Champin is a village in the
Nicobar district
Nicobar district is one of three districts in the Indian union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The district's administrative territory encompasses all of the Nicobar Islands, which are located in the Indian Ocean, between the Bay ...
of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. It is located on the
Nancowry Island
Nancowry ( Nancowry language: ''Mūöt'', Hindi: नन्कोव्री ''Nankovrī'') is an island in the central part of the Nicobar Islands chain, located in the northeast Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
Histo ...
, around 10 km from the
Tapong village,
and comes under the administration of the
Nancowry tehsil
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...
.
History
During the
British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule ...
, the British Indian government bestowed the title of "Rani" ("Queen") on a local woman named Islon, for the services rendered by her to the government. Even after India became independent in 1947, Islon and her only daughter Lachmi were treated as queens by the local villagers, although the government did not recognize them as such. After Lachmi's death in 1989, her only daughter Fathima became the village leader. She had eight children, including five daughters and three sons; her family of 42 lived in three buildings, locally known as Rani Ghat ("Queen's Palace"). After the village was devastated by the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the sci ...
, 72-year old Fathima and her family were evacuated by the Indian authorities to
Port Blair
Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headqu ...
.
The tsunami caused two deaths in the village, that of a local woman named Jennifer, and of a man who was a resident of the neighbouring
Katchal Island
Katchal (Hindi: कत्चल, Nicobarese: तिहन्यु, ''Tihnyu'') is one of the Nicobar Islands, India.
History
Katchal Island was previously known as Tihanyu.
Due to the remote location and lack of exposure with the rest of the ...
.
The villagers decided to select an elevated land to rebuild their village.
Demographics
A census taken by a research team after the 2004 tsunami recorded a population of 510 in Champin.
The village's population reduced considerably over the next few years. According to the
2011 census of India, Champin has 33 households. The effective literacy rate (i.e. the literacy rate of population excluding children aged 6 and below) is 86.99%.
References
{{Nicobar district
Villages in Nancowry tehsil