54. Possible Relatives in the
Americas
The Tehuelche People (Argentina)
The approximate tribal territory before the arrival of the
Europeans in lrge numbers after the 17th century.
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1. Mapuche (Araucanian) were Amerind people that expanded
from the north from the 18th century on and are not directly
related to the older southern populations.
Patagonian groups:
Pampas people:
2. Puelche (Guennakin)
Tehuelche people:
3a. Künün-a-Güna (Northern Tehuelche)
3b.Küwach-a-Güna (Mountain Tehuelche)
4. Mecharnuekenk (northerly Southern Tehuelche)
5. Aonikenk (southerly Southern Tehuelche)
Of the Fuegians, the Ona and the Haush were most
closely related to the Tehuelche. They led a very similar
way of life as cold-climate land hunter-gatherers:
6. Ona (Selk'nam)
7. Haush )Manek'enk)
8. Yaghan (Yanama)
9. Kawesqar (Alakaluf)
10. Chono (extinct 18th to 19th century)
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Patagonia has been populated for at least 13,000 years by the
ancestors of the Tehuelche. Even in in prehistoric times they seem to
have been two different tribes of similar culture. Their languages
seem to have differed but nothing is known about the language of the
northerners.When the Europeans and their horses arrived, things
changed dramatically and were not made easier by the aggressive
expansion of the Araucanian Indians from the Chilenian coast. In the
centuries between the 16th and 19th centuries, the two Tehuelche
grouts went their sharply different ways.
The northern Tehuelche were called Günün-a-Küna
(also Gunua-Kena, Gununa-Kena, or Inaquen) mixed freely with migrant
groups (whites, blacks, mulattoes), took enthusiastically to the
horse and as horsemen for the settlers, became gauchos with a fabled
talent for handling the "new" animal. The Mapuche (Araucanians) from
the western side of the Andes in Chile attacked the northern
Tehuelches and this pressure may well have accelerated the
acculturization of the Tehuelche to the new arrivals from Europe.
Some parts of the northern Tehuelche, on the other hand, joined the
Mapuche and were largely absorbed by them. One such group is last
heard of in 1886. The language is thought by some to be a member of
the Chono language family (for more
information, see Fuegian
and Patagonian languages.
The southern group, known as Aonikenk, did not take to horses in
quite such an enthusiastic way. Perhaps their noticably rougher
climate did not encourage horse-keeping. The Aonikenk became known,
for obvious reasons, as the "foot Indians" which is a name that,
incidentally, has also been used sometimes for the Ona
of Tierra del Fuego. It is they we are concentrating on here as
closest surviving relatives of the Fuegian Ona. The Aonikenk are
culturally extinct but there still exists a hard core of survivors or
sympathizers: in the Argentinian census of 2001there where 6,000
people declaring themselves to be Aonikenk. Others speak speak of 200
genuine Aonikenk survivors of which, however, only 4 are said to
speak the language. This confusion of figures is typical of languages
on the edge of extinction.
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The most famous characteristic of the Aoinikenk is their
reputed stature. This does seem to have been a reality - up
to a point - but nothing like the grossly exaggerated
reports that reached Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries
and that are reflected in the illustration on the left
dating from 1767. It shows a tiny European giving bread to a
Patagonian woman for her baby .
The Ona adult males had
a body height of around 183 cm (6 ft) and the Aonikenk with
around 177 cn were only slightly less tall. At a time when
the skinny, sinewy and often ill-nourished European sailors
with a body hight of around 1.6 m (a little over 5 ft.)
first saw the Aonikenk, they must indeed have looked like
giants to them. See also Fuegian
and Patagonian Genetics.
When Magellan sailed around the world in 1520, he also
stopped at the Aonikenk coast at 50o S just north
of the Strait of Magellan. There he made contact with very
tall aborigines that were undoubtedly Aonikenk.
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The northern and southern Tehuelche are thought to have had the
same language but with dialectal differences. This is more guess than
fact since virtually nothing is known of the northern language,
Günün-a-Ajech, which became extinct in the 19th century.
The very fact that the northern language had its own name seems to
argue that the differences were more than just dialectal.
A prayer in the Aonikenk language has been translated by
missionaries:
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed are
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy
Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our
death. Amen.
