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49-660: The Selk'nam people were widely studied by anthropologists such as Martin Gusinde and Anne Chapman throughout the 20th century. However, their language went extinct in the 1970s. The northern Tehuelche were conquered and later assimilated by the Mapuche during the Araucanization of Patagonia . Some 1.7 million Mapuche continue to live in Chile and southwest Argentina. Further south they traded peacefully with y Wladfa ,

98-497: A berth for his two remaining ships, Mauritius and Eendracht , in the surroundings of Corregidor Island at Manila Bay in the Philippines . From there he engaged in attacks on Spanish ships, targeting the sailing route to and from Manila. This situation was ended after the naval combat of Fortune Island on December 14, 1600. The Spanish lost their flagship, the galleon San Diego (its wreck would be found in 1992 and yield

147-677: A campaign of extermination against them, with the complicity of the Argentine and Chilean governments. Large companies paid sheep farmers or militia a bounty for each Selk'nam dead, which was confirmed by the 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. The predicament of the Selk'nam worsened with the establishment of religious missions, which disrupted their livelihood through forcible relocation, and inadvertently brought with them deadly epidemics. Repression against

196-470: A comparative list of 150 Selk'nam- Tehuelche words, as he believed that there were connections to the Tehuelche people and language to the north. German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche published the first scholarly studies of the Selk'nam, although he was later criticised for having studied members of the Selk'nam people who had been abducted and were exhibited in circuses. A common comment about

245-415: A few books on the subject, including Selk'nam tales, collected by the missions, and a dictionary of the Selk'nam (Ona) language. Due to early contact by missionaries, much more information was collected about the Selk'nam people than about other people of the region. Austrian priest and ethnologist Gusinde tried also to collect information about other local people, but he found their numbers much reduced. He

294-578: A guanaco cape, and buried as soon as possible. There was also a tradition of specifically burying individuals in the hollows or roots of trees, and making sure the deceased could not be seen once they had been place there. There is no tradition of grave goods. Photographs of Selk'nam people taken by the missionaries are displayed at the Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum in Puerto Williams . There are also

343-527: A language similar to Ona. Some scholars also add to the family the Teushen language —once spoken by the Teushen , located between the Tehuelche and Puelche —though it is poorly attested. Viegas Barros (2005) attempts to demonstrate that Puelche to the north is related to the Chon languages and would constitute one branch of an extended Chonan family. This proposal has been picked up by Lyle Campbell . Based on

392-469: A means for the company to avoid questioning and a strategy to lower its controversial profile. Special attention was paid to these events after the intervention of the Salesian missionaries, who condemned the actions of the ranchers while themselves unintentionally contributing to the extermination of native cultures. Beginning in the 1890s, the situation of the Selk'nam became severe. As the territories of

441-571: A people in Chile, and much of the English language literature. Settlement, gold mining and farming in the region of Tierra del Fuego were followed by the Selk'nam genocide . While the Selk'nam are closely associated with living in the northeastern area of Tierra del Fuego archipelago, they are believed to have originated as a people on the mainland. Thousands of years ago, they migrated by canoe across

490-550: A source of warmth in shelters as they would arrange themselves to sleep tightly against and around the Selk'nam. The Selk'nam spoke a Chon language . Missionary José María Beauvoir compiled a dictionary of the Selk'nam language. One source states that the last fluent native speakers died in the 1980s. For special occasions, such as initiation ceremonies, weddings, and funerals, Selk'nam would decorate their bodies with paint, especially their faces. The main colors employed in decoration are red, black, and white. Selk'nam religion

539-761: A treasure in porcelain and gold pieces) but the Spanish captured the Dutch Eendracht , making van Noort's position untenable and forcing him to retire from the Philippines. Van Noort returned to Rotterdam via what would become the Dutch East Indies and the Cape of Good Hope , on 26 August 1601 with his last ship, the Mauritius , and 45 of the original 248 crew. The venture barely broke even, but

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588-518: Is plain that the Ona is an aggressive warrior toward the whites only because of ill-treatment. […] Damnable ill-treatment on the part of the whites is at the bottom of all the Ona aggressiveness – and Ona suffering. The Selk'nam genocide was the genocide of the Selk'nam people from the second half of the 19th to the early 20th century. The genocide spanned a period of between ten and fifteen years. The Selk'nam had an estimated population of 4,000 people around

637-463: The Hain involved tests for young males for courage, resourcefulness, resisting temptation, resisting pain and overcoming fear. It also included prolonged instructional courses to train the young men in the tasks for which they would be responsible. Before European encounter, the various rites of the Hain lasted a very long time, perhaps even a year on occasion. It would end with the last fight against

