Trinket Island (sometimes spelled Trinkat or Trinkut) is one of the 24 islands that make up the Nicobar Islands chain, located in the northeast Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. It is located east of Kamorta Island.
Geography
Trinket has an area of 12.25 km², and a flat, low topography. Regional monsoons bring annual rainfall of 3,000 mm to 3,800 mm. which allow it to be approached by boat only during high tide. The 1901 census indicated an estimated population of 102 persons, spread between four and six villages, ruled by two chiefs. Like most other islands in the Nicobar district, Trinket's population was almost exclusively ethnic Nicobarese.
Although, the 2011 Census of India indicated that the island had become uninhabited following the 2004 tsunami disaster, as of the end of 2012 the island appeared to have been repopulated by a pair of returnees, living at the site of what had been Trinket village.
Prior to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the island's populace was dependent on the outside world for many goods, including foodstuffs. Until the 1950s they exported whole coconuts and other forest products, but after the 1950s local production shifted toward exports of processed coconut, in the form of copra. Those products were traded for imports such as rice, sugar, and clothes, which were used to supplement the local subsistence economy based on hunting and gathering, fishing, pig and chicken rearing, and household gardens.
History
Trinket was officially made subject to the British Empire in 1869. suffering a reduction of its surface area from 14.6 km² down to 12.25 km². Initial reports that the island had been split apart were later confirmed by satellite imagery and onsite surveys.
Human toll
On Trinket, the tsunami left 91 dead or disappeared and Kamorta, where the Indian government built a resettlement village called Vikas Nagar.
Repopulation of the island
By the end of 2012, only two people, both returnees, were reported to be living permanently on the island. amounting to a total of seven families as of 2020.
Image gallery
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File:Map of Nicobar Islands-en.png|Map
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