For more samples of the Aonikenk language and comparisons with
other languages, see the chapter Fuegian
languages. The Aonikenk language is close
to extinction: it had some 5,000 speakers in 1900 while in 2005 the
number had shrunk to around 20 speakers.
In the 19th century, the northern Tehuelche
had traded with Welsh settlers further north and some had actually
learnt Welsh as protection against the relentless persecution of the
Argentinian authorities, even leaving their children with the Welsh
settlers to learn the language and get a modern education.
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Aonikenk men.
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The tent of a Aonikenk family.
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The tribe was made up of groups consisting of a dozen or more
families. Each of these migrating groupshad a (male) chief whose
authority was normally limited to deciding when and where to move
next and when to hunt. The lower ranges of the Andes to the west were
the preferred Summer quarters, the Winters were spent along the
Atlantic coast.
Their displacements, as well as their summer and winter
settlements, were determined by the migration of animals in
Patagonia. They settled near mountains and lakes in summer, and near
the coast in winter.
Hunting was men's work. Guanacos and Nandus (an ostrich-like,
large flightless bird) were the main source of meat, wool and
feathers. Hunting was originally done with bows and arrows and many
arrow points of stone have been found in Aonikenk culture evolved.
The Bola was a Tehuelche invention that must have been made more than
10,000 years ago and archaeological traces of Bolas have been found
all over Tehuelche territory. The two-balls bola was the main
fighting weapon of Tehuelche. But there were also three- and
four-balls Bolas in use. The Tehuelche had an unparalleled mastery
over of this unconventinal weapon: it was used for hunting, in
competitions and in war. The Bola became even
more important and useful after the arrival of the horse with the
early Spanish explorers.
It is not clear from the available evidence
whether the megafauna of Patagonia (ncluding the ground sloth and a
prehistoric horse) were extinct in the area before the arrival of the
first humans. It is also not clear if domestic dogs were part of
early human activity inPatagonia.
The women specialized (among their many other tasks) on the
manufacture of fur blankets that were cured and tailored with
sophisticated methods.
Little leather cuttings left over from the fur blankets were also
distributed among a number of women, who then sewed them together
with needles (punches made of sharp nails) and threads (the dry
tendons of the loin of an adult guanaco). These quilts were later
painted by the women involved in its manufacture, first with a
background colour and then with all sorts of coloured dot and stripe
pattern.
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A man part Aoinikenk, part Spanish, photographed in the
1950s.
from C.S. Coon
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The Aonikenk had a main god, Kooch, who had created the
world, but who felt very lonely in his new creation and cried so long
that the salty sea was formed. When Kooch stopped crying, he
gave a deep sigh which was the origin of the wind. The wind in turn
dissipated the coulds and created light. After the three elements had
been created, created, Kooch made a big island in the middle of the
sea and there he created birds, mammals, insects and fish. The sun
sent light and heat for them to enjoy the work of Kooch.
Clouds carried rain and the Wind distributed it over the pastures.
Life was very pleasant for the Tehuelche in this early paradise-
until the Giants appeared. They were monstruous perverted beings,
so Elal took all the animals to Patagonia and they were loyal
to him.
Elal is the main heroe in Tehuelche mythology and the
creator of the humans. He was born in the mythical island created by
Kooch as son of a giant and of a cloud.Elal was the
creator of the Tehuelche. He invented the bow and arrows, revealed
the secret of fire to men and taught them the art of hunting as well
as moral principles. When he ended his mission, Elal vanished.
But then he returned ti gather his loyal fellow humans and returned
wwith them to his island. Thhere he is waiting for the dead to arrive
which are guided guided to Elal's island by Wendeunk, a deity
who keeps account of all the deeds andmisdeeds of the Tehuelche.
For archaeological discoveries in Patagonia see under the
archaeological sites of Argentina and in Chile, as listed in the main
Table of Contents of the American
chapter.
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For details on one the devastating "Conquest of the
Desert" (or "War of Pampas and Patagonia") 1875-1885,
see
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest_of_the_Desert
These wars were not only part of the long-drawn out and
complex conflict between Argentina and Chile over their
borders but were partly also waged against the indigeneous
populations and for the settlers who needed land for their
cattle. The wars lasted in one form or another for most of
the 19th century and were devastatinting for settlers and
indigeneous populations alike, although the Tehuelche were
not as severely affected as other tribes such as the Pampas
tribe and the Mapuches).
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Last change 1 March 2007