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25-568: The Yaghan peoples settled the lands along the Murray Channel approximately 10,000 years ago. There are notable archaeological sites indicating such early Yaghan settlement, such as Bahia Wulaia on Isla Navarino , where the Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens are located. 54°58′S 68°22′W  /  54.967°S 68.367°W  / -54.967; -68.367 This Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region location article

50-520: A mission in Tierra del Fuego where they raised their families. Bridges learned the Yahgan language when he decided to remain on Keppel Island at the age of 17. Over more than a decade, he compiled a grammar and 30,000-word Yahgan-English dictionary. Bridges' second son, Lucas Bridges , also learned the language and was one of the few Europeans to do so. In his 1948 book, a history of that period, he writes that

75-498: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Yaghan people The Yahgan (also called Yagán , Yaghan , Yámana , Yamana , or Tequenica ) are a group of indigenous peoples in the Southern Cone of South America. Their traditional territory includes the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego , extending their presence into Cape Horn , making them the world's southernmost indigenous human population. In

100-543: Is a collective term for 'men', the singular being ua). Thomas Bridges first learned the language from the inhabitants of the Murray Channel area, Yahgashaga . 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. Despite

125-498: Is separated by the Murray Channel . It is named after William Hoste , one of Lord Nelson's protégés. With an area of 4,117 square kilometers (1,590 sq mi), Hoste is the second largest island of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago , after Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The western area of the island forms part of the Alberto de Agostini National Park . The most southern point of

150-619: The Megalithic period has been found at Wulaia Bay . C. Michael Hogan has called it the Bahia Wulaia (Dome Middens) . The Yahgan domesticated a culpeo known as a Fuegian dog . The most thorough analysis of the interaction between European explorers and the Yahgan is probably ethnologist Anne Chapman 's book European Encounters with the Yamana People of Cape Horn . Magellan came upon

175-562: The 19th century, the Yahgan were known in English as " Fuegians ." The name is credited to Captain James Weddell , who supposedly created the term in 1822. The term is now avoided as it can also refer to several other indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego , for example the Selk'nam . The Yahgan language , also known as Yámana, is considered a language isolate . Cristina Calderón (1928–2022), who

200-575: The Fuegians had an important influence on Darwin's later scientific work and would be integrated into his later theories on human evolution specifically. The Yahgan were eventually decimated by the infectious diseases introduced by Europeans. The Yahgan suffered disruptions to their habitat starting in the early-to-mid 19th-century when European whalers and sealers depleted their most calorie-rich sources of food, forcing them to rely on mussels chopped from rocks, which provided significantly fewer calories for

225-404: The Yahgan autonym or name for themselves was yamana, meaning person, though modern usage is for man only, not women. The plural is yamali(m)). The name Yahgan was first used by his father, Thomas Bridges, abbreviated from the name of their territory, Yahgashaga, or Yahga Strait. They called themselves Yahgashagalumoala, meaning "people from mountain valley channel" (-lum means 'from'; -oala

250-909: The Yahgan might rob and possibly kill him if he moored in a particular area, so he sprinkled tacks on the deck of his boat, the Spray . In the 1920s, some Yahgan were resettled on Keppel Island in the Falkland Islands by Anglican missionaries in an attempt to preserve the tribe, as described by E. Lucas Bridges in Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948), but they continued to decline in population. The second-to-last full-blooded Yahgan, Emelinda Acuña, died in 2005. The last full-blooded Yahgan, "Abuela" (grandmother) Cristina Calderón , who lived in Chilean territory, died in 2022 age 93 due to complications of COVID-19 . She

275-655: The area around Tierra del Fuego in the early 16th-century, but it was not until the 19th-century that Europeans became interested in the zone and its peoples. The Yahgan were estimated to number 3,000 people in the mid-19th century, when Europeans started colonizing the area. The Yahgan left strong impressions on all who encountered them, including Ferdinand Magellan , Charles Darwin , Francis Drake , James Cook , James Weddell , and Julius Popper . Royal Navy officer Robert FitzRoy became captain of HMS  Beagle in November 1828, and continued her first survey voyage. On

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300-441: The cold climate, the early Yahgan wore little to no clothing, which only changed after extended contact with Europeans. They were able to survive the harsh climate because: The Yahgan may have been driven to the inhospitable Tierra del Fuego by enemies to the north. They were renowned for their complete indifference to the cold weather. Although they had fires and small domed shelters, they routinely went about completely naked, and

