American Youtuber Faces Jail Time After Attempting to Contact World’s Most Isolated Tribe

Yet different U.S. societal media influencer has done thing dumb—and incredibly disrespectful—abroad.

In March, a YouTuber named Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, who posts nether the sanction Neo-Orientalist, attempted to illegally interact with a protected radical of indigenous radical called the Sentinelese, according to a statement by Survival International, an enactment that advocates for the rights of indigenous and tribal people. The Sentinelese are 1 of the astir isolated indigenous radical successful the world, according to the organization, meaning that interaction with outsiders could pb to the dispersed of devastating diseases wrong their communities.

The Sentinelese unrecorded connected the Manhattan-sized forested land of North Sentinel successful the Indian Ocean, and violently defy interaction with each foreigners. After repeated attempts to interaction the Sentinelese successful the 70s, 80s, and 90s ended successful violence—and successful immoderate cases, death—the Indian authorities stopped trying to befriend them, according to Survival International. It is currently—and unequivocally—illegal to sojourn North Sentinel Island.

But that doesn’t look to person acrophobic Polyakov, who landed connected the land agelong capable to permission a coconut and a tin of cola, and fortunately did not spot immoderate of the Sentinelese. Indian authorities arrested him, and the YouTuber present faces imaginable jailhouse time.

“In a reckless effort to get attraction connected societal media, his amerciable actions could person wiped retired the full Sentinelese people done introducing caller diseases specified arsenic flu to which they person nary immunity,” reads the Survival International statement.

In fact, interaction with outsiders has antecedently decimated isolated indigenous communities. The colonisation of the Onge people, who inhabit adjacent Little Andaman Island, declined by 85% pursuing the accomplishment of British colonists and Indian settlers, according to Survival International. The Great Andamanese peoples suffered adjacent much drastic consequences: their colonisation declined by 99% aft forced contact.

Polyakov could person besides gotten himself killed. Even if helium receives a jailhouse sentence, his usurpation volition inactive person a happier ending than that of John Allen Chau, a missionary from the U.S. who successful 2018 illegally visited North Sentinel land successful an effort to evangelize its inhabitants, and was yet killed by the Sentinelese.

Very small is known astir the Sentinelese. What we bash cognize comes from observations conducted from boats floating beyond Sentinelese archers’ range, arsenic good arsenic the precise fewer interactions that did not degenerate into violence—such arsenic successful 1991, erstwhile the Sentinelese accepted gifts from Indian officials, the connection explains.

It seems similar the Sentinelese prolong their mode of beingness successful the rainforest by hunting, gathering, and sportfishing connected outrigger canoe-like boats, and unrecorded successful either ample communal huts oregon smaller impermanent shelters. They besides marque bows, arrows, and spears, Survival International reports. Various observers person documented the beingness of children and large women, with the full colonisation size estimated astatine astir 150. However, we don’t cognize what the Sentinelese telephone themselves, oregon the land they unrecorded on.

In the 19th century, a British serviceman led a enactment to the island, wherever they kidnapped 2 elders and 4 children. The aged individuals died, aft which the children were returned to the land with gifts. While we don’t cognize what the broader consequences of these actions were, it’s apt that the children would person infected their assemblage with overseas diseases. This, on with different experiences, mightiness person triggered intergenerational trauma that solidified the people’s rejection of foreigners.

“The Sentinelese person made it wide that they bash not privation contact,” reads the Survival International statement. “It is simply a omniscient choice.”