The Jaako (Yaako) were an
indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
people of the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
.
Name
The Jaako were one of the 4 tribes in
Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
that employed their word for 'no' as the basis for their
endonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
.
Language
The language spoken on
Croker Island, Jaako territory, was called
Marrku.
Country
The extent of Jaako territory is estimated to have been around , including
Croker Island, which they called either ''Mangulalgut'' or ''Margo''. They also held land on the area on the
Cobourg Peninsula on the mainland opposite, and were also present at
Raffles Bay.
People
The early explorer
G. Windsor Earl
G is the seventh letter of the Latin alphabet.
G may also refer to:
Places
* Gabon, international license plate code G
* Glasgow, UK postal code G
* Eastern Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with ...
stated that the Jaako appeared to be formed from the 'amalgamation' of two distinct tribes. Earl claimed on the one hand that they were a disagreeable people, who blindly followed their chieftains, and engaged in theft, but on the other hand that they treated with generous hospitality Earl's party when they visited the Jaako on Croker Island. Earl states that:
'The people of this tribe are generally small in stature, ill-formed and their countenances are forbidding and disagreeable. The hair is generally coarse and bushy. The beards and whiskers of the men are thick and curly, while the entire body is often covered with short crisp hair, which about the breast and shoulders is sometimes so thick as to conceal the skin. The eyes are small, and what should be the white has a dull muddly appearance.'
Their leader at the time was, again according to Earl, a certain ''Mimaloo,'' whom together with another warrior, ''Loka,'' later killed by the Makassans in revenge for the death of one of their own, was regarded as highly aggressive.
Alternative names
* ''Ajokoot''
* ''Margu'' (name for their language)
* ''Marlgu''
* ''Marrgu, Ma:go, Margo.'' (toponym for Croker Island)
* ''Terutong''
* ''Yaako'' (''ja:ko'' means 'no')
Source:
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory