The Andaman Islands

1789: Bengal attempts to establish a naval base in the Andaman Islands

Not much contact was ever made with the Andaman Islands, at the time known as the Nicobar Islands, before the Bengal government tried to establish a naval base on Chatham island. The people of the island weren't receptive to the visitors and attempted to fight off the intruders. The Bengal government was able to officially establish the base, but with little success. The British weren't originally planning to construct a colony in the Andamans due to a predated notion that the people were "savages." This prejudice is one of the leading causes of the heightened aggression between the British and Andamanese people.

In "Developing Terra Nullius: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Indigeneity in the Andaman Islands," Uditi Sen explores a more in-depth view of the relationship between the British and the Andamanese people. While stories of the island perverted the minds of the British before the ultimate colonizing of the island, any hope of peace between the British and Andamanese was thrown out the window. The British used technology far advanced compared to the Andamanese, but the islanders didn't give up quietly. There were wars fought and many British killed over their intrusion of the island.  

Penal Colony Established

After several riots in India, a need for more prison space arose for the British. They looked to the Andaman Islands as an easy place to put prisoners, white and Indian, that would help preserve space in India. The same frustrations between the British and Andamanese rose with the establishment of Port Blair. However, the colony was completely established on Ross Island. The British had envisioned the colony becoming larger and more substantive for them, but due to disease and enraged natives, the colony couldn't thrive. Any hopes of a long-term colony being established in the Andamans had failed. 

In "The Andaman Islands Penal Colony: Race, Class, Criminality, and the British Empire," Clare Anderson talks about the hierarchies that were created among the prisoners in the colony. The Andamans became one of the largest penal colonies of the British. The people in the colony would be forced to endure high temperatures while performing manual labor. The native people of the Andaman Islands did everything in their will to uproot the British, but most of their efforts were futile or unsubstantial. 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-review-of-social-…;

The Colonial and Indian Exhibition is opened

The Colonial and Indian Exhibition was opened in South Kensington to a public audience. Over the course of its opening, the exhibit was visited by well over 5 million people of Britian. While it may not be confirmed, it's likely that Doyle's depiciton of Tonga came form this exhbit as he would write Sign of Four 4 years later. The exhibit contained several racist clay figures of Andamanese people and they were often depicted in threatening gestures. The people of the Andamans were referred to as "savages" and being less than that of the "white man." They weren't even treated like people and were given more animalistic figures by the crafters of the clay figures. 

In "Model Subjects: Representations of the Andaman Islands at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886," Claire Wintel discusses the regression that the exhibit of the Andamanese caused. While science was beginning to understand the people of the island, the public perception took a nose dive when the exhibit was opened. Scientists were shut out because of the opinions that had been created once the exhibit was open. The wide perception of the exhibit caused many to jump to assumptions about the people of the Andaman Islands. One rumor was created about the people being savages without any basis for it!

https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbn066