Andaman Islands

The Andaman Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India. Port Blair is the chief community on the islands, and the administrative center of the Union Territory. The Andaman Islands form a single administrative district within the Union Territory, the Andaman district (the Nicobar district was separated and established as a new district in 1974). The population of the Andamans was 314,084 in 2001.

Physical Geography

There are approximately 550 islands in the group, 26 of which are inhabited. They are located 950 km from the mouth of the Hooghly River, 193 km from Cape Negrais in Myanmar, the nearest point of the mainland, and 547 km from the northern extremity of Sumatra. The length of the island chain is 352 km and its greatest width is 51 km. The total land area of the Andamans is 6408 km².

Related Topics:
Km - Hooghly River - Cape Negrais - Myanmar - Sumatra - Km²

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The five chief islands over a distance of 251 km, are known collectively as Great Andaman. These are from north to south, North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman, Baratang and Rutland Island. Four narrow straits part these islands, Austin Strait, between North and Middle Andaman, Homfray's Strait between Middle Andaman and Baratang, and the north extremity of South Andaman, Middle (or Andaman) Strait between Baratang and South Andaman and Macpherson Strait between South Andaman and Rutland Island. Of these only the last is navigable by ocean-going vessels.

Related Topics:
Great Andaman - North Andaman - Middle Andaman - South Andaman - Baratang - Rutland Island - Austin Strait - Homfray's Strait - Middle (or Andaman) Strait - Macpherson Strait

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Together with the chief islands are, on the extreme north, Landfall Islands, separated by the navigable Cleugh Passage; Interview Island, separated by the navigable Interview Passage, off the West coast of the Middle Andaman; the Labyrinth Island off the southwest coast of the South Andaman, through which is the navigable Elphinstone Passage; Ritchie's (or the Andaman) Archipelago off the East coast of South Andaman and Baratang, separated by the wide and safe Diligent Strait and intersected by Kwangtung Strait and the Tadma Juru (Strait). Little Andaman, roughly 42 km by 26 km, forms the southern extremity of the whole group and lies 50 km south of Rutland Island across the Manners Strait, the main shipping route between the Andamans and the Madras coast. Besides these are a great number of islets lying off the shores of the main islands.

Related Topics:
Landfall Islands - Cleugh Passage - Interview Island - Interview Passage - Labyrinth Island - Elphinstone Passage - Ritchie's (or the Andaman) Archipelago - Diligent Strait - Kwangtung Strait - Tadma Juru - Madras

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The principal outlying islands include the North Sentinel, a dangerous island of about 73 km², lying about 29 km off the west coast of the South Andaman. About 29 km west of the Andamans are the dangerous Western Banks and Dalrymple Bank, rising to within a few fathoms of the surface of the sea and forming, with the two Sentinel Islands, the tops of a line of submarine hills parallel to the Andamans.

Related Topics:
North Sentinel - Fathom - Sentinel Islands

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Andamans is the only place in India with an active volcano. Barren Island, northeast of Port Blair, became active in 1990s after being quiescent for almost two hundred years. It erupted again in May 2005, experts pointing to the post-tsunami change in tectonic plates as the likely cause. The isolated extinct volcano of Narcondam, rising 710 m out of the sea, is 114 km east of North Andaman. Plans are afoot to make volcano tourism popular. Also 64 km to the east is the Invisible Bank, with one rock just awash, and 55 km southeast of Narcondam is a submarine hill rising to 689 m below the surface of the sea. Narcondam, Barren Island and the Invisible Bank, a great danger of these seas, are in a line almost parallel to the Andamans inclining towards them from north to south.

Related Topics:
Active volcano - Barren Island - 1990s - Narcondam - Invisible Bank

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