Netaji hoisted the first national flag in the land where our forefathers took the first test of survival, while the Cellular Jail tells stories of our martyrs
and is today a sort of pilgrimage
Andaman is an ancient island mentioned in the Ramayana, and in the accounts of Jerini and Plotemy. In a map drawn by Roman geologists in the second century, the cluster was mentioned as the Island of Good Fortune.
Accounts by 7th century Chinese Buddhist monks mention the islands as the "land of nude men." The 1050 Tanjore stone inscription of the Chola kings too calls Andaman and Nicobar by the same name. The word Andaman has many connotations. Some say it was derived from the word "Angamanian" mentioned by Marco Polo. However others say, the name came from Lord Handuman or Hanuman, who used the island to cross the sea to Lanka.
This island cluster, which extends 2,580 sq miles, has been called the Good Spirit Island by Ptolemy, Andhar Manikya (jewel in the dark) by Indian traders, as well as "land of the rising sun", "land of the gold flowers" or "land of the marigold" by other seafarers. Many saw it as something of a mythical neverland, calling it the "land of terror" or the "land of black waters". During World War II, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose elevated its status from a no man's land, christening it the Martyr's Islands or Swaraj Dweep.
Andaman and Nicobar are two separate island clusters that were connected by the British in 1888.
They are situated on two sides of a 10 degree channel in the Bay of Bengal. The Andaman group consists of North, Middle, South and Little, while the Great Nicobar, Car Nicobar, Katchal, Nancoury, Chowra, Teressa and Campbell Bay make up the Nicobar group.
Nearly a hundred years before that, in 1789, during the time of Lord Cornwallis, the British Governor-General, hydrographer and marine surveyor Lt Archibald Blair brought people from Bengal and built a settlement at Chatham in Port Blair.
During the later half of the 17th century, the Marathas linked Andaman with the Indian mainland.
The Portuguese and the Dutch laid claim to the islands in the 18th century. Later, during World War from March 23, 1942, to October 7, 1945, the islands were occupied by Japan, which built roads, airstrips and jetties. Though this was the islands' first phase of modernisation, the islanders
abhorred civilised people and attempted guerrilla attacks on the Japanese.
On November 6, 1943, after a declaration by Japanese prime minister Tojo, the control of the islands passed into the hands of the provisional government of Hind, or into the hands of Bose's Indian National Army. The first national flag flew at Port Blair on December 30, 1943. In 1945, the British recaptured the islands only to relinquish control once and for all in 1947.
