Fuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. The name has been credited to Captain James Weddell, who supposedly created the term in 1822.
The indigenous Fuegians belonged to several different ethnic groups including the:
-
Selkʼnam, also known as Ona or Onawo
-
Haush, also known as Manekʼenk
-
Yahgan people, also known as Yagán, Yaghan, Yámana, Yamana, or Tequenica
-
Kawésqar, also known as Alacalufe, Kaweskar, Alacaluf, or Halakwulup
All of these ethnic groups except the Selkʼnam lived exclusively in coastal areas and have their own languages. The Yahgan and the Kawésqar traveled by birchbark canoes around the islands of the archipelago, while the coast dwelling Haush did not. The Selkʼnam lived in the interior of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and were exclusively terrestrial hunter gatherers who hunted terrestrial game such as
, foxes,
and upland nesting birds as well as
littoral fish and shellfish.
The Fuegian peoples spoke several distinct languages: both the Kawésqar language and the
Yahgan language are considered
, while the Selkʼnam and Haush spoke
Chon languages like the Tehuelche on the mainland.
Ethnonym
The name "Tierra del Fuego" may refer to the fact that both Selkʼnam and Yahgan had their fires burn in front of their huts (or in the hut). In Magellan's time Fuegians were more numerous, and the light and smoke of their fires presented an impressive sight if seen from a ship or another island.
[Itsz 1979:97] Yahgan also used fire to send messages by
, for instance if a whale drifted ashore.
[Gusinde 1966:137–139, 186] The large amount of meat required notification of many people, so that it would not decay.
[Itsz 1979:109] They might also have used smoke signals on other occasions, but it is possible that Magellan saw the smokes or lights of natural phenomena.
[ The Patagonian Canoe. Extracts from the following book. E. Lucas Bridges: Uttermost Part of the Earth. Indians of Tierra del Fuego. 1949, reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc (New York, 1988).]
History
Origin
Alongside the Pericúes of Baja California, the Fuegians and Patagonians show the strongest evidence of partial descent from
the Paleoamerican lineage,
[González-José, R. et al., "Craniometric evidence for Palaeoamerican survival in Baja California", Nature vol. 425 (2003), 62–65.
"A current issue on the settlement of the Americas refers to the lack of morphological affinities between early Holocene human remains (Palaeoamericans) and modern Amerindian groups, as well as the degree of contribution of the former to the gene pool of the latter. A different origin for Palaeoamericans and Amerindians is invoked to explain such a phenomenon. Under this hypothesis, the origin of Palaeoamericans must be traced back to a common ancestor for Palaeoamericans and Australians, which departed from somewhere in southern Asia and arrived in the Australian continent and the Americas around 40,000 and 12,000 years before present, respectively. Most modern Amerindians are believed to be part of a second, morphologically differentiated migration. ... The principal coordinate plot obtained using the matrix of
minimum genetic distances (Fig. 1a) showed that BCS Baja was closely
linked with Palaeoamericans, whereas the populations from Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego showed an intermediate position between classical Amerindians and/or East Asians and Palaeoamericans".]
a proposed early wave of migration to the Americas derived from an Australo-Melanesian population, as opposed to the main Amerind peopling of the Americas of Siberian (admixed Ancient North Eurasian and
Proto-Mongoloid) descent.
Further credibility is lent to this idea by research suggesting the existence of an ethnically distinct population elsewhere in South America.
[ "Fuegian and Patagonian Genetics – and the settling of the Americas" , by George Weber.] According to archaeologist Ricardo E. Latcham the sea-faring nomads of Patagonia (
Chono people, Kawésqar, Yahgan) may be remnants from more widespread indigenous groups that were pushed south by "successive invasions" from more northern nations.
