The capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India’s union territory in the Bay of Bengal, is Port Blair. Port Blair acts as the gateway to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. is a 2-3 hour flight from mainland India to Veer Savarkar International Airport. The connecting airports to Port Blair are Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (Kolkata), Chennai airport and Vishakhapatnam airport. It is home to many museums and the Indian Navy’s main naval base, INS Jarawa, along with the Indian Coast Guard’s sea and air bases, the Andaman and Nicobar Police, the Andaman and Nicobar Command, the Indian Armed Forces’ first integrated tri-command and the Indian Air Force. Port Blair is also famous for its historic Cellular Jail and other small islands such as Corbyn’s Cove, Wandoor, Ross Island, Viper Island, etc. which were once home to British colonists. Port Blair has been chosen as one of the cities to be developed as a smart city under the Smart Cities Mission.
The Government of Bengal founded a penal colony on Chatham Island in the southeast bay of Great Andaman in1789, which was called Port Blair in honour of the East India Company’s Archibald Blair. After two years, the colony moved to the northeast of Great Andaman and was named Port Cornwallis after Admiral William Cornwallis. However, there was much disease and death in the penal colony, and the government ceased operating it in May 1796.
Port Blair has a tropical monsoon climate, with little average temperature variation and significant quantities of year-round precipitation. Except for January, February, and March, almost every month it receives rainfall.
As of the 2011 Indian census, the population of Port Blair was 100,608. Males make up 52.92 percent (53,247) of the population and 47.07 percent are females (47,361). A staggering 9.3% of the population is under the age of 6.
Port Blair has an overall literacy rate of 89.76 percent, greater than the 74.04 percent national average. Male literacy is 92.79 percent in Port Blair, while female literacy is 86.34 percent.
The most common religion is Hinduism, followed by Christianity and Islam. Bengali is the most spoken language of the city, followed by Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.
The Cellular Jail, also known as Kala Pani (Hindi for black
waters), was a colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, India.The britishers used the prison to express the
purpose of exiling political prisoners to the remote
archipelago. Many notable independence activists, including
Batukeshwar Dutt, Yogendra Shukla, and Veer Vinayak Savarkar
were imprisoned here during the struggle for India’s
independence. Today, the complex serves as a national memorial
monument.
Although the prison complex itself was built between 1896 and
1906, the British had been using the Andaman Islands as a
prison since the days immediately following the revolt of
1857.
The construction of the prison started in 1896 and was
completed in 1906. The original building was a puce-coloured
brick building. The bricks used to build the building were
brought from Burma.
The building had seven wings, at the center of which a tower
served as the intersection and was used by guards to keep
watch on the inmates; this format was based on Jeremy
Bentham’s idea of the Panopticon. The wings radiated from the
tower in straight lines, much like the spokes of a bicycle
wheel.
“The British Raj sent Indian dissidents and mutineers to a
remote island penal colony in an ‘experiment’ that involved
torture, medical tests, forced labour and, for many, death”.
It is estimated that of the total 80,000 political prisoners,
the British Raj held at the Kalapani, a very few survived.
Solitary confinement was implemented as the British government
desired to ensure that political prisoners and revolutionaries
be isolated from one another. The Andaman island served as the
ideal setting for the government to achieve this.
Most prisoners of the Cellular Jail were independence
activists. Some inmates were Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, Yogendra
Shukla, Batukeshwar Dutt, Babarao Savarkar, Veer Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Bhai Parmanand, Sohan
Singh, Subodh Roy and Trailokyanath Chakravarty. Several
revolutionaries were tried in the Alipore Case (1908), such as
Barindra Kumar Ghose, the surviving companion of Bagha Jatin,
was transferred to Berhampore Jail in Bengal, before his
mysterious death in 1924. The Savarkar brothers, Babarao and
Vinayak, did not know that they were in different cells in the
same jail for two years.
Cellular Jail was declared a National Memorial by the then
Prime Minister of India on 11th February 1979.The centenary of
the jail’s completion was marked on 10 March 2006. Many former
prisoners were celebrated on this occasion by the Government
of India. Apart from guided tours, a sound-and-light show is
also run in the evenings narrating and showcasing the trials
and tribulations of the inmates. It is available in English
and Hindi.
The Cellular Jail, also known as Kala Pani (Hindi for black waters), was a colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.The britishers used the prison to express the purpose of exiling political prisoners to the remote archipelago. Many notable independence activists, including Batukeshwar Dutt, Yogendra Shukla, and Veer Vinayak Savarkar were imprisoned here during the struggle for India’s independence. Today, the complex serves as a national memorial monument.
“The British Raj sent Indian dissidents and mutineers to a remote island penal colony in an ‘experiment’ that involved torture, medical tests, forced labour and, for many, death”. It is estimated that of the total 80,000 political prisoners, the British Raj held at the Kalapani, a very few survived.
The construction of the prison started in 1896 and was completed in 1906. The original building was a puce-coloured brick building. The bricks used to build the building were brought from Burma.
The building had seven wings, at the center of which a tower served as the intersection and was used by guards to keep watch on the inmates; this format was based on Jeremy Bentham’s idea of the Panopticon. The wings radiated from the tower in straight lines, much like the spokes of a bicycle wheel.
