These people know about us and are right to be fearful

The Andaman Islands are home to several uncontacted groups, and this makes them a region now almost unique in the world. There are areas of the remotest Amazon – in Peru, Brazil and Ecuador – with such isolated populations, but that is just about it.

One thing these people have in common is that they know about us: these isolated, diminished populations are fearful. They have chosen to avoid us. And usually for good reason, given the history of exploitation of minority communities worldwide.

The incident of a US tourist being killed in India’s Andaman Islands is a sad one, not just because of the loss of life, but because the wishes of these particular aboriginal populations is well known – and very readily expressed with bows, clubs and arrows. This death need not have happened. They – the people we call the Sentinelese – wish to maintain their isolation, and thus their independence and safety.

My own experience of uncontacted groups has mainly been in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

It seems to be part of our human psyche to want to encounter far-flung people : we want to believe that – somewhere out there in the wilds – there are people who are better or worse than us. We might seek inspiration from these people who exist blissfully in an imaginary Eden.

We also want the other sort of people: the ones who are worse than us, who we imagine as cannibals and headhunters. In reality, these people have the same hopes and fears as us.

However, this rarely satisfies anyone. The best I can do is repeat that we in the “civilised world” seem as exotic and exciting to these “tribesmen” as they do to us. The only difference being that, in our case, the threat we represent is very genuine. Benedict Allen is a writer and explorer known for immersing himself among remote indigenous communities to learn survival skills