Andaman and Nicobar- the Small India in Itself
Andaman and Nicobar islands are one of the seven union territories in India; it is the group of two islands the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands at the juncture of Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. A grouping of related island is known as archipelago. The capital of the territories is Andamanese town Port Blair. Nicobar Islands are located to the south of Andaman, located 121km far from the little Andaman Island. The islands have maximum altitude at Saddle Peak which is formed of limestone, clay and sandstone. The territory is located 150km north of Aceh, Indonesia and separated from Thailand and Burma by the Andaman Sea.
When we go to the documented history we will know that Chola dynasty first found and ruled the islands during 1014-1042 CE, later Marco Polo, European traveler was the first men from west to put his foot to the islands during (12th-13th century) and then Maratha Empire Kanhoji Angre ruled the islands. In the year 1756 Danish East India Company arrived in Nicobar Islands. Later British finally annexed the islands. Andamanese and Nicobarese language hence derived from different dynasties. Than furthermost the dynasties have their various histories on their languages from the ancient era of their ruling.
Andamanese and Nicobarese Language History:
The Andamanese languages consists of 2 branches great Andamanese and ongan, as well as sentinelese which is unclassifiable. The native people have lived in the islands for thousands of years. Although the existence of the islands and their locals was long known to maritime powers and traders of the South and Southeast Asia region, contact with these peoples was highly sporadic and very often hostile; as a result, almost nothing is recorded of them or their languages until the mid-18th century.
By the beginning of the 20th century most of them were greatly reduced in numbers, and the various linguistic and tribal divisions among the Great Andamanese impactfully ceased to exist by the end of 20th century the majority of Great Andamanese languages had become extinct.
At the beginning of the 21st century only about 50 or nearby individuals of Great Andamanese remained descent, re-settled to a single small island, about half of these speak what may be considered a modified version of Great Andamanese, based mainly onAka-Jeru.This modified version has been called as Present Great Andamanese by some scholars, but also may be called as "Jero" or Great Andamanese.Hindiincreasingly serves as their primary language, and was the only language for around half of them.
The Ongan languages survive mainly because of the greater number of the peoples who speak them. This separation has been fortified by an outright unkindness towards outsiders and extreme reluctance to engage in contact with them by South Andamanese tribes, particularly theSentineleseandJarawa. The Sentinelese was so resistant that their language remains unknown to outside.
People from almost every religion live at the islands. Here you may find every Indian culture. So, it is a small India in itself. You will find here almost every Indian culture, tradition, festival and language.
A large population occupied the islands are Hindus which is about 70% of total population. 14% of the total population is Hindi spoken. There is a population of 21% of Christians and population of Muslims is with a minority of 9%.
So, different religion of people speaks different languages and a person from different states of India who lives in the islands speaks their mother tongue.
Languages Nowadays Used by the People of these Islands:
A language is the most important mode of communication. Two people can know their views by a language.
Hindi is our national language it is used by 15% of the people as their mother tongue. And the remaining 85% of the population speaks different language. Official language of Andaman and Nicobar islands is English. But at many places you will find people who understand Hindi well. Most people of the islands can communicate in Hindi. There are many other languages from India which are used as a medium of communication in these islands are:
Tamil, Malayalam, Urdu, Karen, Konkini, Manipuri, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarathi, Kannada, Assamese, Rajasthani, English, Punjabi, Nicobari, Tulu, Burmese, Barsi, Sindi, Dokri, Munda, Marwari, Nepali, and Oriya are the languages spoken because almost people from each state of India lives to these islands.