686-571: The Haush (Manek'enk), another related nomadic culture who lived in the south-eastern part of the island, and the Yahgan (Yámana), an unrelated group who could be found along the southern coast. In late 1599, a small Dutch fleet led by Olivier van Noort entered the Strait of Magellan and had a hostile encounter with Selk'nam which left about forty Selk'nam dead. It was the bloodiest recorded event in

735-999: The Patagon (Chonan) languages. Selk%27nam people The Selk'nam , also known as the Onawo or Ona people , are an indigenous people in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile , including the Tierra del Fuego islands. They were one of the last native groups in South America to be encountered by migrant Europeans in the late 19th century. In the mid-19th century, there were about 4,000 Selk'nam; in 1916 Charles W. Furlong estimated there were about 800 Selk'nam living in Tierra del Fuego; with Walter Gardini stating that by 1919 there were 279, and by 1930 just over 100. Until 2020, they were considered extinct as

784-650: The Strait of Magellan , and captured a number of Spanish and Portuguese ships along the Pacific coast of South America. While in the strait his men killed around forty indigenous Selknam , in what was the bloodiest recorded event in the strait until then. He lost two ships on the way due to a storm, including his largest ship, the Hendrick Frederick , which was wrecked on Ternate in the Maluku Islands . In November and December 1600, he established

833-555: The Strait of Magellan . Their territory in the early Holocene probably ranged as far as the Cerro Benítez area of the Cerro Toro mountain range in Chile. Traditionally, the Selk'nam were nomadic people who relied on hunting for survival, though they were also recorded as engaging in occasional fishing during low tides. They dressed sparingly despite the cold climate of Patagonia . They shared Tierra del Fuego with

882-405: The "worst" spirit. Usually Hain s were started when there was enough food (for example a whale was washed onto the coast), a time when all the Selk'nam from all the groups would gather at one place, in male and female camps. "Spirits" sometimes went to female encampments to scare them, as well as moving around and acting in ways that related to their characters. The last Hain was held in one of

931-415: The 1880s but saw their numbers reduced to 500 by the early 1900s. In 1879, the presence of significant gold deposits in the sands of the main rivers of Tierra del Fuego were reported. Hundreds of colonialists and foreign newcomers came to the island in search of fortune, conflicting with the indigenous population. However, resources of the metal depleted rapidly. Ranching became the center of controversy in

980-642: The Chamber of Deputies of Chile adjusted the law, recognizing the Selk'nam as one of the indigenous peoples of Chile. Then on 5 September 2023 the National Congress of Chile recognised the Selk’nam as one of the 11 original peoples of Chile, accepting them as a living community of Chile. Members of parliament issued a statement declaring their regret over the role the Chilean and Argentinean states played in

1029-491: The Magellanic colony. The colonial authorities were aware of the indigenous group's plight, but sided with the ranchers' cause over the Selk'nam, who were excluded from their worldview based on "progress" and "civilization." Ranchers typically exercised their own judgement, including the financing of violent campaigns. Considerable numbers of foreign men were hired, and quantities of arms were imported for these campaigns, with

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1078-471: The Selk'nam from Europeans was on their height, where in early records they were recorded as "giants", with the ethnographer Frederick Cook writing in 1897–1899 that their average height was six foot, with instances of individuals six and a half foot tall. Relations with Europeans in the Beagle Channel area in the southern area of the island of Tierra del Fuego were somewhat more cordial than with

1127-443: The Selk'nam persisted into the early twentieth century. Chile moved most of the Selk'nam in their territory to Dawson Island in the mid-1890s, confining them to a Salesian mission. Argentina finally allowed Salesian missionaries to aid the Selk'nam and attempt to assimilate them, with their traditional culture and livelihoods then completely interrupted. Later conflicts between governor Manuel Señoret  [ es ] and

1176-425: The Selk'nam, in what is now called the Selk'nam genocide . Salesian missionaries worked to protect and preserve Selk'nam culture. Father José María Beauvoir  [ es ] explored the region and studied the native Patagonian cultures and languages between 1881 and 1924. He compiled a 4,000-word vocabulary of the Selk'nam language, and 1,400 phrases and sentences, which was published in 1915. He included

1225-419: The Selk'nam. They were intended to provide housing and food for the natives, but closed due to the small number of Selk'nam remaining; they had numbered in the thousands before Western colonization, but by the early twentieth century only a few hundred remained. Alejandro Cañas estimated that in 1896 there was a population of 3,000 Selk'nam. Martín Gusinde , an Austrian priest and ethnologist who studied them in

