Julius Popper (December 15, 1857 – June 5, 1893), also known in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

as Julio Popper (), was a Wallachian-born

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n- Argentine

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sp ...

, and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

. Popper was one of the perpetrators of the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

against the native

Selk'nam 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 enco ...

. He was known as a modern " conquistador" 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 ...

in southern South America, and was a controversial and influential figure. He may have produced plans for the modern outline of the city of

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba.Ansel 1970 quotes: "He further maintains that Popper drew up some kind of "plan" for the city of Havana in 1884." "He" means

Life

Popper was born in 1857 to a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish family in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, son of professor Neftali Popper, a successful antiques merchant, and his wife Peppi. He studied in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, gaining credentials as an engineer. After working in Europe for several years, he took a job working on the infrastructure for the telegraph in Chile. He arrived in Argentina in 1885, where he became attracted by the possibility of gold mining in Tierra del Fuego. In 1886 he received a permit from the Argentine Government to form an exploration company to mine for gold near San Sebastián. On September 7, he led an 18-man expedition that included a chief engineer, a mineralogist, a journalist and a photographer. They found gold dust on the beach of El Páramo, in San Sebastián Bay. The expedition was rigorously and strictly enforced according to military standards with heavily armed men, with Popper in direct command of everything. During the expedition, Popper and his men were allegedly attacked by eighty Selk'nam (Ona) armed with bows. The adventurers responded by firing their

Winchester rifle Winchester rifle is a comprehensive term describing a series of lever action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Developed from the 1860 Henry rifle, Winchester rifles were among the earliest repeaters. The Mo ...

s, killing all but two of the Selk'nam. After the fight, Popper "posed his men in the attitude of troops repelling a charge, took a position himself astride one of the dead Indians, and then had the outfit photographed for subsequent use." Popper succeeded in unearthing large amounts of gold and his ''Compania de Lavaderos de Oro del Sud'' realized enormous capital gains on the Argentine stock exchange. A mint built to manage the gold was adapted as a museum in 1973, ("Museum of the End of the Earth"), officially the (Territorial Museum) of Tierra del Fuego since 1979. In Patagonia, Popper maintained dominance with his private army. He issued his own coins and stamps to symbolize his power. When the

Argentine peso The peso (established as the ''peso convertible'') is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 ''centavos''. Its ISO 4 ...

lost its value in the market crash of 1890, his gold coins were regarded as currency. Popper vigorously fought against his enemies; he punished gold diggers and thieves according to arbitrary law. The most controversial aspect of his life was his participation in 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 ...

against the

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

communities on

. Sheep farmers and gold miners fought against them; the former because the Selk'nam would hunt sheep in their former territories and the latter because of conflicts over mining areas. Together with other bounty hunters, who were paid to kill the Selk'nam, Popper too sent his armed forces to manhunt them. Popper also prepared an expedition to enforce the Argentine claim for parts of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. After his sudden death in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

at the age of 35, his empire collapsed. The cause of his death has not been established. Contemporary American journalist John R. Spears says that he was poisoned by "men whom he had offended in the south."

Photographic archive

In July 2022 The

Wilhelm Filderman Wilhelm Filderman (last name also spelled Fieldermann; 14 November 1882 – 1963) was a lawyer and the leader of the Romanian-Jewish community between 1919 and 1947; in addition, he was a representative of the Jews in the Romanian parliament. Ear ...

Center for the Study of the History of the Jews of Romania intends to mount an exhibition celebrating the life of Popper in one of the synagogues of the Romanian capital. It consists of a selection of the hundred photographs of the expedition that Popper himself sent to his family in Bucharest at the time and which collection had previously been conserved in the Romanian national Archives

In fiction

* Daniel Ares wrote a novel about Popper's life called ''Popper – la Patagonia del oro''. * Patricio Manns features him as one of the main characters of his novel, ''El Corazón a Contraluz'' (1996). * Jacob Popper wrote a novel about his great-great-uncle in Romanian called "Estrellita si regele tarei de Foc" (1992). * He was played by Cuban actor

Jorge Perugorría Jorge Perugorría Rodríguez (aka "Pichi," born 13 August 1965) is a Cuban actor, film director and painter. He is well known for his part as Diego in '' Strawberry and Chocolate'' (original title in Spanish ''Fresa y chocolate'' (co-directed by ...

in the film ''

'' (2000), where he appears as a

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...

man working for Queen

Carmen Sylva Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise of Wied (29 December 18432 March 1916) was the first queen of Romania as the wife of King Carol I from 15 March 1881 to 27 September 1914. She had been the princess consort of Romania since her marriage to then- ...

of Romania. * Popper figures in the

back-story A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of ...

to the short story "Tierra del Fuego" by

Francisco Coloane Francisco Coloane Cárdenas (; July 19, 1910 – August 5, 2002) was a Chilean novelist and short fiction writer whose works have been translated into many languages. Some of his books were adapted to theatre and film. Biography He was born i ...

, on which the film was based. * In a play written by Céline Monsarrat, ''La mère de la mariée'', his story is briefly but accurately explained, and emotionally described. * The name of the Concepcion-based Chilean blues / rockabilly band "Julius Popper" pays tribute to Popper.

Life

Photographic archive

In fiction

References

Further reading