Selknam
Encyclopedia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
n region of southern Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
including the Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
islands. They were one of the last aboriginal groups in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
to be reached by Westerners, in the late 19th century, when the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an and Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
governments began efforts to explore and integrate Tierra del Fuego (literally, the "land of fire" based on early Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an explorers observing Selk'nam smoke from their bonfires).
While the Selk'nam are closely associated with habitation of the northeastern area of Tierra del Fuego, their early origins are likely from the mainland, whence they departed by canoe across the Strait of Magellan
Strait of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...
. Their habitation in the early Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
likely ranged as far as the Cerro Benitez
Cerro Benitez
Cerro Benítez is a mountain in the Patagonian region of Chile. In a larger context this feature is an element of the Cerro Toro geological complex. The Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument is situated on the southern flank of Cerro Benítez. The Cerro Benítez is a location for sighting of the Andean...
area of the Cerro Toro
Cerro Toro
Cerro Toro is a Cretaceous landform of the Magallanes Foreland the Patagonian region of southeastern Chile. The Cerro Toro is an element of the southern Andes Mountain Range. The Andes fundamentally are the result of plate tectonics processes, caused by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath...
mountain range.
Lifestyle
The Selk'nam were nomadic people and survived by hunting. They dressed sparingly, a remarkable feat given the cold climate of Patagonia.They shared Tierra del Fuego with the Haush
Haush
The Haush or Manek'enk were an indigenous people, considered the oldest inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. They inhabited the Mitre Peninsula, the eastern tip of the island, and made regular hunting trips to Isla de los Estados....
(or Manek'enk), another nomadic culture that lived in the south-eastern part of the island.
Relations with whites
The Selk'nam had little contact with Spanish colonizers. Settlers only arrived in the late 19th century, and used a great part of the land of Tierra del Fuego to establish large estanciasEstancias
Estancia or Estância is a Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese term describing a large rural estate with similarities to the English term ranch. The term is used in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Chile...
- sheep ranches, thus depriving the natives from their ancestral hunting areas. Selk'nam, who had an understanding of sheep herds as game and not private property, hunted sheep, behavior which was perceived as banditry by ranch owneers. Ranchers supported armed groups to hunt down and kill the Selk'nam. To receive their bounty, such groups first had to return with the ears of the victims. After some ear-less Selk'nam were seen to be wandering the grounds the process was changed to exchanging a complete head for bounty.
Relations with whites in the Beagle Channel area were somewhat more cordial, especially with the Bridges family, founders of Harberton and Ushuaia. Lucas Bridges, one of three sons of Thomas Bridges, did much to help the local cultures, learning the languages of the various groups and trying to provide the natives with the space in which to live their customary lives as "lords of their own land". Alas, it turned out to be too little, too late, but Bridges' book, "Uttermost part of the earth", gives a sympathetic insight into the natives' lives.
Demise
Two missions by ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionaries were eventually established to save the Selk'nam. The missions were meant to provide housing and food for the natives, but were forced to close due to the limited number of Selk'nam remaining. While Selk'nam numbered in the thousands before Western colonization, by the early twentieth century only several hundred remained, and the last ethnic Selk'nam died in the mid twentieth century.
Alejandro Cañas estimated that in 1896 there was a population of 3.000 Selk'nams. Martín Gusinde wrote in 1919 that only 279 Selk'nams remained and the salesian Lorenzo Massa counted them in 1945 to 25. In May 1974, Ángela Loij
Ángela Loij
Ángela Loij was the last surviving pure-blooded Ona native woman of Tierra del Fuego. She was by anthropologist Anne Chapman.The Ona were decimated by loss of habitat and European diseases. -External links:*...
, the last ever pure-blood Selk'nam and last indigenous Fuegian, died.
Culture and religion
Despite the fact that the missions were not able to save the Selk'nam people or their traditions, the missions did a remarkable job in collecting information about Selk'nam religion and traditions - a short dictionary of the Selk'nam language was also made.Religion
Selk'nam religion was quite different from other typical "primitive" systems of beliefs. It more or less denied the existence of a supreme being; these beings were only mentioned in one legend as a part of the past, in creation myth.Temáukel was the name of a great supernatural entity they considered keeping the world order, even though the creator deity of the world was called Kénos or Quénos.