325-509: The effort needed to gather and process them. The Yahgan had no concept of property; in the late 19th century when waves of European immigrants came to the area for the nascent gold rush and boom in sheep farming, the Yahgan were hunted down by ranchers' militias for poaching sheep in their former territories. In Sailing Alone Around the World (1900), Joshua Slocum wrote that when he sailed solo to Tierra del Fuego, European-Chileans warned him

350-575: The house was declared a National Monument and was moved to the lands of the Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum in Puerto Williams ). There had already been unsuccessful attempts at cattle farming by the Chilean government, after which the island was abandoned. Well into the 20th century, a few Yaghan families lived on the island. These indigenous peoples vanished after contact with adventurers and fishermen. Since then,

375-629: The island is the False Cape Horn , on the Hardy Peninsula. It has 5 peninsulas : Hardy, Cloué, Rous, Pasteur and Dumas. Peninsula Hardy (sometimes called "Pen Hardy") is located at one of the most southerly extremes of South America . It is the southern landform which extends into the Drake Passage to make the Bahía Nassau . False Cape Horn (Spanish: Falso Cabo de Hornos ) is located at

400-411: The more northern Chono and Kawésqar (Alacaluf) tribes. These groups share behavioral traits; a traditional canoe-faring hunter-gatherer lifestyle and physical traits such as short stature, being long-headed (dolichocephalic), and having a "low face". Despite these similarities, their languages are completely different. In 1871, Anglican missionaries Thomas Bridges and George Lewis established

425-490: 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 the Yahgan Jemmy Button: It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many good qualities, that he should have been of

450-483: The night of 28 January 1830, the ship's whaleboat was stolen by Fuegians . During a month of fruitless searching to recover the boat, FitzRoy took guides and then prisoners - who mostly escaped - eventually taking hostage a man known as York Minster, estimated age 26, and a young girl known as Yokcushlu , estimated age nine. A week later, he took another Fuegian hostage, known as Boat Memory, estimated age 20, and on 11 May captured Jemmy Button , estimated age 14. As it

475-524: The same race, and doubtless partaken of the same character, with the miserable, degraded savages whom we first met here. A mission was set up for the three Fuegians. When the Beagle returned a year later, its crew found only Jemmy, who had returned to his tribal ways. He still spoke English, assuring them that he did not wish to leave the islands and was "happy and contented" to live with his wife, described by Darwin as "young and nice looking". This encounter with

500-719: The southern tip of this peninsula. The island was explored by the French La Romanche scientific expedition in 1882–1883. As of 1894 the Stirling House , a prefab house built on behalf of the South American Mission Society , was reinstalled in Tekenika Bay, on the southeast coast of Hoste Island in order to avoid the abuses and crimes caused by the recent arrival of miners and diseases in Ushuaia. (Eventually

525-401: The summer of 1831. On the famous second voyage of HMS Beagle , the three Fuegians returned to their homeland along with a trainee missionary. They impressed Charles Darwin with their behaviour, in contrast to the other Fuegians Darwin met when the Beagle reached their native lands. Darwin described his first meeting with the native Fuegians in the islands as being: ...without exception

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550-672: The women swam in cold waters hunting for shellfish. They were often observed to sleep in the open, completely unsheltered and unclothed, while the Europeans shivered under blankets. A Chilean researcher claimed their average body temperature was warmer than that of a European by at least one degree. Mateo Martinic , in Crónica de las tierras del sur del canal Beagle, asserts that there were five groups of Yahgan people: The Yahgan established many settlements in Tierra del Fuego, temporary but often reused. A significant Yahgan archaeological site from

575-535: Was born on Navarino Island , Chile, was known as the last full-blooded Yahgan and last native speaker of the Yahgan language. It is now regarded as an extinct language . Most Yahgan now speak Spanish . The Yahgan were traditionally nomads and hunter-gatherers who traveled by canoe between islands to collect food. The men hunted sea lions and the women dove to collect shellfish . They also scavenged whale meat, and gathered local vegetation, including berries and mushrooms. The Yahgan share some similarities with

600-548: Was not possible to easily put them ashore, he decided to bring them back to England instead. He taught them "English..the plainer truths of Christianity..and the use of common tools" and took them on the Beagle ' s return trip to England. Boat Memory died of smallpox soon after arriving in Britain but the others briefly became celebrities in England and were presented at court in London in

625-703: Was the last native speaker of the Yahgan language. According to the Chilean census of 2002, there were 1,685 Yahgan in Chile. In 2017, the Chilean census from the National Statistics Institute recorded a Yahgan population of 1,600. Hoste Island Hoste Island ( Spanish : Isla Hoste ) is one of the southernmost islands in Chile , lying south, across the Beagle Channel , from Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and west of Navarino Island , from which it

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