Great Nicobar is the southernmost and largest of the Nicobar Islands of

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 ...

, north of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. It is part of

, in the Nicobar district within the

union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

of the

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 ...

History

The Nicobar Island has been well known to Indian mariners since the time of the seafaring Cholas. In the 15th century, Great Nicobar Island was recorded as "Cui Lan island" (翠蘭嶼) during the

voyages of Zheng He The Ming treasure voyages were maritime expeditions undertaken by Ming dynasty, Ming China's Chinese treasure fleet, treasure fleet between 1405 and 1433. The Yongle Emperor ordered the construction of the fleet in 1403. The grand project resu ...

in the Mao Kun map of the Wu Bei Zhi. The Nicobar islands were claimed by Denmark in 1755; Great Nicobar Island was called ''New Denmark'', and the whole of the Nicobars ''Frederikøerne''. The islands were administered from the Tranquebar the headquarters of the Danish East Indian company, but were often abandoned due to Malaria outbreaks. The rights to the islands were sold to the British in 1868 along with the rest of the Danish holdings in India. Great Nicobar Island was severely affected by the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

with many deaths, and was cut off from all outside contact for over a day.

Geography

Great Nicobar is located to the north of the island of

. The island covers but is sparsely inhabited, with a population of 8067. It is largely covered by

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

and known for its diverse

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

Topography

The island has several rivers, including the Alexandra, Amrit Kaur, Dogmar and Galathea. Virtually all rivers flow in a southern or southwesterly direction, which is indicative of the general slope of the terrain across the island. There are undulating hills throughout the island, with the main range running in a north–south orientation. Mount Thullier, which is part of this range, has the highest elevation of any point in the Nicobars, at 642 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. Indira Point (6°45’10″N and 93°49’36″E) is the southernmost point of the Great Nicobar Island and India itself. Indira Point subsided 4.25 m in the 26 December 2004 tsunami and the lighthouse there was damaged. The lighthouse was subsequently made functional.

Ecology

The island is part of the Nicobar Islands rain forests

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

. Plant communities include mangroves and coastal forests near the seashore, and

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

and

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forests in the interior. The majority of the island is designated as the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve. It is home to many unique and

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species of plants and animals including the Nicobar scrubfowl (''Megapodius nicobariensis'', a megapode bird), the edible-nest swiftlet (''Aerodramus fuciphagus''), the Nicobar long-tailed macaque (''Macaca fascicularis umbrosa''),

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

(''Crocodylus porosus''), giant leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''), Malayan box turtle, Nicobar tree shrew,

reticulated python The reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') is a Pythonidae, python species native to South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of largest snakes, longest snake, and the list of largest snakes, third heaviest snake. I ...

(''Python reticulatus'') and the giant robber crab (or coconut crab, ''Birgus latro'').

Demography

The island is home to the Shompen people.

Transportation

There is a 915m airstrip at Campbell Bay/Tenlaa on the East coast. * Seaport: At least one small shipping dock is located in Campbell Bay. * The International Container Transshipment Terminal, Great Nicobar Island is a proposed mega transshipment deep water port.

Naval air station

The INS Baaz

naval air station A Naval Air Station (NAS) is a military air base, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of a navy (Naval aviation). These bases are typically populated by squadron ...

, near Campbell Bay, is under the joint-services Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) of the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the armed forces, military forces of the India, Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Ar ...

. It is the southernmost air station of the Indian Armed Forces.

Great Nicobar Development Plan

The Great Nicobar Development Plan is a massive infrastructure plan (including a major transshipment port, airport, and future strategic defence) for the southern tip of Great Nicobar Island, India. The plan has generated criticism over the consequences of deforestation and giant leatherback sea turtle nesting sites. The plan was proposed on 18 January 2021 by an Indian policy think tank (NITI Aayog) and informed by a feasibility report written by AECOM India Private Limited. Environmental Justice groups have pushed back claiming that the development plan would make it unlikely that the leatherback sea turtles would continue to nest in the Galathea Bay and negatively impact the nomadic livelihoods of the indigenous Shompen people. Survival International, a global NGO campaigning for indigenous rights, has said that the mega-development will put the Shompen at risk of being wiped out. In February 2024, 39 genocide experts from 13 countries warned that the development “will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide”. They said that the proposed population increase and exposure to outside populations would lead to mass deaths because the Shompen have little to no immunity to infectious outside diseases. The NITI Aayog plan envisages 650,000 people inhabiting the island by 2050. Its current population is only around 8,500. The total population of the archipelago, composed of over 500 islands of which only around 40 are inhabited, is around 380,000. The population increase is expected to impose a significant ecological pressure on the island and its surroundings.

Indira Point

Indira Point is the name of the southernmost point of

. It is situated on Great Nicobar Island in the Nicobar Islands, which are located in the eastern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

at 6°45’10″N and 93°49’36″E. This is not on the Indian mainland, but within the

Union Territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

. The name of the point was changed from Pygmalion Point on 18 October 1985 in commemoration of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

. It was formerly known by various names that include Pygmalion Point, Parsons Point, and for a brief period India Point. It is located 540 km and more than a day's sea voyage from

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 capital city and main port of the

. It is approximately 163 km by sea from Sumatra, Indonesia. Rondo Island, Indonesia's northernmost island in Sabang district of

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

province of

, lies south of Indira point. India and Indonesia are planning to collaborate to construct a port at Sabang to protect the channel between Great Nicobar Island and Rondo Island (c. May 2019).India seeks to aid Indonesia in developing port in Aceh
Economic Times, 19 May 2018.

Indira Point lighthouse

Indira Point has a 35 m high cast iron (with red and white bands) lighthouse with 16 nautical miles range. The lighthouse has (RACON (Code 'G') ii DGPS station) with a 300 mm 4 panel revolving light inside a 2.5 m diameter lantern house (BBT). It is an important landmark on the international shipping lane Colombo-Singapore route via Malacca Strait that passes south of Indira Point. It also has a helipad.

2004 tsunami

The

which resulted from the Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004 inundated much of the area. This partly damaged the

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

, which subsided 4.25 m. As a result of this subsidence, the coast retreated and the sea moved permanently inland. The lighthouse has since been repaired. The base of the lighthouse was 5 m above sea level when constructed in 1972. After the tsunami, the sea floor fell and the base was less than 1 m above sea level. Since then, the subsidence has decreased somewhat as the ocean floor slowly rebounds, and the lighthouse base become more elevated. Indira point was mostly submerged.

Image gallery

File:Map of Nicobar Islands-en.png, Map File:GreatNicobarMap.jpg, Map of Great Nicobar Island File:Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Great Nicobar.PNG, Locator

References

"Nicobar completely devastated" – from rediff.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Nicobar Island Islands of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Nicobar district Tehsils of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands