Trinket Island (sometimes spelled Trinkat or Trinkut) is one of the 24 islands that make up the Nicobar Islands chain, located in the northeast

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

between the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

and the Andaman Sea. It is located east of

Kamorta Island Kamorta Island is an island in the Nicobar Islands chain of India, located in the northeast Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Facilities INS Kardip is a naval forward operating base of the joint-services Andaman and Ni ...

Geography

Trinket has an area of 12.25 km², and a flat, low topography. Regional monsoons bring rains of 3,000 mm to 3,800 mm yearly. The island is surrounded by shallow waters and coral reefs,K. Venkataraman, "Coral Reefs of India", in D. Hopley (Ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs: Structure, Form and Process'', Springer (Dordrecht, 2011). . which allow it to be approached by boat only during high tide.

Administration

From 1869 until 1947 Trinket was part of Britain's Indian colonies. In 1947 it became part of the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

, and since 1950 of the Republic of India. Trinket is part of the Kamorta Tehsil,

Nancowry subdivision Nancowry Subdivision is one of three local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Nicobar, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Administration It includes 4 taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, t ...

of the Nicobars District, and part of the

Andaman & 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 ...

state. Since 1956 the Government of India has afforded protection to the native Nicobarese through a special legislation, the ''Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation'', which regulated entry to the islands.

Demographics

Two early censuses of the island were conducted by the British administration in 1883 and 1901. The 1883 census revealed a population of 85 persons living in eight villages. The 1901 census indicated an estimated population of 102 persons, spread between four and six villages, ruled by two chiefs. As of 2001, the Indian census had catalogued 436 persons living on Trinket in four villages: Trinket (population 244), Safebalu (pop. 127), Tapiang (pop. 42) and Hockcook (pop. 23). Like most other islands in the Nicobar district, Trinket's population was almost exclusively ethnic Nicobarese. Although, the 2011 Census of India indicated that the island had become uninhabited following the 2004 tsunami disaster, as of the end of 2012 the island appeared to have been repopulated by a pair of returnees, living at the site of what had been Trinket village.

Economy

From the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, trade with Trinket, as with the rest of the Nicobar Islands, was dominated by Indian, Arab, and European merchant fleets.Lisa Ringhoffer, "Chapter 6: Comparing Local Transitions Across the Developing World", in L. Ringhofer, ''Fishing, Foraging and Farming in the Bolivian Amazon: On a Local Society in Transition'', Springer, London (2010), . Prior to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the island's populace was dependent on the outside world for many goods, including foodstuffs. Until the 1950s they exported whole coconuts and other forest products, but after the 1950s local production shifted toward exports of processed coconut, in the form of

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...

. Those products were traded for imports such as rice, sugar, and clothes, which were used to supplement the local subsistence economy based on hunting and gathering, fishing, pig and chicken rearing, and household gardens.

Marina Fischer-Kowalski Marina Fischer-Kowalski (born 1946) is an Austrian sociologist and social ecologist and a professor emeritus of the University of Klagenfurt, currently teaching at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, the University of K ...

, Simron J.Singh, Lisa Ringhofer, Clemens M. Grünbühel, Christian Lauk and Alexander Remesch
''Sociometabolic regimes in indigenous communities and the crucial role of working time: A comparison of case studies''
Alpen-Adria Universitat, Social Ecology Working Paper #121 (March 2010), ISSN 1726-3816. (Accessdate: 28 August 2016)

History

Trinket was officially made subject to the British Empire in 1869. The island became part of sovereign India following Indian independence in 1947.

Effects of 2004 earthquake and tsunami

Physical effects

Like the other Nicobar and Andaman Islands, Trinket was devastated by

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

s generated by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The island, which has a low and flat topography, was severely affected by the powerful waves and by earthquake-caused subduction of 1.5m to 1.75 m (4 ft 11 in to 5 ft 9 in),M. G. Thakkar and Bhanu Goyal
"Historic submergence and tsunami destruction of Nancowrie, Kamorta, Katchall and Trinket Islands of Nicobar district: Consequences of 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake"
''Current Science'', Vol. 90, Issue 7 (10 April 2006), pages 989–994. suffering a reduction of its surface area from 14.6 km² down to 12.25 km².Anup Kumar Das, "GIS based mapping of Tsunami induced Land Use/Cover change in Nancowry group of Islands, Andaman and Nicobar Islands", i
''OSTI Newsletter''
(published by the Ocean Science and Technology for Islands program of the Indian National Institute of Ocean Technology), Issue 10, October 2005, pages 2–4. Initial reports that the island had been split apart were later confirmed by satellite imagery and onsite surveys.

Human toll

On Trinket, the tsunami left 91 dead or disappeared and the total devastation of the island's communities and economy. Shortly after the disaster, the entire remaining population of the island was evacuated to neighboring islands, principally Nancowry, and Kamorta, where the Indian government built a resettlement village called Vikas Nagar.Zoyab, Alaphia
"A house for Mr. Gopinath, and a genset"
''The Hindu'', 4 August 2012.(Entry retrieved 25 September 2013)

Repopulation of the island

By the end of 2012, only two people, both returnees, were reported to be living permanently on the island, with few refugees returning as of 2017.

Image gallery

File:Map of Nicobar Islands-en.png, Map

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trinket Island Islands of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Cities and towns in Nicobar district Nicobar district Nicobar Islands