Name origins

The name Andaman presumably comes from Handuman, which is Malay for the Hindu god Hanuman. The name Nicobar is Malay for land of the naked (people).

First inhabitants

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been inhabited for several thousand years, at the very least. The earliest archaeological evidence yet documented goes back some 2,200 years; however, the indications from genetic, cultural and linguistic isolation studies point to habitation going back 30,000 to 60,000 years, well into the Middle Paleolithic.

In the Andaman Islands, the various Andamanese peoples maintained their separated existence through the vast majority of this time, diversifying into distinct linguistic, cultural and territorial groups. By the 1850s when they first came into sustained contact by outside groups, the indigenous peoples of the Andamans were:
the Great Andamanese, who collectively represented at least 10 distinct sub-groups and languages;
the Jarawa;
the Jangil (or Rutland Jarawa);
the Onge; and
the Sentinelese (most isolate of all the groups).

In total, these peoples numbered somewhere around 7,000 at the time of these first encounters. As the numbers of settlers from the mainland increased (at first mostly prisoners and involuntary indentured labourers, later purposefully recruited farmers), these indigenous peoples lost territory and numbers in the face of land encroachment and the effects of various epidemic diseases. The Jangil and most of the Great Andamanese groups soon became extinct; presently there remain only approximately 400-450 indigenous Andamanese, the Jarawa and Sentinelese in particular maintaining a steadfast independence and refusing most attempts at contact.

The indigenous peoples of the Nicobars (unrelated to the Andamanese) have a similarly isolated and lengthy association with the islands. There are two main groups:
the Nicobarese, or Nicobari, living throughout many of the islands; and
the Shompen, restricted to the interior of Great Nicobar.

pre-Colonial era

The islands provided a temporary maritime base for ships of the Marathas in the 17th century. The legendary privateer and admiral Kanhoji Angre harassed colonial shipping routes with a base in the islands.

British colonial period

After an initial attempt to set up a colony in the islands by the British was abandoned after only a few years (1789-1796), a second attempt from 1858 proved to be more permanent. The primary purpose was to set up a penal colony for dissenters and independence fighters from the Indian subcontinent.

The British used the islands as an isolated prison for members of the Indian independence movement. The mode of imprisonment was called Kalapani. The Cellular Jail in Port Blair was regarded as the “Siberia” of British India.

The British continued their occupancy until the Japanese took over during World War II.