1274-439: The colony of Welsh settlers . Some Tehuelche learnt Welsh and left their children with the settlers for their education. A solid photographic record was made of this people. However, they were later nearly exterminated in the late 19th-century government-sponsored genocides of Patagonia. Of some 5000 speakers in 1900, as of 2005 there were about 20 speakers left. Tehuelche language is now extinct as of 2019. The Haush spoke

1323-474: The early 20th century, wrote in 1919 that only 279 Selk'nam remained. In 1945 the Salesian missionary, Lorenzo Massa, counted 25. In May 1974, Ángela Loij , the last known Selk'nam of non-mixed ancestry, died. Comunidad Rafaela Ishton was formed in the 1980s to fight for recognition and the rights of Selk'nam in Argentina, and in 1994 were recognised as an indigenous people by the government. In 1998,

1372-556: The existence of 2,761 people who recognised themselves as Selk'nam throughout the country, 294 of them in the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands . In the 2017 Chilean census 1,144 people declared themselves to be Selk'nam. The descendants of the previously considered extinct Selk'nam people are in the process of cultural reappropriation and recreation and do not consider themselves or their people as extinct. The Corporación Selk'nam campaigned for an amendment to Indigenous Law 19.253, and on 27 June 2020

1421-424: The faces of the individuals marrying, another tradition observed by Gusinde among the Selk'nam was related to marriage proposals, where a man would have a bow made and silently present it to the woman he wished to marry in front of the elders of her family. After the death of an individual, it was the duty of their family to light a large fire and engage in singing and dancing. The individual would then be wrapped in

1470-452: The forces of change were against the indigenous tribes, who continued to have high fatality rates as their cultures were disrupted. Lucas Bridges' book, Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948), provides sympathetic insight into the lives of the Selk'nam and Yahgan. In recording the stories of a multitude of Europeans living in Tierra del Fuego, the journalist John Randolph Spears wrote that: It

1519-521: The goal of eliminating the Selk'nam, who were perceived as a major obstacle to the success of colonists' investments. Farm employees later confirmed the routine nature of such campaigns . The shareholders of the Company for the Exploitation of Tierra del Fuego ( Spanish : Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego ) strove to hide their actions towards native tribes from the public. This was both

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1568-404: The guanaco hunted by Selk'nam were then used in the construction of shelters, bags, and clothing. The Selk'nam were also known to engage in fishing during low tides using spears, where the majority of seafood procured were eels, though more rarely caught seafood such as róbalos were more valued. In the south of the island birds made up a portion of the Selk'nam diet. Later research has brought

1617-418: The head of the Salesian mission José Fagnano only served to worsen, rather than improve, conditions for the Selk'nam. Long disputes between civil authorities and priests did not allow a satisfactory solution to the indigenous issue. Governor Señoret favored the ranchers' cause, and took little interest in the incidents that took place in Tierra del Fuego. Two Christian missions were established to preach to

1666-408: The late 19th century. These newcomers developed a great part of the land of Tierra del Fuego as large estancias (ranches), depriving the natives of their ancestral hunting areas. The Selk'nam, who did not have a concept of private property, considered the sheep herds to be game and hunted the sheep. The ranch owners regarded this as poaching, and paid armed groups or militia to hunt down and kill

1715-610: The males found out at the initiation rite. The contemporary ceremonies used this interplay in somewhat of a joking way. After the first day, related ceremonies and rituals took place. Males showed their strength in front of women by fighting spirits (who were other men but the women supposedly did not know it) in some theatrical fights. Each spirit was played with traditional actions, words and gestures, so that everyone could identify it. The best spirit actors from previous Hain s were called again to impersonate spirits in later Hain s. Apart from these dramatic re-enactments of mythic events,

1764-499: The massacres of Indigenous people. The missions and early 20th-century anthropologists collected information about Selk'nam culture, religion and traditions while trying to help them preserve their culture. A large part of the traditional diet of Selk'nam according to early accounts, was made of the guanaco which they hunted using bows and arrows as well as with bola s. The guanaco of Tierra del Fuego were recorded as being larger than their Patagonian counterparts. The hide of

1813-461: The missions in the early 20th century, and was photographed by missionary Martin Gusinde . It was a shorter and smaller ceremony than used to be held. The photographs show the "spirit" costumes the Selk'nam created and wore. Gusinde's The Lost Tribes of Tierra Del Fuego (2015) was published in English by Thames & Hudson , and in French and Spanish by Éditions Xavier Barral . Beyond decorating

