Onge people

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Onge
250px
An Onge collecting honey on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Total population
(101 (Census of India 2011)[1])
Regions with significant populations
 India
western side of Little Andaman Island
Languages
Önge
Religion
traditional religion
Related ethnic groups
other Andamanese peoples, particularly Jarawa

The Onge (also Önge or Ongee) are one of the Andamanese indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they are a designated Scheduled Tribe of India.[2]

History

Distribution of Andamanese tribes in early 1800s and 2004; the Onge areas are in blue.

In the 18th century the Onge were distributed across Little Andaman Island and the nearby islands, with some territory and camps established on Rutland Island and the southern tip of South Andaman Island. Originally restive, they were pacified by M. V. Portman in the 1890s.[clarification needed][3][4] By the end of the 19th century they sometimes visited the South and North Brother Islands to catch sea turtles; at the time, those islands seemed to be the limit between their territory and the range of the Great Andamanese people further north.[4] Today, the surviving members (less than 100) are confined to two reserve camps on Little Andaman, Dugong Creek in the northeast and South Bay.

The Onge were semi-nomadic and used to be fully dependent on hunting and gathering for food.

The Onge are one of the aboriginal peoples (adivasi) of India. Together with the other Andamanese tribes and a few other isolated groups elsewhere in East Asia, they comprise the Negrito peoples, believed to be remnants of a very early migration out of Africa.

Population decline

Onge population numbers were substantially reduced in the aftermath of colonisation and settlement, from 672 in 1901 to barely 100.[5]

A major cause of the decline in Onge population is the changes in their food habits brought about by their contact with the outside world.[6] In 1901, there were 672; in 1911, 631; in 1921, 346; in 1931, 250; in 1951 (close to Indian independence), 150.[7]

Tsunami

The semi-nomadic Onge have a traditional story that tells of the ground shaking and a great wall of water destroying the land. Taking heed of this story, all 96 tribesmen of the semi-nomadic Onge survived the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, by taking shelter in the highlands.[8]

Poisoning incident

In December 2008, eight male tribal members died after drinking a toxic liquid—identified as methanol by some sources—that they had apparently mistaken for drinking alcohol.[9] The toxic liquid apparently came from a container or bottle that had been washed ashore at Dugong Creek near their settlement on the island, according to reports; however, authorities in Port Blair ordered an investigation into the matter to determine whether the poison had originated somewhere else. A further 15 Onge were taken to hospital with at least one critically ill.[10]

With their population estimated at only around 100 before the incident, the director of Survival International described the mass poisoning as a "calamity for the Onge", and warned that any more deaths could "put the survival of the entire tribe in serious danger." Alcohol and alcohol addiction has in recent years developed into a serious problem for Onge, adding to the threats to their continued survival posed by outside influences.[10]

Bhopinder Singh, the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman Islands, has ordered an inquiry into the incident.[11]

Demographic troubles

The Onge are one of the least fertile and most sterile people in the world. About 40% of the married couples are sterile. Onge women rarely become pregnant before the age of 28.[12] Infant and child mortality is in the range of 40%.[13] The net reproductive index for the Onge is 0.91.[14] For comparison, the net reproductive index among the Great Andamanese is 1.40.[15]

A depiction of Onge people in Kolkata Museum

Population[16]

Language

The Onge speak the Önge language. It is one of two known Ongan languages (South Andamanese languages). Önge used to be spoken throughout Little Andaman as well as in smaller islands to the north, and possibly in the southern tip of South Andaman island. Since the middle of the 19th century, with the arrival of the British in the Andamans, and, after Indian independence, the massive inflow of Indian settlers from the mainland, the number of Onge speakers has steadily declined. However, a moderate increase has been observed in recent years.[17] Currently, there are only 94 native speakers of Onge,[18] confined to a single settlement in the northeast of Little Andaman island (see map above), making it an endangered language.

Genetics

The Andamanese are believed to be descended from the migrations which, about 60,000 years ago, brought the first modern humans out of Africa to the Andaman Islands. Analysis of mtDNA, which is inherited exclusively by maternal descent, confirms the above results. All Onge belong to M32 mtDNA, subgroup of M which is unique to Onge people.[19] While parental Y-DNA is exclusively Haplogroup D.[20]

According to the genome-wide study in 2009, Andamanese split from mainland Asia around 48,500 years ago[20] All Onge's belong to MtDNA M and Y-DNA Haplogroup D [19][20][21]

Onge are unique in that they were the only population in the study that lacked Y-DNA Haplogroup CF and Haplogroup F.[20] The authors thus suggest that the peopling of Andaman islands must have occurred before the appearance of Haplogroup CF and Haplogroup F and its descendants, around 60,000 ybp to 50,000 ybp.[20]

Literature

  • Vishvajit Pandya: Above the Forest. A Study of Andamanese Ethnoanemology, Cosmology and the Power of ritual. Oxford University Press, Delhi 1993, ISBN 0-19-562971-X

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/SC_ST/PCA-A11_Appendix/ST-35-PCA-A11-APPENDIX.xlsx
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ George Weber, the Tribes. Chapter 8 in The andamanese. Accessed on 2012-07-03.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 M. V. Portman (1899), A history of our Relations with the Andamanese, Volume II. Office of the Government Printing, Calcutta, India.
  5. ↑ (Hindi)Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Devi, L. Dilly (1987). "Sociological Aspects of Food and Nutrition among the Onges of the Little Andaman Island". Ph.D. dissertation, University of Delhi, Delhi
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=FPX6wiuZ3ikC&pg=PA44
  13. ↑ http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/ecocide-or-genocide-the-onge-andaman-islands
  14. ↑ A. N. Sharma (2003), Tribal Development in the Andaman Islands, page 64. Sarup & Sons, New Delhi.
  15. ↑ A. N. Sharma (2003), Tribal Development in the Andaman Islands, page 72. Sarup & Sons, New Delhi.
  16. ↑ http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1609/16090710.htm
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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