Bluff Island is an island of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the North and Middle Andaman administrative

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

, part of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n union territory of

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

. The island lies north from

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...

Geography

The island belongs to the West Baratang Group and lies south of Spike Island. The island is separated from

South Andaman South Andaman Island is the southernmost island of the Great Andaman and is home to the majority of the population of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman a ...

to the south by narrow channel, 500 m wide. It is 30 metres high to the tops of the trees.

Administration

Politically, Bluff Island, along neighboring Baratang Islands, is part of

Rangat Rangat is a town on the Middle Andaman Island, Andaman Archipelago. It is also one of the three counties (''tehsils'') administrative divisions of the North and Middle Andaman district, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of In ...

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

Demographics

The island was previously inhabited. In 1949, the few surviving

Great Andamanese people The Great Andamanese are an indigenous people of the Great Andaman archipelago in the Andaman Islands. Historically, the Great Andamanese lived throughout the archipelago, and were divided into ten major tribes. Their distinct but closely relat ...

were relocated to this island to protect them from diseases and other threats. On this island their population reached the all-time low of 19 individuals in 1961. In 1969 they were relocated to the slightly larger Strait Island.Rann Singh Mann (2005)
Andaman and Nicobar Tribes Restudied: Encounters and Concerns
page 149. Mittal Publications.

Fauna

Bluff island and the surrounding waters are a wildlife sanctuary of India, initiated in 1987 as a nature preserve. with an area of 1.14 km².Wildlife Institute of India (2000),

'' section of
Directory of Wildlife Protected Areas in India
'. Accessed on 2012-07-12.

References

* Islands of North and Middle Andaman district Tourist attractions in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Uninhabited islands of India {{AndamanNicobar-geo-stub