Fuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

, at the southern tip of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. In English, the term originally referred to the

Yaghan people The Yahgan (also called Yagán, Yaghan, Yámana, Yamana or Tequenica) are a group of indigenous peoples in the Southern Cone. Their traditional territory includes the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, extending their presence int ...

of Tierra del Fuego. In Spanish, the term ''fueguino'' can refer to any person from the archipelago. The indigenous Fuegians belonged to several different tribes including the Ona (

Selk'nam 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 enco ...

Haush The Haush or Manek'enk were an indigenous people who lived on the Mitre Peninsula of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. They were related culturally and linguistically to the Ona or Selk'nam people who also lived on the Isla Grande de Tierra ...

(

Manek'enk The Haush or Manek'enk were an indigenous people who lived on the Mitre Peninsula of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. They were related culturally and linguistically to the Ona or Selk'nam people who also lived on the Isla Grande de Tierra ...

), Yaghan (Yámana), and Alacaluf (Kawésqar). All of these tribes except the Selk'nam lived exclusively in coastal areas and have their own languages. The Yaghans and the Alacaluf traveled by birchbark canoes around the islands of the archipelago, while the coast dwelling Haush did not. The Selk'nam lived in the interior of

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (English: ''Big Island of the Land of Fire'') also formerly ''Isla de Xátiva''guanaco The guanaco (; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids, the other being the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The guanaco g ...

s. The Ona were exclusively terrestrial hunter gatherers that hunted terrestrial game such as

guanaco The guanaco (; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids, the other being the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The guanaco g ...

s, foxes,

tuco-tuco A tuco-tuco is a neotropical rodent in the family Ctenomyidae.Parada, A., G. D’Elia, C.J. Bidau, and E.P. Lessa. 2011. Species Groups and the Evolutionary Diversification of Tuco-Tucos, genus ''Ctenomys'' (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae). ''Journal of M ...

s and upland nesting birds as well as

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal a ...

fish and shellfish. The Fuegian peoples spoke several distinct languages: both the

Kawésqar language Kawésqar (Qawasqar), also known as Alacaluf, is a critically endangered language isolate spoken in southern Chile by the Kawésqar people. Originally part of a small family, only the northern language remains. In 2009, only a handful of elderl ...

and the

Yaghan language Yahgan or Yagán (also spelled Yaghan, Jagan, Iakan, and also known as Yámana, Háusi Kúta, or Yágankuta), is an extinct language that was one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yaghan people. It was regarded as a ...

are considered

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

s, while the Selk'nams spoke a Chon language like the

Tehuelches The Tehuelche people, also called the Aónikenk, are an indigenous people from eastern Patagonia in South America. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Tehuelche were influenced by Mapuche people, and many adopted a horseriding lifestyle. Once a ...

on the mainland.

European contact

Pueblos indígenas de la Patagonia Austral

When

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

ans and

Argentines Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

of European descent studied, invaded and settled on the islands in the mid-19th century, they brought with them diseases such as

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

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 th

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 Punta Arenas (; historically Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Aren ...

seeking additional sheep pastures negotiated to acquire large tracts of land on

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (English: ''Big Island of the Land of Fire'') also formerly ''Isla de Xátiva'' By 1876, Christian missionaries claimed to have converted the entire Yamana people. On May 11, 1830 several Fuegians (Alacaluf) were transported to England by the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Allen Gardiner'', presented to the court, and resided there for a number of years before three were returned. The

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

came in contact with the Fuegians in 1839. One member of the expedition called the Fuegians the "greatest mimics I ever saw."

European genocide

The

Selk'nam genocide The Selk'nam genocide was the genocide of the Selk'nam people, one of three indigenous tribes populating the Tierra del Fuego in South America, from the second half of the 19th to the early 20th century. The genocide spanned a period of betwe ...

was authorized and conducted by the ''estancieros'' that between 1884–1900 resulted in a severe indigenous population decline. Large companies paid sheep farmers or militia a bounty for each Selk'nam 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.

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

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

s, 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 1973:115Extinct Ancient Societies Tierra del Fuegians
/ref> Neither was restricted to Tierra del Fuego: * The coast provided fish, sea birds, otters, seals, shellfish in winter and sometimes also whales.

