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Why did disease greatly reduce the indigenous Andamanese population?

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Cinque Islands, Andaman and Nicobar Islands — Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andaman redwood trees in the Cinque Islands, south of Rutland Island, in the southern Andamans, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.

The indigenous Andamanese population was decimated by disease following their encounters with outsiders, including Europeans, Indians, and other visitors to the islands.1

Historically, the Andamanese lived in small, isolated groups and maintained a general hostility toward foreigners, which protected them from significant cultural and biological change for a long period. However, as contact with the outside world increased—particularly following the establishment of a British penal colony at Port Blair in 1858—the indigenous people were exposed to pathogens to which they had no prior immunity. This lack of immunological defense against introduced diseases is a common and tragic consequence of contact between isolated populations and outsiders, leading to the rapid decline of many indigenous groups.123

Today, only a few Andamanese groups remain, such as the Sentinelese, the Jarawa, and the Onge, who have managed to maintain their ancestral ways.1