12 Facts About Andaman Islands

Andaman Islands are home to the Andamanese, a group of indigenous people that includes a number of tribes, including the Jarawa and Sentinelese.

Andaman Islands used the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a strategic naval base to launch an expedition against the Sriwijaya Empire.

On 26 December 2004, the coast of the Andaman Islands was devastated by a 10-metre-high tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which is the longest recorded earthquake, lasting for between 500 and 600 seconds.

Andaman Islands Archipelago is an oceanic continuation of the Burmese Arakan Yoma range in the North and of the Indonesian Archipelago in the South.

North Andaman Island is 285 kilometres south of Burma, although a few smaller Burmese islands are closer, including the three Coco Islands.

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The South Andaman Islands forests have a profuse growth of epiphytic vegetation, mostly ferns and orchids.

Andaman Islands forests are largely unspoiled, despite logging and the demands of the fast-growing population driven by immigration from the Indian mainland.

Indian Scientists Discover New 'Mermaid' Plant Species in Andaman Islands's Archipelago - Scientists have named the plant species, which is a green algae, as Acetabularia jalakanyakae.

Andaman Islands forests contain 200 or more timber producing species of trees, out of which about 30 varieties are considered to be commercial.

Andaman Islands are home to a number of animals, many of them endemic.

Interview Island in Middle Andaman Islands holds a population of feral elephants, which were brought in for forest work by a timber company and released when the company went bankrupt.

Andaman Islands are prominently featured in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes 1890 mystery The Sign of the Four.