In many of their tales, we can read about shaman-like characters. Such a /xon/ has supernatural capabilities, e.g. he can control weather.
Initiation ceremonies
Selk'nam male initiation ceremonies, called HainHain
Hain may refer to:* Hain, Thuringia, a municipality in Thuringia, Germany.* Hain , a fictional planet in the Hainish or Ekumen novels of Ursula Le Guin* Hain Celestial Group, a natural foods company...
, were probably one of the most fascinating parts of their culture. Some other nearby peoples also had similar initiation ceremonies.
Young males were called to a dark hut. There they would be attacked by "spirits" - actually people disguised as such. The children were taught to fear these spirits at childhood and were threatened by them in case they misbehaved. These now-young men did not know these spirits were not real, and they were to go to them and unmask them. After they saw that these "spirits" were actually human beings, they were then told a story of world creation about the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. Also, there was a story told (actually part of the same story) that at one time women used these spirits to control men: they would disguise themselves as spirits and threaten the men while the men did not know that these were not spirits at all. Once they found out, it was done vice-versa - women did not know that the spirits weren't real, while males found out at the initiation age. However it was more like a joke at these times, without males actually using spirits to control women, unlike the women had supposedly done in the past. After this first day, there were various related ceremonies - males showing their "strength" in front of women by fighting spirits (who were other males but the women did not know it) in some theatrical fights. Each spirit had its typical actions, words and such as well as typical outside looks. Therefore Selk'nam were perhaps the only Amerindian nation to have a theater tradition - the best actors from previous Hains were called again to impersonate spirits in later Hains.
The Hain used to take a very long time, perhaps even a year on occasion, at the times when Selk'nam were not in touch with Europeans. It would end with the last fight against the "worst" spirit. Usually Hains were started when there was enough food (for example a whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
was washed on coast), and by then all the Selk'nam from all the tribes used to gather at one place, in male and female camps. "Spirits" sometimes went to female encampments to scare them as well as going around the place and doing various things related to their characters.
The last Hain was held in one of the missions in the early 20th century, and it was photographed by the missionary. It was of course a much shorter and smaller ceremony than it used to be when Selk'nam were still free, but it still provides a good insight into traditions of this nation. The photos depict various "spirit" clothings too.
Heritage
Pictures of Selk'nam people taken by the missionaries are available in the Puerto WilliamsPuerto Williams
Puerto Williams is a Chilean port, located on Isla Navarino facing the Beagle Channel. It is the capital of the Chilean Antarctic Province, one of four provinces located in the Magellan and Chilean Antartica Region...
museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
. There are also a few books on the subject, including Selk'nam tales, collected by the missions, and a dictionary of the Selk'nam language.
Due to early contact by missionaries, it was possible to gather much more information about the Selk'nam people than about other peoples of the region. The same missionary also attempted to collect information about other local nations - but unlike with Selk'nams, whom he visited whilst still numerous, the missionary visited and spent some time with people of other cultures only when their nations were already reduced and consisted only of a few people; therefore it was not possible to write as much about them as was written about the Selk'nam. According to the Argentine census of 2001, there were 391 Ona living in the island of Tierra del Fuego and a further 114 in other parts of Argentina.
Further reading
- Luis Alberto Borrero, Los Selk'nam (Onas), Galerna, Buenos Aires 2007.
- Lucas BridgesLucas BridgesEsteban Lucas Bridges was an Anglo-Argentine author and explorer. He was the third child and second son of Anglican missionary Reverend Thomas Bridges and "the third white native of Ushuaia" at the southernmost tip of South America...
, Uttermost Part of the Earth, London 1948.
External links
- About the Ona Indian Culture in Tierra Del Fuego. (A homepage containing pictures and summary-like texts about the Ona.)
- A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary about a Chilean linguistic prodigy who is helping revive the Selk'nam language.
- Excerpts from the same material on Amazon.com