Andaman and Nicobar Islands – Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Andaman and Nicobar Islands (union territory, India), union territory, India, consisting of two groups of islands at the southeastern edge of the Bay of Bengal. […]

Port Blair (on South Andaman Island) is the territorial capital. […]

The Andamans comprise more than 300 islands. […]

The Nicobars consist of 19 islands. […]

The great majority of the area of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is covered with dense tropical forest, which supports a broad spectrum of flora and fauna. […]

The indigenous inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, the Andamanese, historically comprised small isolated groups—all speaking dialects of the Andamanese language. […]

Few indigenous Andamanese survive today, most groups having been decimated by disease following their encounter with Europeans, Indians, and other outsiders. […]

The indigenous inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands, the Nicobarese (including the related Shompen), continued to constitute the majority of the population of the Nicobars in the early 21st century. […]

The British first surveyed the Andaman Islands in 1789 in search of a place to establish a penal colony for offenders from British India. […]

Source: Andaman and Nicobar Islands (union territory, India) — Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Address : http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/23488/Andaman-and-Nicobar-Islands
Date Visited: Fri Nov 30 2012 11:11:32 GMT+0100 (CET)

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