Alternative origin speculations
However these previous claims were refuted by multiple genetic and anthropologic studies, such as one study published in
Nature in 2018 which concluded that all Native Americans descended from a single founding population which initially split from East Asians BC, with geneflow between Ancestral Native Americans and Siberians persisting until BC, before becoming isolated in the Americas at BC. Northern and Southern Native American subpopulations split from each other at BC. There is also some evidence for a back-migration from the Americas into Siberia after BC.
Another study published in
Nature in 2021, which analysed a large amount of ancient genomes, similarly concluded that all Native Americans descended from the movement of people from
Northeast Asia into the Americas. These Ancestral Americans, once south of the continental ice sheets, spread and expanded rapidly, and branched into multiple groups, which later gave rise to the major subgroups of Native American populations. The study also dismissed the existence of an hypothetical distinct non-Native American population (suggested to have been related to Indigenous Australians and Papuans), sometimes called "Paleoamerican". The authors explained that these previous claims were based on a misinterpreted genetic echo, which was revealed to represent early East-Eurasian geneflow (close but distinct to the 40,000 BC old Tianyuan lineage) into Aboriginal Australians and Papuans.
European contact
When
and
Argentina of European descent studied, invaded and settled on the islands in the mid-19th century, they brought with them diseases such as
measles and
smallpox for which the Fuegians had no immunity. The Fuegian population was devastated by the diseases, and their numbers were reduced from several thousand in the 19th century to hundreds in the 20th century.
[ Die letzten Feuerland-Indianer / Ein Naturvolk stirbt aus. (Short article in German, with title “The last Fuegians / An indigenous people becomes extinct”). Archived from the original.] In 1876 a serious smallpox epidemic decimated the Fuegians.
Between 1881 and 1883 the Yahgan population dropped from perhaps 3,000 to only 1,000 due to measles and smallpox.
As early as 1878 Europeans in Punta Arenas seeking additional sheep pastures negotiated to acquire large tracts of land on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego from the Chilean government just prior to Argentina's and Chile's sovereignty there.
By 1876, Christian missionaries claimed to have converted the entire Yahgan people.
On May 11, 1830 four Yahgan were trafficked to England by the schooner Allen Gardiner, presented to the court, and imprisoned there for a number of years before three were allowed to return, including Yokcushlu and Jemmy Button. The fourth died of smallpox.
The United States Exploring Expedition came in contact with the Fuegians in 1839. One member of the expedition called the Fuegians the "greatest mimics I ever saw."
Selkʼnam genocide
The Selkʼnam genocide was authorized and conducted by the
estancieros that between 1884–1900 murdered many of the indigenous population .
Large companies paid sheep farmers or militia a bounty for each Selkʼnam dead, which was confirmed on presentation of a pair of hands or ears, or later a complete skull. They were given more for the death of a woman than a man.
Modern history
Both Selkʼnam and Yahgan were almost obliterated by diseases brought in by colonization,
[Itsz 1979:108,111] and probably made more vulnerable to disease by the crash of their main meat supplies (whales and seals) due to the actions of European and American fleets.
Culture
The principal differences in language, habitat, and adaptation techniques did not promote contacts, although eastern Yahgan groups had exchange contacts with the Selkʼnam.
Material culture
"Archaeological investigations show the prevalence of maritime hunter-gatherer organization throughout the occupation of the region (6400 BP – 19th century)."
Although the Fuegians were all
,
[Gusinde 1966:6–7] their material culture was not homogeneous: the big island and the archipelago made two different adaptations possible. Some of the cultures were coast-dwelling, while others were land-oriented.
[Service 1973:115] Neither was restricted to Tierra del Fuego:
-
The coast provided fish, sea birds, otters, seals,
[ Most whales were stranded but some whaling occurred.]
-
Selkʼnam lived on the inland plain of the big island of Tierra del Fuego, communally
[ The material culture had some similarities to that of the (also linguistically related) Tehuelche people living outside Tierra del Fuego in the southern plains of Argentina.][Gusinde 1966:5]
All Fuegian nations had a lifestyle, and did not need permanent shelters. The guanaco-hunting Selkʼnam made their huts out of stakes, dry sticks, and leather. They broke camp and carried their things with them, and wandered following the hunting and gathering possibilities. The coastal Yahgan and Kawésqar also changed their camping places, traveling by birchbark canoes.[Gusinde 1966:7]
Gender
There is a belief in both the Selkʼnam and Yahgan nations that women used to rule over men in ancient times,
Yahgan attribute the present situation to a successful revolt of men. There are many festivals associated with this belief in both nations.
[Gusinde 1966:184][Service 1973:116–117]
The patrilineal Selkʼnam and the composite band society Yahgan reacted very differently to the Europeans and it has been suggested that this was due to these facets of their cultural structure.
Language
The languages spoken by the Fuegians are all extinct, with the exception of Kawésqar. The Selkʼnam language was related to the Tehuelche language and belonged to the
Chon languages of languages. It is reported to have had more than 30,000 words.
Mythology
There are some correspondences or putative borrowings between the Yahgan and Selkʼnam mythology.
[Gusinde 1966:10]
The
hummingbird was an animal revered by the Yahgan, and in the Taiyin creation myth explaining the creation of the archipelago's water system, the
culture hero "Taiyin" is portrayed in the guise of a hummingbird.
[Gusinde 1966:175–176] A Yahgan myth, "The egoist fox", features a
hummingbird as a helper and has some similarities to the Taiyin-myth of the Selkʼnam.
[Gusinde 1966:183] Similar remarks apply to the myth about the big
albatross: it shares identical variants for both nations.
[Gusinde 1966:179] Some examples of myths having shared or similar versions in both nations are:
-
the myth about a sea lion and his human wife;
[Gusinde 1966:178]
-
the myth about the origin of death.
[Gusinde 1966: 182]
At least three Fuegian nations had myths about
.
[Gusinde 1966:71] Yahgan have dualistic myths about the two
yoalox-brothers (). They act as culture heroes, and sometimes stand in an antagonistic relation to each other, introducing opposite laws. Their figures can be compared to the Selkʼnam Kwanyip-brothers.
[Gusinde 1966:181] In general, the presence of dualistic myths in two compared cultures does not necessarily imply relatedness or diffusion.
[Zolotarjov 1980:56]
Some myths also feature shaman-like figures with similarities in the Yahgan and Selkʼnam nations.[Gusinde 1966:186]
The abundant and nutritious Patagonian blennie ( Eleginops maclovinus) was apparently not consumed and rock art suggests it may have had some religious significance.
Shamanism
Both Selkʼnam and Yahgan had persons filling in
shaman-like roles.
The Selkʼnam believed their
xon () to have supernatural capabilities, e.g. to control weather
[Gusinde 1966:175] and to heal.
[Gusinde 1966:67] The figure of
xon appeared in myths, too.
[Gusinde 1966:15] The Yahgan
yekamush ()
[Gusinde 1966:156] corresponds to the Selkʼnam
xon.
There are myths in both Yahgan and Selkʼnam nations about a shaman using his power manifested as a whale. In both examples, the shaman was "dreaming" while achieving this.[Gusinde 1966:64][Gusinde 1966:155] For example, the body of the Selkʼnam xon lay undisturbed while it was believed that he travelled and achieved wonderful deeds (e.g. taking revenge on a whole group of peoples).[Gusinde 1966:61]
See also
Notes
-
Title means: “North wind—south wind. Myths and tales of Fuegians”.
-
Translation of the original: Title means: “Stone of sun”; chapter means: “The land of burnt-out fires”.
-
It contains the translation of the original:
-
Chapter means: “Social structure and dualistic creation myths in Siberia”; title means: “The sons of Milky Way. Studies on the belief systems of Finno-Ugric peoples”.
Further reading
External links
- Videos
- Audio
- Bibliography, linking many online documents in various languages
- English
- German
- Spanish
- Shaman-like figures (Selkʼnam , Yámana )
