The Sentinelese, also known as the North Sentinel Islanders, are Indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Designated a particularly vulnerable tribal group and a Scheduled Tribe, they belong to the broader class of Andamanese peoples.

Along with the Great Andamanese, the Jarawas, the Onge, the Shompen, and the Nicobarese, the Sentinelese make up one of the six indigenous (and often reclusive) peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The tribe has had minimal contact with outsiders and has usually been hostile to those who approach or land on the island. While friendly contact was reported in the early 1990s, such instances are rare.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation of 1956 declared North Sentinel Island a tribal reserve and prohibited travel within 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) of it. It further maintains a constant armed patrol in the surrounding waters to prevent intrusions by outsiders. Photography is prohibited, though some have gotten close enough to take pictures. There is significant uncertainty as to the group's size, with estimates ranging between 35 and 500 individuals, but mostly between 50 and 200.

The Sentinelese live on North Sentinel Island, in the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. The island lies about 64 km (35 nmi) west of Andaman capital Port Blair. It has an area of about 59.67 km² (14,740 acres) and a roughly square outline. The seashore is about 45 m (50 yd) wide encompassing a littoral forest that gives way to a dense tropical evergreen forest. The island is surrounded by coral reefs and has a tropical climate.

A 1977 report by Heinrich Harrer described a man as 1.60 metres (5 ft 3 in) tall, possibly because of insular dwarfism (the so-called "Island Effect"), nutrition, or simply genetic heritage. During a 2014 circumnavigation of their island, researchers put their height between 1.60 and 1.65 m (5 ft 3 in and 5 ft 5 in) and recorded their skin colour as "dark, shining black" with well-aligned teeth. They showed no signs of obesity and had very prominent muscles.

No rigorous census has been conducted and the population has been variously estimated to be as low as 15 or as high as 500. Most estimates lie between 50 and 200.

The 1971 census estimated the population at around 82, and the 1981 census at 100. A 1986 expedition recorded the highest count, 98. In 2001, the census of India officially recorded 21 men and 18 women. This survey was conducted from a distance and may not have been accurate. 2004 post-tsunami expeditions recorded counts of 32 and 13 individuals in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The 2011 census of India recorded 12 men and three women. During a 2014 circumnavigation, researchers recorded six women, seven men (all apparently under 40 years old) and three children younger than four. A handbook released in 2016 by the Anthropological Survey of India on "Vulnerable Tribe Groups" estimates the population at between 100 and 150.

The Sentinelese are hunter-gatherers. They use spears with bows and arrows to hunt terrestrial wildlife and more rudimentary methods to catch local seafood, such as mud crabs and molluscan shells. They are believed to eat many molluscs, given the abundance of roasted shells found in their settlements. They are not known to engage in agriculture.