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* [[Cristina Calderón]], last speaker of the Yaghan language
* [[Cristina Calderón]], last speaker of the Yaghan language
* York Minster, Fuegia Basket and [[Jemmy Button]].<ref>[http://www.athenapub.com/darwin1.htm Darwin at Terra del Fuego (1832)]. Athena Review, Vol. 1, No.3</ref> All of these names were coined by sailors on the [[HMS Beagle|''Beagle'']] during the first voyage.
* York Minster, Fuegia Basket and [[Jemmy Button]].<ref>[http://www.athenapub.com/darwin1.htm Darwin at Terra del Fuego (1832)]. Athena Review, Vol. 1, No.3</ref> All of these names were coined by sailors on the [[HMS Beagle|''Beagle'']] during the first voyage.
* "Julie" (true name unknown). <ref>{{cite journal|journal=Life|title=Uttermost Region of the Earth|last=Barnett|first=Lincoln|year=1959|month=June|day=1|volume=46|issue=22|issn=0024-3019|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YEkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA74|accessdate=2013-02-28}}</ref>
* "Julie" (true name unknown). Pictured at ages 40 and 90, the latter photo taken in 1958. Both pictures are reproduced in the book ''Evolution''.<ref>Published by Time-Life, a few years later. Fuller cite needed and will be provided.</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 19:17, 28 February 2013

Yaghan
Yámana
Yaghan people, 1883
Regions with significant populations
 Chile
Languages
Spanish, Yaghan
Religion
traditional tribal religion
Related ethnic groups
Qawasqar, Siane[1]

The Yaghan, also called Yagán, Yámana, Yamana, or Tequenica,[1] are the indigenous peoples of the Southern Cone, who are regarded as the southernmost peoples in the world.[2] Their traditional territory includes the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego extending their presence into Cape Horn.

They were known as Fuegians by the English-speaking world, but the term is nowadays avoided as it can refer to any of the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Some are reputed to still speak the Yaghan language, which is considered to be a language isolate; however, most speak Spanish.[1] The Yaghan were traditionally nomads, who traveled by canoes between islands to collect food. The men hunted sea lions while the women dove to collect shellfish.

Nomenclature

According to Lucas Bridges, one of the few Europeans to speak Yaghan, the Yaghans' name for themselves was Yamana (meaning person (though modern usage man only, not woman)- the plural is yamali(m)). The name Yaghan (originally and correctly spelled Yahgan), was first used by Lucas's father Thomas Bridges as a shortened form of Yahgashagalumoala (meaning people from mountain valley channel -oala is a collective term for 'men', the singular being ua), the name of the inhabitants of the Murray Channel (Yahgashaga), from whom Thomas Bridges first learned the language.[3] The name Tekenika (Spanish: Tequenica), first applied to a sound in Hoste Island, simply means I do not understand (from teki- see and -vnnaka (v schwa) have trouble doing,, and evidently originated as the answer to a misunderstood question.[4]

Adaptations to climate

Despite the extreme cold climate in which they lived, early Yahgan wore little to no clothing until their contact with Europeans.[5] They were able to survive the harsh climate because:

  1. They kept warm by huddling around small fires when they could, including in their boats to stay warm. In fact, the name of "Tierra del Fuego" (land of fire) is a name given to the island cluster by passing European explorers who witnessed these fires burning.
  2. They made use of rock formations to shelter themselves from the elements.
  3. They covered themselves in animal grease.[citation needed]
  4. Over time they had evolved significantly higher metabolisms than average humans, allowing them to generate more internal body heat.[6]
  5. Their natural resting position was a deep squatting position, which reduced their surface area and so helped to conserve heat.[7]

The early Yaghans

The Yaghan may have been driven to this inhospitable area by enemies to the north but were famed for their complete indifference to the bitter weather around Cape Horn.[8] Although they had fire and small domed shelters, they routinely went about completely naked in the frigid cold and biting wind of Tierra del Fuego, and swam (women only) in its 48-degree-south waters.[9] They would often sleep in the open completely unsheltered and unclothed while Europeans shivered under their blankets.[5] A Chilean researcher claimed their average body temperature was warmer than a European's by at least one degree.[10]

