Fuegians
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The Fuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of the island of Tierra del Fuego, located at the southern tip of South America.
The Fuegians were divided into several tribes, including the Ona (Selk'nam), Haush, Yahgan, Chono, and Alacaluf. When Europeans arrived on the island in the mid 1800s, they brought with them diseases such as measles and smallpox that the Fuegians had no immunity to. The Fuegian population was decimated by the diseases, and their numbers were reduced from several thousand in the 1800s to several hundred in the 1900s [1]. Today, full-blooded native Fuegians number in the single digits.
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[edit] Material culture
They were hunter-gatherers [2].
[edit] Spiritual life
In many of their tales, we can read about shaman-like characters. Such a /xon/ has supernatural capabilies, e.g. he can control weather ([2]; online [3]).
[edit] Language
The languages spoken by the Fuegians are all extinct, with the exception of the Yaghan language. They belonged to the Chon languages.
[edit] Research
Anthropologists Pater Martin Gusinde and Anne Chapman have made research among them. They came literarily in the last moment to save at least the memory of these cultures. In a retrospective way, a maybe non-intended metaphoric connotation could be attributed to the words of the Fuegians, who called Pater Martin Gusinde the “shadow-catcher” while the anthropologist was busy making photographs on their life — since then, this life became literarily shadow [1].
[edit] Acculturation
When Robert FitzRoy became captain of HMS Beagle in the middle of her first voyage, he captured four Fuegians after a boat was stolen. As it was not possible to put them ashore conveniently he decided to 'civilise' the 'savages', teaching them "English..the plainer truths of Christianity..and the use of common tools" before returning them as missionaries. One died, but the others became 'civilised' enough to be presented at court in the summer of 1831. On the famous second voyage of HMS Beagle the three Fuegians were returned along with a trainee missionary, and impressed Charles Darwin with their civilised behaviour, in startling contrast to the primitive tribes he saw once the ship reached Patagonia. He described his first meeting with the native Fuegians as being "without exception the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement." In contrast, he said of Jemmy Button that "It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many good qualities, that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless partaken of the same character, with the miserable, degraded savages whom we first met here." The mission was set up for the three Fuegians, but when the Beagle returned a year later only Jemmy was found, and he had returned to his tribal ways, speaking English as well as ever and assuring them that he "had not the least wish to return to England" and was "happy and contented" to live in what they thought a shockingly primitive manner with his wife.
Some Fuegians were settled on Keppel Island in the Falklands as part of an evangelising mission.
[edit] Famous Fuegians
- York Minster, Fuegia Basket and Jemmy Button. All of these names were coined by sailors on the Beagle during the first voyage.
[edit] External links
- Dr Wilhelm Koppers: Unter Feuerland-Indianern. Strecker und Schröder, Stuttgart, 1924. (A whole book online. In German. Title means: “Among Fuegians”.)
- About the Ona Indian Culture in Tierra Del Fuego. (A homepage containing pictures and summary-like texts about the Ona.)
- Feuerland — Geschichten vom Ende der Welt. (“Tierra del Fuego — stories from the end of the world”. Link collection with small articles. In German.)
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Die letzten Feuerland-Indianer / Ein Naturvolk stirbt aus. (Short article in German, with title “The last Fuegians / An indigenous people becomes extinct”).
- ^ a b Gusinde, Martin: Nordwind—Südwind. Mythen und Märchen der Feuerlandindianer. E. Röth, Kassel, 1966.
- ^ About the Ona Indian Culture in Tierra Del Fuego
