A group of picturesque islands in the Indian Ocean, S. of the Andaman Islands and midway between Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula; 14 of the 20 islands are inhabited, chiefly by indigenous Indians and Malays; after being in the hands of Denmark for upwards of 100 years, they were annexed by Britain in 1869; trade is carried on with India in cocoa-nuts, ambergris, tortoise-shell, etc.