A traditional Yahgan basket, woven with smoked juncus effusus by Abuela Cristina

Yaghans established many settlements within Tierra del Fuego; for example there is a significant Yaghan archaeological site at Wulaia Bay, which C. Michael Hogan terms the Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens.[11]

But the Yahgan, who never numbered more than 3,000 individuals, were decimated by diseases brought by Westerners. They allegedly became sick immediately if the missionaries persuaded them to put on some clothes.[citation needed] In the 1920s some were resettled on Keppel Island in the Falkland Islands in an attempt to preserve the tribe, as described by E. Lucas Bridges in Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948), but continued to die off. The second-to-last full-blooded Yaghan, Emelinda Acuña, died in 2005.[12] The last full-blooded Yahgan is "Abuela" Cristina Calderón. She is also the last native speaker of the Yahgan language.

European contact

Yahgan cemetery at Mejillones, Navarino Island

The Yahgan left strong impressions on all who encountered them, including Ferdinand Magellan, Charles Darwin, Francis Drake, James Cook, and James Weddell.[13] In "Sailing Alone Around the World" Joshua Slocum was warned they would rob and possibly kill him if he moored in a particular area, so he sprinkled tacks on the deck of his boat, the Spray.

The area around Tierra del Fuego became known to Europeans in the early sixteenth century, but it was not until the 19th century that Europeans started to be interested in the zone and its peoples. When Robert FitzRoy became captain of the HMS Beagle in the middle of her first voyage, he captured four Fuegians after a boat was stolen. As it was not possible to put them ashore conveniently, he decided to "civilise the savages," teaching them "English..the plainer truths of Christianity..and the use of common tools" before returning them as missionaries. One died, but the others became "civilised" enough to be presented at court in the summer of 1831. On the famous second voyage of HMS Beagle, the three Fuegians were returned along with a trainee missionary, and impressed Charles Darwin with their "civilised" behaviour, in startling contrast to the "primitive" tribes he saw once the ship reached Patagonia. He described his first meeting with the native Fuegians as being "without exception the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, in as much as in man there is a greater power of improvement."[14] In contrast, he said of Jemmy Button that "It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many good qualities, that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless partaken of the same character, with the miserable, degraded savages whom we first met here."[15] The mission was set up for the three Fuegians, but when the Beagle returned a year later only Jemmy was found, and he had returned to his tribal ways, speaking English as well as ever and assuring them that he "had not the least wish to return to England" and was "happy and contented" to live in what they thought a shockingly primitive manner with his wife.

Yahgans today

According to the Chilean census of 2002, there were 1,685 Yahgan in Chile.

Notable Yaghan people

  • Cristina Calderón, last speaker of the Yaghan language
  • York Minster, Fuegia Basket and Jemmy Button.[16] All of these names were coined by sailors on the Beagle during the first voyage.
  • "Julie" (true name unknown). [17]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Yámana." Ethnologue. Retrieved 18 Dec 2011.
  2. ^ Grenoble, Lenore A. and Lindsay J. Whaley "What Does Digital Technology Have to Do with Yaghan?" Linguistic Discovery. Volume 1 Issue 1 (2002). Retrieved 19 Dec 2011.
  3. ^ Bridges, p.62
  4. ^ Bridges, p.36
  5. ^ a b Murphy 134
  6. ^ Murphy 140
  7. ^ Mundo Yamana Museum exhibits, 56 Rivadavia Street, Ushuaia, Argentina
  8. ^ Murphy 139
  9. ^ Murphy 145
  10. ^ Murphy 140
  11. ^ C. Michael Hogan (2008) Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens, Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham
  12. ^ "Chile: indigenous people faces extinction". Mapuche.nl. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
  13. ^ Murphy 132
  14. ^ Darwin, Charles (1909). The Voyage of the Beagle. New York: Collier. p. 210.
  15. ^ Darwin, Charles (1909). The Voyage of the Beagle. New York: Collier. pp. 212–213.
  16. ^ Darwin at Terra del Fuego (1832). Athena Review, Vol. 1, No.3
  17. ^ Barnett, Lincoln (1959). "Uttermost Region of the Earth". Life. 46 (22). ISSN 0024-3019. Retrieved 2013-02-28. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yamana.
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