Yaghan

The Yaghan, also called Yagán, Yahgan (the original spelling), Yámana or Yamana, are the indigenous inhabitants of 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. They spoke the Yaghan language that is considered to be a language isolate. The Yaghan were nomads who traveled by canoes between islands to collect food. The men hunted sea lions while the women dived to collect shellfish.

The Yahgan left strong impressions on all who encountered them, including Charles Darwin, Francis Drake, James Cook, and James Weddell. [Dallas Murphy, Rounding the Horn, Basic Books, 2004, p 132] 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 the Spray, and awoke to the sound of Yahgans yelping in pain.(footnote needed)

The Yahgan may have been 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. [ibid, p 139] 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 in its 48-degree waters. [ibid, p145] They would often sleep in the open completely unsheltered and unclothed while Europeans shivered under their blankets. [ibid, p134] A Chilean researcher claimed their average body temperature was warmer than a European's by at least one degree. [ibid, p 140] But the Yahgan, who never numbered more than 3000 individuals, could not survive contact with white man's diseases; they allegedly became sick immediately if the missionaries persuaded them to put on some clothes. In the 1920s some were resettled on Keppel Island in the Falklands 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 last full-blooded Yahgan is "Abuela" Cristina Calderón. She is also the last native speaker of the Yahgan language.

Contacts with Europeans

The area around Tierra del Fuego became known to Europeans in the early sixteenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth 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." 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." 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.

Famous Yahgans

* York Minster, Fuegia Basket and Jemmy Button. [ [http://www.athenapub.com/darwin1.htm Darwin at Terra del Fuego (1832)] . Athena Review, Vol. 1, No.3] All of these names were coined by sailors on the "Beagle" during the first voyage.

External links

* [http://www.meyna.com/yahgan.html The Yahgan]
* Dr Wilhelm Koppers: [http://thomas-kunz.com/Feuerlandindianer.htm Unter Feuerland-Indianern] . Strecker und Schröder, Stuttgart, 1924. (A whole book online. In German. Title means: “Among Fuegians”, but most parts of the book contains Yaghan-related materials. Some chapters presents Selknam people.)
* [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/southamerica/yahgan.html Yahgan]
* [http://pages.interlog.com/~erhard/uttermos.htm The Patagonian Canoe] . Extracts from the following book. E. Lucas Bridges: "Uttermost Part of the Earth. Indians of Tierra del Fuego." 1949, reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc (New York, 1988).
* Darwin, Charles & Fitzroy, Robert & King, Philip Barker: [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F10.2&viewtype=text&pageseq=776 Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the Southern Shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the Globe] . Henry Colburn, London, 1839.
* [http://www.victory-cruises.com/felipeetc.html Felipe, the "Survivor", was the last Male Yagan Indian] , with a small Yámana–English vocabulary

Notes