Andaman, and Middle Andaman the South Andamans, which also has

the Capital of the entire Union Territory, Port Blair, and the Little

Andaman Islands. Shallow seas separate these Islands. The former three

islands and the surrounding peripheral/ satellite islands are grouped

under what is called the Greater Andamans. The last one of these

islands is called the Little Andamans. The Northern most point, called

the Land Fall Island, is barely 190 Nautical Miles, or approximately

300 Kilometers from the Myanmar mainland. From the Coco Islands, which

house, today, the Chinese maintenance and berthing facilities, it is

just 18 kilometers. The Coco Channel divides Land Fall Island from the

Coco Island.

 

The Nicobar Group consists of the Car Nicobar in the North, and the

Little Nicobar and the Great Nicobar Group of islands further south.

The last is the Southern most of the Indian territories with the

southern most tip called the Pygmalion point (also called the Parsons

Point) and now named the Indira Point which is just 150 or so

kilometers from Sumatra. "Six Degree Channel" separates Great Nicobar

from Sumatra. This distance equals that between Delhi and Agra! In

fact, the southern most point of India is Indira Point, not, as per

the general perceptions, Kanya Kumari. Similarly, Phuket in Thailand

is only 273 nautical miles away from Indira point, which is less than

the distance between Chennai and Madurai! These aspects of the

geographical location of the Andaman and Nicobar islands are all the

more significant when one realises that their distance from any part

of the Indian mainland is about 1200 kilometers (1255km from Calcutta,

1190 km from Chennai and 1200 km from Vishakhapatanam).

 

Geologically speaking, the islands are a part the land mass coming

down from the Patkai Bum through the Arakan Yoma of the North-east

India, and Myanmar respectively, as well as Malaysia, and Indo- China

(Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). Climatically, it is in the Tropical Rain

Forest Belt, though the surrounding of the sea and regular breeze

makes the climate very pleasant. The main reason why the Danish

Missionaries who had first come into Nicobar Islands left was because

they found the climate too hot and the mosquitoes a menace rather than

just a nuisance. As regards the flora and fauna, the islands are rich

with evergreen forests (covering 86 percent of the territories),

fascinating corals and coral reefs, rich marine biodiversity and

mineral resources. There are reported occurrence of minerals like

gold, limestone, nickel, selenite, sulphur and diatomaceous earth, oil

and natural gas.

 

Significantly, these islands create a series of choke points which not

only help them dominate western entry to Singapore (hence rest of

Southeast Asia, China, two Koreas and Australia) from Europe and West

Asia but also any movement between the Far East and Calcutta, Cox's

Bazar (Bangladesh), or Yangon (Rangoon.) In addition, these islands

also control any movement between Trincomolee (Sri Lanka) or

Visakhapatnam and Yangon.

 

One would do well to remember that when the British were preparing to

demit power in India, the Defence establishment in London was very

keen that the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean were detached from

India and retained under British sovereignty as naval and air bases

for the defence of the Empire and the Commonwealth (for controlling

the interests of the empire in East and Southeast Asia or

Asia-Pacific) after the loss of India (see the Times of India, dated

June 8, 1947). Unfortunately for the British General Staff, its

efforts in this direction came a cropper because of opposition from

the Viceroy of India Lord Louis Mountbatten. He feared any attempt in

that direction had the potential to derail the very process of

transfer of power in India, which was high on the agenda of His

Majesty's Government and in which he had a personal stake. Rebuffed in

India, the British General Staff dug in its heels in Colombo and

ensured that the independence of the Island was linked to the grant of

defence bases on the Island. Therefore, before demitting power in Sri

Lanka, the British Government entered into a defence arrangements with

Colombo, pledging its military assistance for the security of Sri

Lanka "against external aggression and for the mutual protection of

essential communications" in return for use of her naval and air bases.

 

It may be also noted that during the negotiations for the Indian

Independence and simultaneous partition, the Muslim League pleaded to

the British that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands should go to the

proposed Pakistan on geographical and strategic reasons [see for

details see Avtar Singh Bhasin, Some Called it partition, Some

Freedom, (Siba Exim Pvt. Ltd, Delhi, 1998), pp.157-158]. It expressed

the fear that with India in control of the Islands, she could refuse

"to allow any passage through India of Pakistan troops proceeding from

Western Pakistan to Eastern Pakistan, or vice versa. To fortify their

case further, the League pointed out that Pakistan being split in two

wings, the sea route would be the only available route between them

and that the Andaman and Nicobar islands constituted an essential

coaling station fro a voyage from Chittagong to Karachi".