Selknam Genocide

Selknam Children

Selk'nam Genocide is the genocide against the Selk'nam people from the second half of the nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The Selknam, also known as the 'Ona, were an Amerindian people who inhabited the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego until the death of the last descendant, Angela Loij, in 1974.They were one of the last aboriginal groups in South America to be reached by Westerners who hunted them down for money.

Julius Popper (?) during a human-hunt against the Ona people. In late 19th century estancieros and gold prospectors launched a campaign of extermination against the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego.

After hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years of semi-nomadic life in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (literally, big island of land of fire, based on early European explorers observations of smoke from Selk'nam cooking fires), the introduction of European sheep ranches created strong conflicts between natives and European, Argentinean, or Chilean settlers. The conflicts became a war of extermination. Large companies paid sheep farmers one pound sterling per Selk'nam dead, which was confirmed by the redemption of a pair of hands or ears, or later a complete skull.

See also

• Julius Popper

Further reading

• Luis Alberto Borrero, Los Selk'nam (Onas), Galerna, Buenos Aires 2007.
• Lucas Bridges, Uttermost Part of the Earth, London 1948.

External links

• Genocide In Chile: A Monument Is Not Enough