Indian Islands

We all are well-aware of the two beautiful island chains of India - the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. They became Union Territories of India in 1956 after the reorganization of Indian states and have ever since continued to enjoy the same administrative status. But their history is hardly known to many and fewer know stories of these islands even during the British Raj. The Kalapani prison at Port Blair and the Japanese occupation of the A&N Islands are quite popular though, but today the prison is converted into museum and there are no Japanese linkages to these territories. But their journey and presence has always been in world history and this post shall be discussing the same. 

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Andaman

The name 'Andaman' is of Malay origin even though the islands are far away from Malaysia. The Hindu God Hanuman is known to Malays as 'Handuman', abode to the 'monkey people'. It could be possible that the Andamans were home to Lord Hanuman or a passing by spot while he would fly to Lanka, or just one of his resting spots where he encountered the 'monkey people'. It is interesting to know that the widely believed Kishkindha, as the home to King Sugriva where he ruled with Lord Hanuman is in today's Karnataka state, but it could also be possible that the 'monkey army' existed at both these locations. 

But the name of islands has not always been Andaman. The Chinese and Japanese knew the islands as Yeng-t'o-mang and Andaban in the first millennium AD. Marco Polo in 1292 would refer the islands as Angamanian. It was 1430 when the first mention of 'Andaman' appeared from the writings of Nicolò de' Conti (an Italian explorer), although originally he would use the word 'Andemania'. The Malay origin is mostly because of the extensive usage of Andamanese people as pirates by the Malays and also as part of slave-trading business within the Malay kingdoms as well as Siam (Thailand). This practice continued till 1860. Going back to the naming business, a Tanjore inscription dating 1050 AD, the entire island chain (along with Nicobars) is mentioned as Timaittivu - literally meaning home to the cannibals. Its interesting to see a wide contrast between 'home to Lord Hanuman' and 'home to cannibals' - the two different names of the islands. Another theory to back this claim was the ancient Chinese history where during the T'ang Dynasty, the Andaman islands were referred to as a land of ogres and cannibals. Stretching a bit more to these claims, the islands were considered as home to ghosts, demons and ogres even by south Indian kingdoms. But on all the known maps, the name 'Andaman' has been the most prominent with various spellings and accents. The French, Latin, German, Italian and other Europeans spelled the islands as Andemaon or Andamaon. 

The name Isle de Man or Isle de Maon has also appeared to refer Little Andaman. Other names to denote this island were Chique Andemaon, Cite Andemon, Chitre Andaman etc. The earliest settlements on these islands were made by the British - Port Blair (1789) and Port Cornwallis (1792). But the involvement of Andaman and even the Nicobar islands in mainland politics with Indian subjects had been largely avoided by the British. It was the year 1872 when both Andaman and Nicobar island groups merged together to form Chief Commissioner's Province with its headquarter at Port Blair. 

Nicobar

While the Andamans had almost similar sounding names through ages, the Nicobar islands had some peculiar origins. 14th century Italian travelers called it as Maniola while the ancient Greeks (especially Ptolemy) referred it as Agathodaimonos (for Car Nicobar). In old Arab texts the name Lankhabalus appears, the medieval Chinese referred to them as Lo-jen-kua, an 11th century Tanjore inscription called them as Nakkavaram, Marco Polo [in 1292] called them as Necuveran, Rashiduddin (or Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, a 14th century Persian historian) referred the islands as Nakawaram [in 1300], Friar Odoric (Odoric of Podenone, a 13th century Italian explorer) mentioned it as Nicoveran and so on. It would be the Portuguese who would finally name the islands as Nacabar or Nicubar in 1560 that would eventually become as Nicobar and hasn't changed ever since. 

But there has still been variations on older maps along with the name Nicobar, especially with the case of Car Nicobar island. Known variously as Carenicaya, Carecuaaaya, Caremcubar, Carenicular, Yor Carenicubar, Cara Nicobar, Cornalcabar, Curnicubar etc. All throughout the 18th century, there were dozens of variations in its spellings. A lesser known point at the tip of Little Nicobar island which was quite popular on older maps is called as Sombrero Point and had been referred to as Dos Sombreros, Sombrera, Somebrero, Dosombr etc. The water body separating Little Nicobar from the other islands in the north was known as Canal de Sombreiro. Island of Camorta was known as Isle of Palms or Das Palmeiras. Nancowry was known as Nicavari and Tillanchong as Talichan and Trinkat as Sequinte. These are all the tiny islands that constitute the Nicobar island group. The Car Nicobar island was the only Indian island to be colonized by a non-British European power - the Danes. Denmark colonized the island in 1754-56 and administrated the islands from Tranquebar (Tharangambadi, in Tamil Nadu) and renamed it as Frederiksøerne. This was the only island (and part) of India that was attempted by Austrians as well as the Italians to colonize, but failed in any attempts. 

The interesting Danish-Austro-Italian angle to Nicobar is least talked about. When in 1756 the Danish East India Company arrived at the island, less it knew about its miserable future that was lying ahead. The colony was controlled by Tranquebar - the port having the second largest Danish fort in the world [Fort Dansborg] - but perished miserably in 1759. There was also a French influence at these islands before the arrival of the Danes. Then in 1759, the Danes invited the Moravian Brethren (associated to Kingdom of Bohemia, now part of Czech Republic) in an attempt to recolonize that lasted between 1768 to 1787. In between these years, in 1778, the Austrians appeared and attempted for three consecutive years, but failed. Thereafter till 1807 it was under Danish control although in between this the Moravians reattempted. It then was handed over the British who had just won Delhi in 1803, thus now are apparent masters of the subcontinent. The island was again juggled with the Danes in 1814 and finally by 1837 all the Danish attempts to colonize the island had vanished. Over the coming years, the French, Austrians and Danes kept reattempting but the English held their stronghold tight and ruled the island till 1947. Interestingly, the British wanted earlier to make Nicobar island as a Chinese settlement which they even tried in 1884 but failed. It would have been really interesting to see how the dynamics would have changed if things had happened alternatively. 

The Japanese era

World War 2 led the Empire of Japan to expand its territories beyond the native islands. In the year 1942 after capturing Burma, the Japanese advanced towards the islands which were famously nicknamed as the 'Indian Bastille'. Its interesting as initially the natives of the islands had welcomed the Japanese since they restored Indians as high-ranking officers under their government, thus generating employment and an attempt to restore dignity that was previously thrown off by the British. The Japanese liberated the ex-convicts under the mistaken notion that they were freedom fighters and were later employed in police department. But soon the Japanese would realize their mistake as this employment led to severe torture and terror for the local people. Moreover, the [Homfreyganj] massacre of some 44 innocent Indian civilians by the Japanese under the suspect of spying on 30th January 1944 forced Indian leaders to look into the matter and free the islands from the Japanese regime. To curb this madness, the Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who had earlier arrived on the islands in 1943, established the Provisional Government of Free India (PGI, in October 1943 and the members arrived by February 1944 after the massacre) and made Port Blair its capital. Its interesting again as on his earlier visits, the Japanese had forbidden him to know about the wrongdoings happening on the island, making an appearance of a friendly and peaceful Japanese governance.

The arrival of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was during the massive British air-raids on the islands to counter the Japanese forces. On 30th December 1943, he had raised the Indian independence flag and by the time 1945 had reached, the Japanese were losing battles against the Allied forces. At last when on 15th August 1945 the Japanese surrendered, the British took over the islands and exactly 2 years transferred it back to the Indian Union government. Today, although the islands are seasonal tourist haven for local and international tourists, this part of the island's history is less discussed about. The British imprints are slowly being wiped out and with the recent renaming of certain places - Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island (Ross Island), Shaheed Dweep (Neil Island), Swaraj Dweep (Havelock Island) - the an attempt to vanish the horrors of the past is also apparently being made. 

Lakshadweep

It was the era of Cheraman Perumal kings (of Chera dynasty) dating back to the 3rd century AD when these islands were first settled. The earliest settlements of Ameni (Amini), Kalpeni, Androth (Andrott), Kavarathi (Kavaratti) and Agathi (Agatti) still claim their trace to the ancient Nayar and Nambudiri dynasties who named these islands as Melacheri. In the year 661 AD, the earliest Islamization of the islands occurred by an Arab saint known as Ubaidulla (popularly known as Munbe Mussaliyar Kaka). The islands practically remained independent from any mainland rulers till the arrival of the Portuguese in the late 15th century. But the tyrannical Portuguese rule lead the natives seek help from the nearby Chirakkal kings of the Kolathiri dynasty (presently in Kannur or Cannanore district of Kerala). A massacre took place between the Portuguese and more than 400 islanders in around 1549-50 and thus the islands were now transferred to the Chirakkal kings. Later, the islands were transferred to Ali Raja, the head of the Moplah (or Mappila Muslims) community in Cannanore which was held till the 18th century. A clash of independence took place among the Moplah community to detach from the Chirakkal kings and had invited an alliance of Hyder Ali which led to the destruction of Chirakkal kings in 1765-66. 

Perhaps one wouldn't imagine much but there was a massive revolt on the Amindivi islands in 1784 with regards to the coir monopoly between the Moplah rulers of Cannanore (under Rani Junumabe Adi Raja Bibi II) and the islanders of Ameni (belonging to the influential Kulap and Porakat families). The Moplah rule was pretty much abusive and hence the two families tied up with both British and the new ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan. Although a peace treaty was signed between the two parties and in 1791, the islands were now part of the East India Company (except the northern islands which were still under Tipu Sultan). Soon after the fall of Tipu in 1799, the entire island chain became part of the Company. The northern islands of Amindivis were placed under the jurisdiction of South Canara while the southern islands were under Malabar. 

Talking about naming of these islands, the name 'Lakshadweep' or even 'Laccadives' is pretty new. On old maps, one wouldn't find a single name combining these islands. It would always be individual island names with Baixos de Padua (today's Bassas de Pedro) pretty common. It's interesting to know that in the early 18th century, a name Divanduron would denote these islands and by middle of the century, the name Lakadivas or Laquedive would finally appear. Another name that appears on 17th century maps is Palandure, name given by Italian cartographers. But overall, the individual names appear on some older maps such as Cubile (Kavaratti [?]), Tatimo, Sundel or Shevelipar (Suhelipar), Calpeni (Kalpeni) Maconapor, Malique (Minicoy), Andaro (Andrott), Cheiro Baniani and De Parcel. Another version would later appear in the 18th century with names such as Borrompul, Shottapul, Bitterpul, Melandria or Shillalak, Kilta, Corine, Eliculpena, Aquelaon, Kalipini (Kalpeni), Sotlepol (Suhelipar), Aucutta or Long Island (Agatti), Malike or Mincoi (Minicoy) and so on. 

It would be early 20th century when a better version of names would appear such as Cherbaniani Reef (Beleapani Reef), Byramgore Reef (Chereapani Reef), Betra Par Reef (Bitra Reef), Pare Mul Par (Peremul Par), Aucutta (Agatti), Cabruti (Kavaratti), Seuhelipar, Kalpeni, Underoo (Andrott), Cardaman or Cardamum (Kadmat), Kiltan, Chitlac and Minikoi (Minicoy). After independence [in 1956], the Laccadive islands were separated from Malabar district and annexed to Minicoy and Amindivi island groups to form one single Union Territory known as Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands. On 1st November 1973, the new name Lakshadweep was adopted which is still in continuation. 

The map here is of 1708 version showing Lakshadweep as Divanduron and Andaman as Andemaon.