{"id":360015,"date":"2026-04-04T17:27:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=360015"},"modified":"2026-04-04T17:27:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:57:53","slug":"tribes-of-nicobar-nicobari-nicobarese-and-shompen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/tribes-of-nicobar-nicobari-nicobarese-and-shompen\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribes of Nicobar &#8211; Nicobari (Nicobarese) and Shompen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>News: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A draft plan to relocate Nicobarese tribal communities affected by the Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project to their ancestral lands has created confusion and increased concerns among local people.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">About Tribes of Nicobar &#8211; Nicobari (Nicobarese) and Shompen<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 357px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/db.and.nic.in\/nicobars\/Images\/people17.png?resize=357%2C252&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Nicobar tribes \" width=\"357\" height=\"252\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Official Website of Nicobar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About Nicobari (Nicobarese) Tribe<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Nicobari tribe lives in<strong> all the inhabited islands of the Nicobar Islands.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Origin:<\/strong> They belong to the <\/span><b>Mongoloid racial group<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Population:<\/strong> According to the 2011 census, the<strong> indigenous Nicobarese number 23,681.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Language:<\/strong>\u00a0They speak various dialects of the <strong>Nicobarese language, which belongs to the Austroasiatic language family.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <\/span><b>not divided into sub-tribes,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but t<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">erritorially, they are divided into<\/span><b> six groups:<\/b>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The people of <\/span><b>Car Nicobar, Chowra, Teressa with Bompoka, the Central Group,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <\/span><b>Southern Group <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and the<\/span><b> single inland tribe of the Shompen on Great Nicobar.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Food: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their chief food\u00a0 is <\/span><b>Coconut, Pandanus pulp, fish and rice and tropical fruits. <\/b><b>Pigs and fowls <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are mainly <\/span><b>reared for feasts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Social structure: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Nicobari family system is <\/span><b>patriarchal in nature<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They usually live in <\/span><b>joint families<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which are known as <\/span><b>Tuhet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Tuhet system, <\/span><b>land, coconut trees, and pigs are owned jointly by the family<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and there is <\/span><b>no individual ownership.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Love marriage is very common<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the <\/span><b>age of marriage is comparatively high<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Nicobari society.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Houses and Settlement Pattern:\u00a0 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They live in <\/span><b>large and permanent villages<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which are mostly located near the seashore.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b><\/b>Their houses are<strong> well-built and raised 5\u20137 feet above the ground on wooden piles<\/strong>, with entry through a movable ladder. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the houses are <\/span><b>circular in shape<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Village Public Structures: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In most islands, there is a place near each coastal village called <\/span><b>Elpanam<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Elpanam<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> consists of important public buildings such as a <\/span><b>meeting house, a lying-in house, a mortuary, and a cemetery<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Livelihood: <\/b>They engage in <strong>pottery making, basket making, canoe and iron spear making, pig rearing and collection of forest produce.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Feasting is one of the major cultural activities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Nicobari people.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Football is the most popular sport<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> among them. Other popular sports played by them are <\/span><b>canoe racing, volleyball, and wrestling<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">About Shompen Tribe<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_360035\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-360035\" style=\"width: 278px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-360035 \" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-04-at-2.32.05-PM.jpeg?resize=278%2C369&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Shompen Tribe\" width=\"278\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-04-at-2.32.05-PM.jpeg?resize=226%2C300&amp;ssl=1 226w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-04-at-2.32.05-PM.jpeg?resize=770%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 770w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-04-at-2.32.05-PM.jpeg?resize=768%2C1021&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-04-at-2.32.05-PM.jpeg?w=850&amp;ssl=1 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 278px) 100vw, 278px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-360035\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Researchgate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Shompen tribe are the <\/span><b>indigenous tribe of the interior of Great Nicobar Island.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <\/span><b>designated as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> within the list of Scheduled Tribes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are one of the <\/span><b>most isolated tribes on Earth.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Note:\u00a0<\/strong>In 2024, for the first time, <strong>7 members<\/strong>\u00a0of the<strong> Shompen tribe <\/strong>cast their votes in the Andaman and Nicobar Lok Sabha constituency.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><b>Livelihood:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They are <\/span><b>semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and their main sources of livelihood are <\/span><b>hunting, gathering, fishing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and a little bit of horticultural activities in a rudimentary form.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><b>Food:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They <\/span><b>collect a wide variety of forest plants,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but their staple food is the pandanus fruit, which they call larop.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><b>Population: According to the Census (2011),<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the estimated population of Shompen is <\/span><b>229.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Language:<\/strong> They<\/span><b> speak their own language, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which has many dialects. Members of one band do not understand the dialect of the other.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Social structure: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have <\/span><b>nuclear families <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">comprising <\/span><b>husband, wife, and their unmarried children.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>family is controlled by the eldest male member<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who controls all activities of the women and kids.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Monogamy is generally practised<\/strong>, though polygamy is also permitted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: A draft plan to relocate Nicobarese tribal communities affected by the Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project to their ancestral lands has created confusion and increased concerns among local people. About Tribes of Nicobar &#8211; Nicobari (Nicobarese) and Shompen About Nicobari (Nicobarese) Tribe The Nicobari tribe lives in all the inhabited islands of the Nicobar&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/tribes-of-nicobar-nicobari-nicobarese-and-shompen\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tribes of Nicobar &#8211; Nicobari (Nicobarese) and Shompen<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11209,11212,12039],"tags":[11872,10498],"class_list":["post-360015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-geography-in-news","category-history-and-art-culture-in-news","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}