John Allen Chau

John Allen Chau (December 18, 1991 – November 17, 2018) was an American evangelical missionary who was killed by the Sentinelese, a tribe in voluntary isolation, after illegally traveling to North Sentinel Island in an attempt to evangelize.

Born in Scottsboro, Alabama, Chau became interested in converting the Sentinelese while in high school, inspired by the work of other pioneer missionaries. In preparation, he participated in missionary trips to Mexico, Israel, Iraq, and the Andaman Islands. He also underwent "boot camp"–style training conducted by the evangelical organization All Nations, which included mock scenarios coordinated by missionary staff who pretended to be hostile tribespeople. Before departing, Chau was vaccinated and quarantined, and brought with him a survival kit including picture cards and gifts for the Sentinelese. Upon arriving, Chau attempted to land on the island three times to no success. During his final attempt, he was fatally struck by an arrow of the Sentinelese, who buried his body on the shore.

The incident drew international attention and mostly negative reception. While some groups including All Nations described Chau as a martyr, others such as Survival International criticized his visits for the risks they posed to both parties, particularly the potential transfer of deadly pathogens to the Sentinelese. The ethics behind Chau's visits have been studied at multiple universities, and two films have been made covering his life.

Early life Chau was born on December 18, 1991, in Scottsboro, Alabama. He was the third and youngest child of Lynda Adams-Chau, a White-American organizer for the Christian student organization Chi Alpha, and Patrick Chau, a Chinese-American psychiatrist who left mainland China during the Cultural Revolution after serving a six-year forced labor sentence. In his writings, Chau claimed Chinese, Irish, African, Southeast Asian, and Choctaw ancestry.

Chau grew up in Vancouver, Washington, and attended Vancouver Christian High School. and graduated cum laude in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in exercise science.

Contact with Sentinelese and death Chau became interested in attempting to convert the Sentinelese to Christianity in high school, As part of these trips, Chau traveled to the Andaman Islands in 2015 and 2016, but did not visit North Sentinel Island at that time. In 2017, Chau participated in boot camp–style missionary training by the Kansas City–based evangelical organization All Nations.

In October 2018, Chau established a residence at Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he prepared an initial contact kit including picture cards for communication, gifts for the Sentinelese people, medical equipment, and other necessities. However, visiting North Sentinel Island without government permission remained illegal under the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956.

In November, Chau embarked on a journey to North Sentinel Island, asking in his diary if it could be "Satan's last stronghold on Earth", In preparation for the trip he was vaccinated and quarantined, and also undertook medical and linguistic training. Chau paid two fishermen to take him near the island. The fishermen were later arrested.

On another visit, Chau remarked that the Sentinelese had again acted hostile, but had also shown amusement and curiosity. He sang Christian hymns to them from his canoe and tried communicating in Xhosa, after which they often became quiet. Other attempts to communicate such as echoing the tribesmen's words ended with them bursting into laughter, making Chau theorize that they had been cursing at him. In what would be his last letter, Chau described a later attempt at contact, during which a Sentinelese boy had fired a metal-tipped arrow which pierced the Bible he was holding against his chest, forcing him to withdraw once more.

On what became his final visit on November 17, Chau told the fishermen once again bringing him to the island to leave without him. Sometime during this visit, Chau was fatally shot by Sentinelese arrows. The fishermen later reported seeing the Sentinelese drag his body and, the next day, bury him on the beach. A murder case was opened following his death.

The incident drew global attention from journalists. Chau's father also blamed his son's death on the missionary community for instilling what he believed was an extreme Christian vision in Chau.

Michael Schönhuth, professor at the University of Trier, Germany, explored the media response to Chau's killing from a standpoint of cultural anthropology.

The same year as his death, Chau was posthumously given the 2018 Darwin Award, a tongue-in-cheek honor that awards various people for dying or sterilizing themselves in manners considered to be stupid.

The 2023 National Geographic documentary film The Mission explores Chau's life. Last Days, a drama film by Justin Lin about Chau, was released in 2025, with Sky Yang portraying Chau.