“The British Raj sent Indian dissidents and mutineers to a remote island penal colony in an ‘experiment’ that involved torture, medical tests, forced labour and, for many, death”. It is estimated that of the total 80,000 political prisoners, the British Raj held at the Kalapani, a very few survived.
Solitary confinement was implemented as the British government desired to ensure that political prisoners and revolutionaries be isolated from one another. The Andaman island served as the ideal setting for the government to achieve this.
Most prisoners of the Cellular Jail were independence activists. Some inmates were Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, Yogendra Shukla, Batukeshwar Dutt, Babarao Savarkar, Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Bhai Parmanand, Sohan Singh, Subodh Roy and Trailokyanath Chakravarty. Several revolutionaries were tried in the Alipore Case (1908), such as Barindra Kumar Ghose, the surviving companion of Bagha Jatin, was transferred to Berhampore Jail in Bengal, before his mysterious death in 1924. The Savarkar brothers, Babarao and Vinayak, did not know that they were in different cells in the same jail for two years.
Cellular Jail was declared a National Memorial by the then Prime Minister of India on 11th February 1979.The centenary of the jail’s completion was marked on 10 March 2006. Many former prisoners were celebrated on this occasion by the Government of India. Apart from guided tours, a sound-and-light show is also run in the evenings narrating and showcasing the trials and tribulations of the inmates. It is available in English and Hindi.
Ross Island is hardly 2-3 kms away from Port Bair and reaching it is therefore not a problem. You can use either the air or ferry routes to reach this beautiful small Island from Port Blair.
From Port Blair, the majority of tourists prefer using boats to reach the island. It does not take much time and the boat ride is quite economical too. A number of tour operators offer a trip to this island from the Phoenix Bay Jetty or Aberdeen Jetty. The boat ride from Port Blair to Ross Island takes 10 to 15 minutes, approx. In pre-independence India, this island was a British colony where administrative activities were at a peak. It was called Paris of the East’ and even now you can find the remnants of that colonial period. A tour on this island takes you down a road of nostalgia and also offers you an escape from the clutter of busy tourist locations in Andaman. The flora and fauna you witness on this island are amazing, and the population of peacocks, birds, and deers on the island will amaze you too. The variety of plant species on this island is also great. The ruins of a church, the cellular jail, a bakery, and several other buildings are there to be explored too. The name of the island was derived from the name of a marine surveyor, Sir Daniel Ross. In 1857, the British took possession of three islands around Port Blair and Ross Island was one of them. This small Ross Island served as the capital of the Andaman Islands from 1858 to 1941 under the British rule. An earthquake in 1941 shook the island and huge buildings collapsed due to the natural calamity. After that, the British shifted their capital to Port Blair, near Ross Island. From 1942 to 1945, the island was under the occupation of Japanese. The British reoccupied the island in 1945 and later abandoned it. The island presently houses the ruins of old buildings like the Ballroom, Chief Commissioner’s House, Church, Hospital, Bakery, Press, Swimming Pool, and Troop Barracks. All the buildings are almost in ruins and represent British lifestyle. There is a graveyard and a small museum called Smritika on the island, which has a collection of age-old records.
Ross Island has thick forests and full of coconut trees. One can spot lots of deers, peacocks and other birds here. There is a 10 m high circular Lighthouse at the northern end of the island, which was constructed in 1977. The tower is approachable during the low tide. It was at this lighthouse that photovoltaic panels were introduced for the first time in India, to charge the batteries for the operation of light.
The Ross Island is about 3 km east of Port Blair and can be reached by a short boat ride from Phoenix Bay Jetty or Water Sports Complex. The island is open to the public for all days except Wednesday. The only way to explore the island is by foot. Ross Island is pretty small and there is no local transport to take tourists around the island. It takes just a couple of hours to explore the entire island. There is just one small shop on the island from where tourists can buy snacks and soft drinks. There is also a Sound & Light show which narrates the history of the island.
Located at 30 KM from the Wandoor Beach, Jolly Buoy Island is a very small islet in South Andaman that comes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Park’s Marine Sanctuary along with Red Skin Island, which is a preserved area, protected by the Andaman Administration. Although there are no palm or coconut trees here, the Jolly buoy features a small yet dense tropical forest that covers 70% of the island and can be easily trekked through with the help of a guide. The beach is only present at one side of the island while other sides open up to a cliff that ends in water, which is why it is not advised to stand near the edge of the jungle. As it is a protected area, the complete island is a no plastic zone and visitors are required to submit the list of all plastic items they are taking with them. It is not allowed to leave any plastic or other belongings in the island because it might affect biodiversity. Due to all these efforts, it has the densest and unique coral population in Andaman that supports one of the richest biodiversity in the isles. Wide variety of coral species houses some of the most vibrant and beautiful fishes that are waiting to be explored by adventure lovers.The waters near the Jolly Buoy beach is extremely shallow and clear, which allows for a clear view of the sea bottom and all the dwellers. Sometimes during low tide, the water becomes so shallow that the corals are almost out of the water, and Snorkeling is restricted at that time. But no need to worry about that, there are plenty of rental boats available at the island who will take you deeper into the sea for a great experience.
