" God told his messenger
to create the earth
and a 'man'.
He mistook it for andaman.
This beautiful mistake of his
brought the heaven to earth."
 

MINI INDIA : The Andaman & Nicobar is a group of picturesque Islands, big and small, inhabited and uninhabited. The place often referred to as mini India harbors no caste, creed, hatred & fear. It is the place where the sun rises first, it is the place which breathed the first air of independent India. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have great maritime importance. The place is much sought after for its natural wealth of plush greenery and vivid cultures.

PRE-HISTORIC CONNECTIONS : Andaman Nicobar is a total of approx. 572 islands, islets and rocks lying in the South Eastern Part of the Bay of Bengal. They lie along an arc in long and narrow broken chain, approximately North-South over a distance nearly 800 kilometers. It is logical to presume a former land connection from Cape Negris at South part of Burma to Achin Head (Cape Pedro) in Andalas (Sumatra). About 150 million years ago, due to geological activity the land submerged and created the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The flora and fauna of these islands for the same reason differs from their former land connections.

GEOGRAPHY : The islands have common characteristic feature of undulating topography and intervening valleys (Exception : Car Nicobar and Trinket Island which are relatively flat Islands!). There is no major perennial fresh water river in these islands except Kalpong in North Andaman, Alexendra, Dagmar and Galathea river in Great Nicobar. There are several rainfed streams which dry up during summer. The coastal line of these islands is wavy with large number of bays, lagoons and serpentine creeks, and extends to about 1962 km. At several places tidal creeks penetrate far inside the land and form outlets for fresh water streams. Two islands of volcanic origin are found here-the Narcondum and the Barren islands. The former is now apparently extinct while the latter is still active

There are two more deep channels
(i) the ten degree channel which isolates Andaman islands from Nicobar islands and (ii) the Sombero channel which isolates Great Nicobar from Nicobars and the Nancowries group.

ROLE IN INDIAN INDEPENDENCE : During the British period political leaders considered dangerous to the interests of the Raj and other dreaded criminals were deported from mainland to the Cellular Jail- the Indian Bastille, situated on the sea coast of Atlanta Point in the North-Eastern part of Port Blair. Thus these islands were infamously known as the 'Black Water Prison' or 'Kala Pani'