Andaman Islands

Andaman & Nicobar Islands  is a group of over  572 Islands, islets and rocks(36 of which are inhabited) in the Bay of Bengal, South-East of the Indian mainland.  The Andaman & Nicobar Islands is  nearer to Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand than to the Indian  mainland.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands stretches over a length of more than 800 kms from North to South. Some of the large Islands are Middle Andaman, North Andaman, South Andaman, Baratang and Little Andaman islands. The northern most point is Landfall Island and the southern most, Indira Point.

The Nicobar group of Islands is out of bounds for Tourism activities. i.e., only the Andaman group of Islands  are open for Tourism. This is because the majority of people living in Nicobar Islands are Tribals.

The capital of Andaman & Nicobar Islands is Port Blair. Most of the islands are in the Andamans group, 26 of which are inhabited. The Nicobars comprise some 22 main islands, 10 of which are inhabited. The Andamans and Nicobars are separated by the Ten Degree Channel, some 150 km wide.The territory's population as per the year 2001 Census of India is 356,152. The total land area of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is approximately 8,249 Square kms. The total area of the Andaman Islands is some 6,408 km² & that of the Nicobar Islands approximately 1,841 Square kms.

The major languages spoken in Andaman & Nicobar Islands are Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, English, Tamil, Nicobarese and Telugu.

Since pre-historic times aboriginal tribes have lived on these Islands. The Andaman group is inhabited by tribes of Negrito origin, while the Nicobar Islands are inhabited by tribes of Mongloid origin. There are 4 tribes in the Andaman District and they are Great Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas and Sentinelese, while 2 other tribes, Nicobarese & Shompens of Mongloid origin live in Nicobar district.

The topography of the Andaman islands is hilly and they abound in evergreen forests. Timber is plentiful and of a vast variety. These undulating islands are covered with dense forests and endless variety of exotic flora and fauna. However, the Timber of Andaman & Nicobar Islands cannot be commercially extracted due to the order & ruling of the Supreme Court of India.

The reserved and protected forests extend over 86% area of the territory and the forest cover is more than 92%. About 50% of the forests has been set aside as Tribal Reserves, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Mythologically, the name Andaman is presumed to be derived from Hanuman, who was known to the Malays as Handuman. Since pre-historic times, these islands were the home of aboriginal tribes.

The first settlement by the British took place in 1789, which was later abandoned in 1796. The second settlement was basically a penal settlement, established in 1858, after the First War of Indian Independence, followed by the settlement of convicts, Moplas, some criminal tribes from Central and United Provinces, refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka as well as ex-servicemen.

People of all faiths like Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist etc., live together in complete peace and harmony. Inter-religion and inter-regional marriages are common. This amazing racial and cultural mix is correctly described as Mini-India.

The sandy beaches of Andaman & Nicobar Islands are fringed with coconut-palms. The sea around the islands offer excellent scope for water sports. Adventure tourism like trekking, Camping, snorkeling, scuba diving etc., are the real attractions.

A visit to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a memorable lifetime experience.

The Indian government is trying to develop the Andaman Islands into a low volume, high yield tourist zone. To promote eco-friendly tourism, the Andaman and Nicobar Administration is developing 36 beach sites on the islands. India’s first ever marina is to be developed in A&N islands.

The Government is starting unique projects like introduction of seaplane service for the first time in India. The administration will set up canopy walkways, luxury cottages, and procure luxury boats to attract high-end tourists. Plans are afoot to start more sound and light shows and setting up de-compressions chambers for scuba drivers in the islands in the near future.

Annual tourist arrivals at the Andaman & Nicobar Islands increased to 130,000 in 2009 as compared to 33,716 tourist arrivals recorded in 1990.

How Teleportation Will Work

Ever since the wheel was invented more than 5,000 years ago, people have been inventing new ways to travel faster from one point to another. The chariot, bicycle, automobile, aeroplane and rocket have all been invented to decrease the amount of time we spend getting to our desired destinations. Yet each of these forms of transportation share the same flaw: They require us to cross a physical distance, which can take anywhere from minutes to many hours depending on the starting and ending points.

But what if there were a way to get you from your home to the supermarket without having to use your car, or from your backyard to the International Space Station without having to board a spacecraft? There are scientists working right now on such a method of travel, combining properties of telecommunications and transportation to achieve a system called teleportation. In this article, you will learn about experiments that have actually achieved teleportation with photons, and how we might be able to use teleportation to travel anywhere, at anytime.

Teleportation involves dematerializing an object at one point, and sending the details of that object's precise atomic configuration to another location, where it will be reconstructed. What this means is that time and space could be eliminated from travel -- we could be transported to any location instantly, without actually crossing a physical distance.

Many of us were introduced to the idea of teleportation, and other futuristic technologies, by the short-lived Star Trek television series (1966-69) based on tales written by Gene Roddenberry. Viewers watched in amazement as Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy and others beamed down to the planets they encountered on their journeys through the universe.

In 1993, the idea of teleportation moved out of the realm of science fiction and into the world of theoretical possibility. It was then that physicist Charles Bennett and a team of researchers at IBM confirmed that quantum teleportation was possible, but only if the original object being teleported was destroyed. This revelation, first announced by Bennett at an annual meeting of the American Physical Society in March 1993, was followed by a report on his findings in the March 29, 1993 issue of Physical Review Letters. Since that time, experiments using photons have proven that quantum teleportation is in fact possible.