Sentinelese Island Satan’s Last Stronghold: US Missionary’s Diary

A day before being killed by the Sentinelese, Chau had called their island “Satan’s last stronghold” in his diary.

A night before 26-year-old John Chau, an American, was killed by the Sentinelese in the Andaman Islands, he had written in his diary, “Lord, is this island Satan's last stronghold where none have heard or even had the chance to hear your name?"

The pages of the diary, which had been accessed by The Washington Post, recorded the last days of Chau’s journey till the night before he was killed by an indigenous tribe in the Andaman islands. This was the very tribe he had hoped he would convert to Christianity, which was his main aim for travelling there without permit.

A graduate from Oral Roberts University and seemingly devout Christian, Chau’s description of the Sentinelese island as “Satan’s last stronghold” possibly expressed his desire to take on the challenge to preach Christianity among the inhabitants of the island, the report added.

According to the pages of this diary, which he had left with the fishermen who had transported him to the island, Chau was the “portrait of a young man” obsessed with the idea of preaching Christianity to the Sentinelese, The Washington Post reported.

The problem with this was, the Sentinelese are a tribe known to be ferocious about isolating their island from the outside world, a mission they have been successful at for decades now.

Attempting to take Christianity to this indigenous tribe and exposing them to the modern world, according to some critics, was “selfish”.

Chau also knew that his journey to this island he describes as “Satan’s stronghold” was illegal, as he had paid the fishermen taking him to “maneuver” in a way that he was not caught by the Indian Coast Guard and other law authorities, The Washington Post report added.

Describing his boat journey to the island, he even wrote in his diary: “"God Himself was hiding us from the Coast Guard and many patrols," he stated in a description of the boat journey,” the report stated.

Chau went on this mission despite having been attacked by the Sentinelese tribe during his previous interaction with them. Before his last fateful journey, Chau had visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands at least four times.

(With inputs from The Washington Post)