1862-423: The north began to be largely occupied by farms and ranches, many indigenous people, beset by hunger and persecuted by colonists, started to flee towards the extreme south of the island. This region was already inhabited by indigenous groups who had a strong sense of ownership over the land. Consequently, the fights for control of territory intensified. The large ranchers tried to drive out the Selk'nam, then began

1911-429: The passage to adulthood, was called Hain . Nearby indigenous peoples, the Yahgan and Haush , had similar initiation ceremonies. Young males were called to a dark hut. There they would be attacked by "spirits", who were men dressed as supernatural beings. Children were taught to believe in and fear these spirits during childhood and were threatened by them in case they misbehaved. The boys' task in this rite of passage

1960-463: The proportionality of food resources in these early accounts into question. The Selk'nam were also known to employ the Fuegian dog , a domesticated form of the culpeo , in hunting efforts. While Julius Popper did not observe the dogs being of use in hunts, Antonio Coiazzi did record their use in hunting and this has been supported by later research. All sources agree that the dogs also provided

2009-435: The provincial Legislature of Tierra del Fuego recognised a treaty signed in 1925 between the president of Argentina, Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear , and the Selk'nam people. Law 405 restored 35,000 hectares of 45,000 designated in the treaty to the Selk'nam people, with the remaining 10,000 hectares retained for the future establishment of the municipality of Tolhuin . The 2010 National Population Census in Argentina revealed

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2058-480: The ranchers. Thomas Bridges , who had been an Anglican missionary at Ushuaia , retired from that service. He was given a large land grant by the Argentine government, where he founded Estancia Harberton . Lucas Bridges , one of his three sons, did much to help the local cultures. Like his father, he learned the languages of the various groups and tried to provide the natives with some space in which to live their customary lives as "lords of their own land." However

2107-532: The scanty evidence that is available, the Het peoples (or at least the Didiuhet) might be speakers of languages within the proposed Puelche branch. If this is correct, the Chon family would be as follows: Ona (Selk'nam) Haush (Manek'enk) Tehuelche Teushen Puelche (Gününa Küne) ? Het (Didiuhet; Taluhet and Chechehet are unattested) Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for

2156-500: The strait until then. James Cook described meeting a people in Tierra del Fuego in 1769 that used pieces of glass in their arrowheads. Cook believed the glass had been a gift from the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville , indicating potentially several early contacts. Glass arrowheads became an ever more common occurrence among the Selk'nam as their interactions with Europeans became more common. The Selk'nam had little contact with ethnic Europeans until settlers arrived in

2205-623: Was a Dutch merchant captain and the first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world. Olivier van Noort was born in 1558 in Utrecht . He left Rotterdam on 2 July 1598 with four ships to find an alternative trade route to China and the Spice Islands during the Dutch Eighty Years' War with Spain and Portugal. His ships were poorly equipped, especially in the way of armament, and the crews were unruly. Van Noort sailed through

2254-414: Was a complex system of beliefs, with a creation myth . Temáukel was the name of the great supernatural entity who they believed kept the world order. The creator deity of the world was called Kénos or Quénos. The Selk'nam had individuals who took shaman -like roles. Such a xon ( IPA: [xon] ) had supernatural capabilities, e.g. to control weather. The Selk'nam male initiation ceremony,

2303-605: Was able to write more about traditional Selk'nam culture because it was still being lived by the Selk'nam people into the 20th century. As of 2023, the ancestral remains of 14 Selk'nam individuals are kept in the collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna . Ángela Loij (1900–1974) is considered to have been the last Selk'nam of non-mixed ancestry, a school was named in her honour in Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego . Her grand-niece Amalia Gudiño

2352-536: Was elected as a deputy in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in 1995, becoming the first indigenous person to serve as a deputy in Argentina. Enriqueta Gastelumendi  [ es ] (1913–2004) was an artisanal carver from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The daughter of a Selk'nam mother and a Basque father, she won awards for her artistic works detailing life in Tierra del Fuego. Olivier van Noort Olivier van Noort (1558 – 22 February 1627)

2401-435: Was to unmask the spirits; when the boys saw that the spirits were human, they were told a story of world creation related to the sun and moon . In a related story, they were told that in the past women used to be disguised as spirits to control men. When the men discovered the masquerade, they, in turn, would threaten women as spirits. According to the men, the women never learned that the masked men were not truly spirits, but

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