Esteban Lucas Bridges (December 31, 1874,

Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's southern ...

– April 4, 1949,

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 ...

) was an

Anglo-Argentine English Argentines (also known as Anglo-Argentines) are citizens of Argentina or the children of Argentine citizens brought up in Argentina, who can claim ancestry originating in England. The English settlement in Argentina (the arrival of Eng ...

author, explorer, and rancher. After fighting for the British during World War I, he married and moved with his wife to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, where they developed a ranch with her brother. He was the third child of six and second son of

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

missionary Reverend Thomas Bridges (1842–98) and "the third white native of

" (his elder brother, born in 1872, having been the first) in

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 G ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, at the southernmost tip of South America. He wrote ''Uttermost Part of the Earth'' (1948) about his family's experiences in Tierra del Fuego, but it was particularly about the Yahgan and

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 ...

indigenous peoples and the effects on them of colonization by Europeans.

Early life and education

Stephen Lucas Bridges, also called Esteban and going by Lucas, was born to Thomas and Mary Ann Bridges in

, Tierra del Fuego. The third of six children and the second of three sons, he grew up speaking English, Yahgan, and Selk'nam. Their father was an Anglican missionary who ministered to the indigenous Yahgan and

Ona Ona or ONA may refer to: Anthropology * Ona people, an indigenous people of southern Argentina and Chile ** Ona language, a language once spoken in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego * Ona, a pre-Aksumite culture in Sembel, Eritrea Geography * On ...

peoples. Lucas Bridges learned the languages and cultures of both tribes from a young age. He was the only European to be made a blood brother of the Selk'nam and invited to witness their council. He also compiled a vocabulary of the

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 ...

or ''Manek'enk,'' a small indigenous tribe located to the east of the Selk'nam, at the end of

Mitre Peninsula Mitre Peninsula is the easternmost part of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, located in the very southeast of the island, with its easternmost point, Cabo San Diego, 29 km northwest of Isla de los Estados, from which it is separated by Le M ...

. Bridges witnessed the effects of change as immigrants from European cultures flooded the area beginning in the late 19th century. There were gold and sheep booms in the region, attracting many new immigrants. The indigenous peoples were decimated. Eurasian

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

s 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, ...

caused high fatality rates. Outbreaks in 1884 (following a visit by three Argentine Navy ships), 1924 and 1929 became fatal

epidemics An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

for the indigenous peoples, with devastating results. The Ona and Haush became extinct in the 20th century, and the number of Yahgan much reduced. In 1886, his father resigned his position as missionary. After the government gave his father a large grant of land, Lucas helped him build

Estancia Harberton Estancia Harberton was established in 1886, when the missionary pioneer Thomas Bridges (1842-1898) resigned from the Anglican mission at Ushuaia. The estancia was named for Harberton, the home of his wife, Mary Ann Varder (1842-1922), in Devon, E ...

(named after his mother's hometown in England), the residence of a sheep ranch, in a sheltered bay on the coast of the

Beagle Channel Beagle Channel (; Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. The channel separates the larger main island of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego fr ...

. The location was chosen by the Yahgan as a safe port.

Exploration

In 1898 the younger Bridges opened a trail north from Harberton to the east end of

Lago Fagnano Fagnano Lake ( es, Lago Fagnano), also called ''Lake Cami'' (), is a lake located on the main island of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, and shared by Argentina and Chile. The 645 km2 lake runs east–west for about 98 kilometres, of which ...

, where the land was better for rearing sheep. It has been improved as a hiking trail, known as the Lucas Bridges Trail. In 1902 Lucas and his brothers Despard and Will founded Estancia Viamonte in the northern part of Tierra del Fuego. The new trail was used to transport sheep between the two estancias. The

people had asked for their help in finding a place of shelter from some of the pressures they were under. The Bridges provided them with areas on their estancias where they could live traditionally. Descendants of the brothers continue to live and work at the estancias.

World War I and migration

Bridges went to England to enlist in the army to fight in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1917 he married Jannette McLeod Jardine (1890-1976). After the war, the young couple moved to

, where he developed a ranch with his brother-in-law. He and his wife raised their family there. After decades, Bridges returned to Argentina, where he lived out his last years. He died in Buenos Aires in 1949 and is buried next to his father in the British Cemetery at

Chacarita, Buenos Aires Chacarita is a ''barrio'' or neighborhood in the north-central part of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located between Colegiales, Palermo, Villa Crespo, La Paternal and Villa Ortúzar, this is a quiet neighbourhood with tree-lined streets, a combinati ...

.British Cemetery in Buenos Aires website: Thomas Bridges

References

Sources

* "Obituary: Lucas Bridges", ''The Geographical Journal'' 114 (1949) pp. 240–241. * Bridges, Lucas, ''Uttermost Part of the Earth'', originally published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1948. Re-issued, with an introduction by

Gavin Young Gavin David Young (24 April 1928 – 18 January 2001) was a journalist and travel writer. He was born in Bude, Cornwall, England. His father, Gavin Young, was a lieutenant colonel in the Welsh Guards. Daphne, his mother, was the daughter of Sir ...

, Century, London, 1987, . Page numbers cited refer to the later edition. Republished 2008, Overlook Press — ''Exact date of birth, position in family, etc.: p. 67. Father's dates: p. 538. Father's intermittent visits to, and residence in, Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego: pp. 42–58. Argentine Navy visit and establishing a sub-prefecture at Ushuaia: pp. 122–3. Outbreaks and effects of measles: pp. 125–7, 136, 520, 532. Indigenous population levels: p. 521.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Lucas 1874 births 1949 deaths People from Ushuaia Argentine people of British descent Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery History of Tierra del Fuego Argentine emigrants to South Africa Argentine expatriates in the United Kingdom