Mythologies of the Shompen/Shom Pen Tribe

The Shompen or Shom Pen are the Indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Shompen are designated as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group within the list of Scheduled Tribes. "Shompen" is possibly an English mispronunciation of "Shamhap", the Nicobarese name for the tribe. The Shompens living on the western side of the island call themselves Kalay, and those on the eastern side Keyet, with both groups referring to each other as Buavela. A suggestion from 1886 that the Shompen call themselves Shab Daw'a has not been confirmed by modern research. Before the first outside contact with the Shompen in the 1840s, there is no reliable information about these people. Danish Admiral Steen Andersen Bille was the first to contact them in 1846 and Frederik Adolph de Roepstorff, a Danish philologist who had already published works on the languages of Nicobar and Andaman, collected ethnographic and linguistic data in 1876. Since then very little has been added to the stock of reliable information on the Shompen, mainly because access to the Nicobar Islands has been restricted for foreign researchers since Indian independence. A polling station was set up in their area for election of 2014. Shompen people for the first time participated in the democratic process. Survival International, a global NGO campaigning for indigenous rights, says that the Shompen are one of the most isolated peoples on earth, with most of them being uncontacted and refusing interactions with outsiders.

The Shompen are one of the most isolated peoples on Earth. They live on Great Nicobar Island in India, and most of them are uncontacted, refusing all interactions with outsiders. Numbering around 300 people, they are now at risk of being totally wiped out by an Indian government “mega-development” plan to transform their small island home into the “Hong Kong of India.” If the project goes ahead, huge swathes of their unique rainforest will be destroyed – to be replaced by a mega-port; a new city; an international airport; a power station; a defense base; an industrial park; and up to 650,000 settlers – a population increase of nearly 8,000%. For centuries, most Shompen have refused all contact with outsiders, and this has kept them safe from the terrible effects of contact experienced by most other Indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Living in the rainforest of Great Nicobar Island in the eastern Indian Ocean, the Shompen have guarded and maintained a unique landscape for thousands of years. The Shompen are nomadic hunter-gatherers, living in small groups, whose territories are identified by the rivers that criss-cross the rainforest. The Shompen collect a wide variety of rainforest plants, but their staple food is the pandanus fruit, which they call larop. Like other hunter-gatherers, the Shompen have an intricate knowledge of their rainforest and they use the flora of the island in a multitude of ways. The White Dhup tree, for example, is used to make incense, mosquito repellent and even a type of chewing gum. The Shompen hunt throughout the year, and monkeys, pigs, lizards and crocodiles are all important parts of their diet. They also plant small gardens, cultivating lemon, chillies and betel, amongst other plants. The Shompen worship the moon, known as Houou, as their goddess, whom they believe created the universe. When somebody dies, the moon goddess is believed to come down to Earth to take them to paradise, and the Shompen identify marks on the moon as signs of their earliest ancestors. Their home, Great Nicobar Island, is small but has extremely high levels of biodiversity. Around 95% of the island is covered in rainforest and it’s home to 11 species of mammals, 32 species of birds, 7 species of reptiles and 4 species of amphibians, all found only here. It’s a place where monitor lizards and crocodiles share the rainforest with macaques and tree shrews, where giant turtles swim among the coral reefs with dugongs and dolphins.

The Shompen tribe belong to the Mongoloid racial stock, distinguishing them from the Negrito tribes found in the neighboring Andaman Islands. Genetic research reveals that the Shompen are descendants of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Southeast Asian origin, with their morphological features suggesting a mixed ancestry including Indo-Chinese, Malay, Negrito, and Dravidian influences. Unlike their island neighbors, the Shompen possess distinct physical characteristics. They typically have a medium build with straight, dark, coarse hair and light brown skin. Studies indicate that adult Shompen males average around 157 centimeters in height, while females average approximately 152 centimeters. Their facial features resemble populations from Myanmar, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian regions rather than the darker-skinned Negrito groups. Research into their genetic heritage has uncovered fascinating insights. The Shompen exhibit low genetic diversity, demonstrating what scientists call a “founder effect”-evidence that they descended from a small ancestral population. Molecular analyses suggest they are likely an offshoot of the Nicobarese people, deriving from at least two source populations who migrated to these islands thousands of years ago, possibly more than 10,000 years in the past. Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost point of India, serves as the exclusive home of the Shompen people. This remarkable island covers approximately 921 square kilometers and stands as one of the most biodiverse regions in the entire Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. Around 95% of the island remains blanketed in dense tropical rainforest, creating a verdant paradise teeming with life. The island’s geography is characterized by undulating hills, with Mount Thullier rising to 642 meters as the highest peak in the Nicobar group. Five perennial rivers-the Galathea, Jubilee, Amrit Kaur, Dak Aniang, and Dak Tayal-all originate from Mount Thullier and flow predominantly southward, crisscrossing the rainforest and creating the natural boundaries that define Shompen territories. The climate is distinctly tropical, with temperatures ranging from 22 to 30 degrees Celsius throughout the year. Heavy monsoon rains deliver between 3,000 and 3,800 millimeters of rainfall annually, supporting the lush evergreen forests that cloak the interior. The humidity hovers between 70% and 90%, creating ideal conditions for the diverse plant and animal species that share this island with the Shompen. This extraordinary ecosystem hosts 11 endemic mammal species, 32 unique bird species, 7 reptile species, and 4 amphibian species found nowhere else on Earth. The beaches along Galathea Bay serve as crucial nesting grounds for the giant leatherback turtle, the world’s largest marine turtle species.

The Shompens are one of the indigenous tribes of the Nicobar Islands, recognized under India’s Scheduled Tribes list. Their exact origins are still debated among anthropologists, but they are believed to be of Mongoloid or Negrito descent, having settled in the Nicobar Islands thousands of years ago. They predominantly inhabit the interior forest regions of Great Nicobar, far from modern settlements. Their language remains largely undeciphered, although there are linguistic connections with Nicobarese dialects. Even today, their population is estimated to be just a few hundred, preserving a lifestyle deeply rooted in nature. The Shompens are hunter-gatherers, relying on forest resources and small-scale horticulture. They cultivate crops like bananas, yams, and taro, and supplement their diet with fishing and foraging. They live in small, scattered settlements made from local materials — bamboo, leaves, and palm. Their social structure is simple, likely organized around kinship groups, and there is minimal evidence of hierarchical systems or formal governance. Clothing is minimal and adapted to the humid, tropical climate of the island. This deep connection with nature forms the core of their identity, making their way of life an exemplary model of sustainable living. Due to strict protection laws under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (ANPATR) and ecological sensitivity, access to Shompen territory is highly restricted. Only authorized researchers and government officials may enter these areas, and even then, interactions are limited and closely monitored. This inaccessibility ensures minimal disruption to their lifestyle but also makes it incredibly difficult to study their culture in depth.

The Shompen, residents of a small island in the Indian Ocean, are among the world’s last isolated tribes. But that may soon change as the Indian government moves forward with plans for a massive port that could “wipe out” the tribe, a watchdog group says. The government aims to build a shipping terminal, airport, military base, power plant, and city of some 650,000 people on Great Nicobar Island, which lies a thousand miles from mainland India near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. According to a new report from Survival International, the $9 billion project would eradicate much of the rainforest on which the Shompen depend, while outsiders would introduce infectious diseases to which the Shompen have little or no immunity. In February, 39 genocide experts wrote to the Indian government, warning that if the port project proceeds, “it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.” Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav has said the project “will not disturb or displace” the Shompen. But the Indian government has not sought the tribe’s free, prior, and informed consent, in violation of national and international law, according to the new report. Only 300 Shompen live on the Great Nicobar Island, most of whom have no contact with the outside world. Great Nicobar is part of a chain of islands that is also home to the Sentinelese people, another isolated tribe. Earlier this month, an American influencer was arrested for attempting to make contact with the Sentinelese. Caroline Pearce, head of Survival International, said that if Indian officials are going to prosecute an influencer for trying to reach the Sentinelese, “they cannot justify building a city of 650,000 people on the island of their uncontacted neighbors the Shompen.”