NICOBARS
– LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
GEOGRAPHY
:
The
The most northerly island of the group is Car Nicobar, which is 143 miles from
Port Blair and the ten degree channel about 75 miles separate in from Little
Andaman. Chowra, Teressa, Bompoka, Katchal, Kamorta, Nancowry and Trinket form
the central group
of
ORIGIN
OF NAME :
Falling between the sea route from South India / Sri Lanka to South East
Asia and vice-vers, the voyagers referred it as “land of the nake” i.e.
Nakkavar which is perhaps the direct Predecessor of the current name “Nicobar’.
The medieval Arabic name ‘Lankhabatus’ is a mere mistranscription and
misapprehension of “Nankakar or Nakkavar”. Lord Ram, the hero of epic ‘Ramayana’
is meant to have passed through the Islands during his period of exile )Mathur:
1967). Somdev’s ‘Kathasaritsagar’ (11th century) indicates it
as ‘Narikel Dweep’. The islands have also been mentioned in the accounts of
travellers like Fahien, (6th century); I-T’sing (early 7th
century); Ptolemy (2nd century); Marco Polo (13th
century) and Friar Oderic (early 14th century). The islands were
known in China as Lo-Jan Kuo (land of the naked people) according to the
writings of I-T’Sing. An inscription dated (1059 AD) of the Chola King of
Tanjore indicates that these islands were used as base shelter station for
waging war and keeping control over South East Asia. The geographical names for
the different islands have all obscure, complicated and interesting histories,
whereas, each island has a native name too.
PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS :
Car Nicobar is remarkably flat except for some cliffs in the north and
small hilly areas in the interior. It is bordered by a silvery beach and areas
of flat ground consisting of coraline diluvium.
Nancowry
and Kamorta, have a hilly terrain covered with grass, forming undulating
meadows. Empress Peak is about 1.420 ft. high and is the highest in Kamorta. The
Nancowry harbour, with two entrances towards the east and west, is one of the
finest and safest harbours in the world. Katchal is one of the largest islands
in the central group. It is abut 61 sq. miles in area. It is slightly hilly in
the centre but has a remarkable flat area, like Car Nicobar. Katchal has the
most suitable soil for paddy cultivation. Trinket is another small flat island.
It is located at the eastern entrance to Nancowry harbour. Chowra is almost
flat, except for a hill which is located at its southern tip. Like Car Nicobar
it has no safe berthing and the coral formation around the island is reported to
be a great impediment to anchoring vessels.
Teressa and Bompoka are also hilly. The former has a considerable flat area,
while the latter has a few flat spaces around the western coast. Tillangchong
has hills of elevations above 1,000 ft.
Great Nicobar is the southernmost land mass of the Nicobar group of Islands.
Most of this island is hilly and undulating. The main hill range runs from north
to south. Mount Thullier which is about 2,105 ft high is the highest peak.
Galathea, Alexandra and Dagmar are the major rivers. Kondul and Little Nicobar
are also hilly and undulating.
As the Nicobars apparently lie directly in the local line of greatest weakness, severe earthquakes are to be expected, and have occurred many times. Stocks of great violence were recorded in 1847, 1881 (with tidal waves), and many times during 20th century. The tidal waves caused by the explosion of Krakatoa in the Straits of Sunda in 1883, were severely felt.
An earthquake epicenters off the west coast of Sumatra measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale caused a severe tsunami to strike parts of South-east Asia, India, Sri Lanka on 26th December 2004. Sea water inundated several coastal towns and villages taken over 250,000 human lives and affecting close to five million people.