On Port Blair, a remote island in India, one of the world’s oldest dialects has become extinct after the last person to speak it died. Boa Sr, the 85-year-old last speaker of the Bo language was the oldest member of the Great Andamanese tribe.
Tracing its origins back to tens of thousands of years ago, Bo was one of the ten dialects used by the Great Andamanese tribe.
According to Survival International, there are now only 52 members surviving members of the tribe, which is thought to have lived on the Andaman Islands for as many as 65,000 years, making them descendants of one of the oldest cultures in the world.
“Boa’s loss is a bleak reminder that we must not allow this to happen to the other tribes of the Andaman Islands,” director of Survival International said.
[Via: Reuters]
I was so sad to hear this news last week…one of my great dreams is to travel around the Andamans, as it’s always seemed like the most exotic slice of the world I can imagine.
Ironically, it’s Westerners like me coming to this remote part of the universe that’s helped to destroy tribes like the Great Andamanese. It makes me want to lie down for awhile…then get up and explore ways to help at: http://www.survivalinternational.org/