John Chau's Fatal Mission For God To Earth's Most Isolated Tribe

In our modern society, most people live their lives lurching from fix to fix from the digital syringe; relying on social media and telecommunication advances to feel connected to the world around them. Facetime, Instagram, LinkedIn, we froth it. Well, most people do. Some people want absolutely nothing to do with not only modern technology but with the rest of the world in general. 

 

Around the globe, there are 100 or more "uncontacted" tribes, Indigenous peoples who avoid all contact with outsiders. Many of these people groups are in places like Brazil, Venezuela and Peru, probably hoping the beautiful rainforest they call home doesn’t get completely decimated by the white man. 

 

Over the years, outsiders have made some attempts to build connections with such tribes, in the hopes of understanding their cultures and respecting their way of life (well, we’d like to think that was their intention anyway). But the title of the most “uncontacted” people today goes to the Sentinelese people, an isolated tribe living on North Sentinel Island located off the coast of India. And if weren’t for the noteworthy, and quite frankly, arrogant efforts of John Chau, a devout Christian missionary in 2018, we doubt we would have ever heard of them. 

 

CHAPTERS:

• 00:00 Uncontacted tribes around the globe
• 05:09 Most uncontacted tribe today: The Sentinelese
• 08:40 British Royal Navy kidnap Sentinelese children
• 10:09 Anthropologist TM Pandit’s expeditions to North Sentinel
• 14:35 Indigenous rights groups protest to protect the Sentinelese people
• 17:21 John Chau’s zealous Christian faith 
• 22:01 Chau’s education and preparations for adventure
• 26:09 Missionary Training in the Andaman Islands 
• 28:30 Chau panics during his encounter with the Sentinelese
• 32:11 Waterproof Bible saves Chau but not for long
• 37:26 Stop trying to convert everyone to Christianity

 

SOURCES:

• 5 of the Most Isolated Peoples on Earth | Discover Magazine by Stephen C. George Nov 28, 2021
• The life and death of John Chau, the man who tried to convert his killers by J Oliver Conroy 3 Feb 2019 
• The Sentinelese: Who Are The Most Isolated Uncontacted Tribe On Earth? | IFLScience Tom Hale 15 June 2023
• The man who spent decades befriending isolated Sentinelese tribe by Swaminathan Natarajan 27 Nov 2018
• Andamans: US man's death puts spotlight on 'tribal tourism'
• North Sentinel Island: How can the Sentinelese people avoid contact with the outside world? - ABC News by Liam Butterworth 22 Nov 2018 
• Background - The Sentinelese

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