Yaghans The Yahgan (also called Yagán, Yaghan, Yámana, Yamana or Tequenica) are a group of indigenous peoples in the Southern Cone. Their traditional territory includes the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, extending their presence in ...

got their sustenance this way. Alacalufs (living in the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

and some islands), and Chonos (living further to the north, on Chilean coasts and archipelagos) were similar. Most whales were stranded but some whaling occurred. * Selk'nams lived on the inland plain of the big island of Tierra del Fuego, communally hunting herds of

. The material culture had some similarities to that of the (also linguistically related)

living outside Tierra del Fuego in the southern plains of Argentina. All Fuegian tribes had a

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

ic lifestyle, and lacked permanent shelters. The guanaco-hunting Selk'nam 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 Yamana and Alacaluf also changed their camping places, traveling by birchbark canoes.

Spiritual culture

Mythology

There are some correspondences or putative borrowings between the Yámana and Selk'nam

mythologies Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

. Gusinde 1966:10 The

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

was an animal revered by the Yámanas, and 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. A Yámana myth, "The egoist fox", features a

as a helper and has some similarities to the ''Taiyin''-myth of the Selk'nam. Similar remarks apply to the myth about the big

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

: it shares identical variants for both tribes. Gusinde 1966:179 Some examples of myths having shared or similar versions in both tribes: * the myth about a

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

and his

uman Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...

wife; * the myth about the origin of death. All three Fuegian tribes had myths about culture heroes. Yámanas 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 Selk'nam Kwanyip-brothers. Gusinde 1966:181 In general, the presence of dualistic myths in two compared cultures does not necessarily imply relatedness or

diffusion Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical p ...

. Some myths also feature shaman-like figures with similarities in the Yámana and Selk'nam tribes. Gusinde 1966:186 The abundant and nutritious patagonian blenny (Eleginops maclovinus) were apparently not consumed and the rock art suggests they may have had some religious significance.

Shamanism

Both Selk'nam and Yámana had persons filling in

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

-like roles. The Selk'nams believed their ''xon'' () to have supernatural capabilities, e.g. to control weather and to heal. The figure of ''xon'' appeared in myths, too. The Yámana ''yekamush'' () corresponds to the Selk'nam ''xon''. There are myths in both Yámána and Selk'nam tribes about a shaman using his power manifested as a whale. In both examples, the shaman was "dreaming" while achieving this. Gusinde 1966:155 For example, the body of the Selk'nam ''xon'' lay undisturbed while it was believed that he travelled and achieved wonderful deeds (e.g. taking revenge on a whole group of peoples). The Yámana ''yekamush'' made similar achievements while dreaming: he killed a whale and led the dead body to arbitrary places, and transformed himself into a whale as well. In another Selk'nam myth, the ''xon'' could use his power also for transporting

whale meat Whale meat, broadly speaking, may include all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and all parts of the animal: muscle (meat), organs (offal), skin (muktuk), and fat ( blubber). There is relatively little demand for whale meat, compared t ...

. He could exercise this capability from great distances and see everything that happened during the transport.

Gender

There is a belief in both the Selk'nam and Yámana tribes that women used to rule over men in ancient times, Yámana attribute the present situation to a successful revolt of men. There are many festivals associated with this belief in both tribes. The

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

Ona 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.

Contacts between Yámana and Selk'nam

The principal differences in language, habitat, and adaptation techniques did not promote contacts, although eastern Yámana groups had exchange contacts with the Selk'nam.

Language

The languages spoken by the Fuegians are all extinct, with the exception of Kawesqar. The

Selk'nam language Ona (Aona), also known as Selk'nam (Shelknam), is a language that is spoken by the Selk'nam people in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in southernmost South America. Part of the Chonan languages of Patagonia, Selk'nam is almost extinct, due both ...

was related to the

Tehuelche language Tehuelche (''Aoniken, Inaquen, Gunua-Kena, Gununa-Kena'') is one of the Chonan languages of Patagonia. Its speakers were nomadic hunters who occupied territory in present-day Chile, north of Tierra del Fuego and south of the Mapuche people. It is ...

and belonged to the Chon family of languages. The Onan language had more than 30,000 words.

Alternative origin speculations

Alongside the

Pericúes The Pericú (also known as Pericues, Cora, Edues) were the aboriginal inhabitants of the Cape Region, the southernmost portion of Baja California Sur, Mexico. They have been linguistically and culturally extinct since the late 18th century. Terr ...

of Baja California, the Fuegians and Patagonians show the strongest evidence of partial descent from the Paleoamerican lineage, a proposed early wave of migration to the Americas derived from an

Australo-Melanesian Australo-Melanesians (also known as Australasians or the Australomelanesoid, Australoid or Australioid race) is an outdated historical grouping of various people indigenous to Melanesia and Australia. Controversially, groups from Southeast Asia an ...

population, as opposed to the main Amerind

peopling of the Americas The settlement of the Americas began when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers entered North America from the North Asian Mammoth steppe via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska due to the lowering of ...

of Siberian (admixed

Ancient North Eurasian In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient North Eurasian (generally abbreviated as ANE) is the name given to an ancestral component that represents a lineage ancestral to the people of the Mal'ta–Buret' culture and populations closely related to th ...

and Paleo-East Asian) descent. Further credibility is lent to this idea by research suggesting the existence of an ethnically distinct population elsewhere in South America. According to archaeologist

Ricardo E. Latcham Ricardo Eduardo Latcham Cartwright (Thornbury, England, 5 March 1869 - Santiago, Chile, 16 October 1943) was an English-Chilean archaeologist, ethnologist, folklore scholar and teacher. Born and raised near Bristol, England, as Richard Edward La ...

the sea-faring nomads of Patagonia ( Chonos, Kawésqar, Yaghan) may be remnants from more widespread indigenous groups that were pushed south by "successive invasions" from more northern tribes. However these previous claims were refuted by multiple genetic and anthropologic studies, such as one study published in the

Nature journal ''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. It ...

in 2018 concluded that all Native Americans descended from a single founding population which initially split from East Asians at about ~36,000 BC, with geneflow between Ancestral Native Americans and Siberians persisting until ~25,000BC, before becoming isolated in the Americas at ~22,000BC. Northern and Southern Native American subpopulationes split from each other at ~17,500BC. There is also some evidence for a back-migration from the Americas into Siberia after ~11,500BC. Another study published in the

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 Northeast Asia or Northeastern Asia is a geographical subregion of Asia; its northeastern landmass and islands are bounded by the Pacific Ocean. The term Northeast Asia was popularized during the 1930s by American historian and political scient ...

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 40,000BC old Tianyuan lineage) into Aboriginal Australians and Papuans.

Modern history

The name "Tierra del Fuego" may refer to the fact that both Selk'nam and Yamana 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. Yamanas also used fire to send messages by smoke signals, for instance if a whale drifted ashore. The large amount of meat required notification of many people, so that it would not decay. They might also have used smoke signals on other occasions, but it is possible that Magellan saw the smokes or lights of natural phenomena. Both Selk'nams and Yámanas 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.

Notes

References

* 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”.

External links

;Videos * ;Audio *
Excerpts from the same material
on Amazon.com ;Bibliography, linking many online documents in various languages:
Lenguas australes / Materiales sobre lenguas y culturas indígenas de la Tierra del Fuego y del sur de la Patagonia
;English:

Indians
page of homepage of Museo Maritiomo de Ushuaia ;German: * Dr Wilhelm Koppers

Strecker und Schröder, Stuttgart, 1924. (A whole book online. In German. Title means: “Among Fuegians”.)

(Short article in German, with title “The last Fuegians / An indigenous people becomes extinct”)

(“Tierra del Fuego — stories from the end of the world”. Link collection with small articles. In German.)
erdrand galleries, 9 photos
;Spanish

by Beatriz Carbonell. Se

;

Shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

-like figures (Selk'nam , Yámana ):
About the Ona Indian Culture in Tierra del Fuego

of the Yámana, mentioning “yekamush” * {{in lang, es}

by Beatriz Carbonell. Se

Hunter-gatherers of South America