John Allen Chau spent years preparing to travel to North Sentinel Island and convert the isolated tribespeople who live there to Christianity — but shortly after he stepped ashore on 17 January 2025, he was killed by the Sentinelese.
John Allen Chau / FacebookJohn Allen Chau ’s eubstance was never recovered , as it was deem too severe by the Indian government .
While attempting to get hold of the humankind ’s most isolated autochthonic folk , the Sentinelese , American evangelistic Christian missioner John Allen Chau met a grisly fate .
He journey to North Sentinel Island in 2018 with the goal of introducing the denizen to Christianity . He was win over that the island was “ Satan ’s last stronghold on Earth , ” and despite the known risks , he made it his mission to win over the kinship group .
John Allen Chau/FacebookJohn Allen Chau’s body was never recovered, as it was deemed too dangerous by the Indian government.
Almost like a shot , Chau was faced with hostility . The Sentinelese begin draw their bows , so he fled , but he soon return to sing worship song to the tribe . This time , the island-dweller seemed to find him amusing , but they rejected his gifts — and even shot an pointer into the Bible he was hold .
Undeterred , Chau returned to the island a final time on Nov. 16 , 2018 . He was never seen alive again .
John Allen Chau’s Younger Years And Passion For The Outdoors
John Allen Chau was born on Dec. 18 , 1991 , in Scottsboro , Alabama . He was the third and untried child of Lynda Adams - Chau , an organizer for the spiritual radical Chi Alpha , and Patrick Chau , a psychiatrist who immigrate to America during the Chinese Cultural Revolution .
Chau ’s kinfolk moved to Vancouver , Washington , when he was immature , and he grew up border by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest . There , he fell in love with the outdoors , and the books he read as a child only summate to this heat .
John Allen Chau / InstagramA family exposure of the Chau family . John Allen Chau is in the bottom left , being held by his mother . Next to him are his comrade , baby , and father .
John Allen Chau/InstagramA family picture of the Chau family. John Allen Chau is in the bottom left, being held by his mother. Next to him are his brother, sister, and father.
“ Growing up , I think dusting off a massive tome in my dad ’s downstairs study titledRobinson Crusoe , ” he say in an audience withThe Outboundseveral years before his destruction .
“ After struggling my way to read it with former elementary school English , I set forth reading loose kid - friendly books likeHatchet , My Side of the Mountain , andSign of the Beaver , the latter of which instigate my sidekick and I to paint our faces with wild blackberry bush juice and hobo through our backyard with bows and spears we created from stick . Since then , the outdoors have been my home . ”
At the time of the consultation , Chau had already traveled to the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean , where North Sentinel Island is located . However , he expressed interest group in returning , reference it as a “ must - do adventure . ”
John Allen Chau/FacebookJohn Allen Chau (back right) with fellow missionaries, dubbed “Team South Africa” in his original post.
But nature was not Chau ’s only passion . He acquire up in a devoutly Christian home . His folk was seemingly part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God . He also attend Christian school in Vancouver and the evangelical Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma .
John Allen Chau / FacebookJohn Allen Chau ( back the right way ) with fellow missionaries , dubbed “ Team South Africa ” in his original post .
During his high school years , he went on a mission trip to Mexico that reaffirmed his faith , despite his own father ’s disillusionment with it . In an email toThe Guardianin 2019 , Dr. Patrick Chau called faith “ the opium of the mass[es ] , ” blaming “ Western ideology ” and “ extreme Christianity ” for his Word ’s ultimate luck .
Nutu / Alamy Stock PhotoA group of Sentinelese youth on the island, preparing to drive away the photographer.
Dr. Chau ’s impression on religious belief did not convey over to his Logos , though . John Allen Chau was amply on board with the idea that the countersign of God should be spread to all — even the isolated Sentinelese people .
Unfortunately for John Allen Chau , the Sentinelese are n’t precisely known for their welcoming , curious nature .
Who Are The Sentinelese People?
Nutu / Alamy Stock PhotoA grouping of Sentinelese younker on the island , preparing to drive out the lensman .
The Sentinelese are believed to be direct descendants of the first human populations to transmigrate out of Africa , and they possibly settled on North Sentinel Island up to 60,000 years ago . They are incredibly recluse and have been designated a particularly vulnerable tribal grouping . The Sentinelese have had almost no contact with outsider — and they are recognize to have hostile reactions to anyone who approaches them .
Because of this , very little is really know about the tribe . Estimates of their population vary wildly , range from as few as 15 to as many as 500 individuals . Most commonly , though , the abduce reach is somewhere between 50 and 150 people .
John Allen Chau/InstagramJohn Allen Chau posted this photo on Oct. 21, 2018, less than a month before his death. He captioned it, “Kayaking the tropics in this endless summer.”
The Sentinelese are hunter - gatherers who swear on the island ’s natural resources to survive , in the main hunting wild pigs and fish and hoard fruit and honey . They typically hunt with bows and pointer made from materials found on the island or salvage from nearby shipwrecks .
