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 rains of 3,000 mm to 3,800 mm yearly. The island is surrounded by shallow waters and coral reefs, which allow it to be approached by boat only during high tide. Administration From 1869 until 1947 Trinket was part of Britain's Indian colonies. In 1947 it became part of the Dominion of India, and since 1950 of the Republic of India. Trinket is part of the Kamorta Tehsil, Nancowry subdivision of the Nicobars District, and part of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands state. Since 1956 the Government of India has afforded protection to the native Nicobarese through a special legislation, the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, which regulated entry to the islands. Demographics Two early censuses of the island were conducted by the British administration in 1883 and 1901. The 1883 census revealed a population of 85 persons living in eight villages. The 1901 census indicated an estimated population of 102 persons, spread between four and six villages, ruled by two chiefs. As of 2001, the Indian census had catalogued 436 persons living on Trinket in four villages: Trinket (population 244), Safebalu (pop. 127), Tapiang (pop. 42) and Hockcook (pop. 23). 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. Economy From the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, trade with Trinket, as with the rest of the Nicobar Islands, was dominated by Indian, Arab, and European merchant fleets. 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