Due to their isolation and the mysteries surrounding their cultivation and way of life , widespread fascination has grow around the Sentinelese . Their language is unclassified , and their beliefs and societal structures are largely unknown .
John Allen Chau knew about as much as anyone else about the Sentinelese , including how dangerous it was to visit their island . Still , he felt obligate by a higher mightiness — or , at least , his faith in one — to journey to North Sentinel Island and partake in the creed with the kinship group .
John Allen Chau/InstagramJohn Allen Chau kayaking in the summer of 2017.
And it cost him his life sentence .
John Allen Chau’s Fateful Journey To North Sentinel Island
John Allen Chau / InstagramJohn Allen Chau posted this photo on Oct. 21 , 2018 , less than a calendar month before his death . He caption it , “ kayak the Torrid Zone in this endless summer . ”
Between 2015 and 2016 , Chau took four tripper to the Andaman Islands , where he made several striking in the local Christian community . However , he did not claver North Sentinel Island at the sentence .
Then , in 2017 , he was accepted to a boot camp run by All Nations International . The Kansas City - based organisation , which later touted John Allen Chau as a martyr , had the express goal of trying to check that Jesus was “ worshipped by every tongue , tribe , and nation . ” To help missioner prepare to spread the Lord ’s message , they conducted mock village and persona - play scenarios to help trainees get a feel for the situations they might find themselves in .
Christian Caron/Creative CommonsThe Sentinelese standing guard on a beach in 2005.
According to Mary Ho , All Nations ’ external executive loss leader , Chau was one of the best trainee the program had ever determine .
“ We are honored to have shared John ’s unique missions journey , ” Ho afterwards said , according to theAll Nations site . “ His God - give calling to reach the Sentinelese multitude was an strange one . John believed he was join God ’s military mission to share His love with them … Still today , no one from the outside has learned the way they speak or think . Yet , John went , bear no arm , only a Bible and fish , endowment they would recognize . ”
Chau also kepta diaryof his last stumble , which prove just how earnest he was in his attempt . He underwent a self - imposed 11 - solar day quarantine to quash accidentally infect the Sentinelese with any diseases they ’d never been debunk to . He also studied the accounts of other missioner who touch with isolated tribe .
But perhaps Chau should have read the story ofMichael Rockefellerand the grisly fate he met when he attempted to make striking with theAsmat kin group . It might have serve as a word of advice for what was to come .
What Happened To John Allen Chau? Inside The Missionary’s Final Days
John Allen Chau / InstagramJohn Allen Chau kayaking in the summertime of 2017 .
In November 2018 , John Allen Chau ask some fisher to take him to North Sentinel . On Nov. 14 , they sailed toward the island in the darkness and anchored their gravy holder nearby . The next morning , Chau headed toward the island alone , as the fisher refused to approach it . Chau despoil down to his underclothes , believing it would put the Sentinelese at simpleness , and waddle a kayak toward the beach , hollo to the tribespeople as he approach , “ My name is John . I love you , and Jesus loves you ! ”
In reaction , the Sentinelese begin loading their bows . Chau panicked , tossed them some fish he had fetch as a gift , and turn away , paddling back to the fishermen ’s gravy holder . He made a second attempt afterward that same day , land more gifts with him , and tried to put across with the Sentinelese by repeat the sounds they were do at him . This made the tribespeople erupt into laughter , though they did rent him mill about for a snatch while he sang worship songs and preach from Genesis .
A Sentinelese son then shot an arrow at John Allen Chau , which embedded itself in the waterproofed Bible he was concur . Chau remove the arrow and retreat , but this prison term , he did n’t have his kayak — the Sentinelese had taken it . Chau had to swim nearly a mile back to the sportfishing gravy boat . Still , he was determined “ to announce Jesus to these multitude , ” as he write in a alphabetic character to his family .
Christian Caron / Creative CommonsThe Sentinelese stand guard on a beach in 2005 .
On Nov. 16 , Chau made one last attempt . He asked the fisherman to drop him off and drive the gravy holder away , hoping that without the vas nearby , the islanders would feel more comfortable . It was a guesswork in the night , and Chau bed it . He wrote in his diary , “ I think I could be more utilitarian live , but to you , God , I give all the glory of whatever happens . ”
The fisherman did n’t see what happened . When they returned , however , they saw the Sentinelese dragging Chau ’s deadened body across the beach .
question ab initio turn out about bring Chau ’s body back home , but the Indian government determined that it was merely too serious . John Allen Chau ’s remains are on North Sentinel Island to this day .
After read about John Allen Chau ’s portentous skirmish with the Sentinelese people , teach about theKorowai tribe , the stray Papuan people who subsist in treehouses — and allegedly hire in cannibalism . Then , learn aboutTristan da Cunha , the most marooned inhabited blank space on satellite Earth .
