Tehuelche people

One of the primary classifications was from English Jesuit Thomas Falkner in his 1774 work A description of Patagonia and the adjoining parts of South America, which introduced the ethnic name 'Het peoples' for the Puelche people, which included the Tehuelche:[8]

The Puelches, or Eastern Peoples ... They bear different denominations, according to the situation of their respective countries, of because they were originally of different nations. Those toward the north are called Taluhets; to the west and south of these are the Diuihets; to the south east, the Chechehets; and to the south of these last is the country of the Tehuelhets ...

or Falkner the "Tehuelhets" or "Patagones" were the Tehuelche people who lived from the banks of the Rio Negro to the Strait of Magellan:

The Tehuelhets, who in Europe are known by the name of Patagons, have been, through ignorance of their idiom, called Tehuelchus; for chu signifies country of abode, and not people; which is expressed by the word het, and, more to the south, by the word kunnee or kunny. These and the Chechehets are known to the Spaniards by the name of Serranos, or Mountaineers. They are split into a great many subdivisions, as the Leuvuches, or People of the River, and Calille-Het, or People of the Mountains; amongst whom are the Chulilau-cunnees, Sehuau-cunnees, and Yacana-cunnees. All these, except those of the River, are called by the Moluches, Vucha-Huilliches.

In 1936 Milcíades Vignati published Las culturas indígenas de la Pampa y Las culturas indígenas de la Patagonia (The Indigenous Cultures of the Pampas and the Indigenous Cultures of Patagonia) in which he proposed that between the 16th and 19th centuries the "Gününa-küne" or "Tuelches" lived from the southern half of the province of Rio Negro to the boundary between the present Chubut and Santa Cruz provinces. The "Serranos" were to the North of them and the "Aônükün'k" or "Patagones" were located to the South. These peoples were divided between three groups: the "Peénken" (people of the North), the "Háunikenk" (people of the South), and the "Aónikenk" (the people of the West).

In his 1949 piece El complejo tehuelche. Estudio de etnografía patagónica (The Tehuelche Complex. An Ethnographic study of Patagonians), the military doctor Federico A. Escalada classified the Tehuelche people from historic periods, on the basis of the Estudio de la realidad humana y de la bibliografía (Study of Human Reality and Bibliography), into five simple categories, each with their own language derived from a mother language called "Ken". He grouped them together geographically into "dry land" and "islanders", denying the existence of a separate "Pampa" group.[9]

The names used by Escalada, which he obtained from Mapuche-speaking informants, were:

• Dry land Tehuelche people:
  • "Guénena-kéne": the group he considered the northern component of the Tehuelche complex. It is evident that the group, historically, lived primarily along the main rivers of North Patagonia and extended through the northern territories of Chubut, up to Río Negro, constantly entering in to the south of the present Buenos Aires Province and the southeastern region of La Pampa Province. The name Guénena-kéne was provided to Escalada in 1945 by Chief Ciriaco Chaquilla from the Chubut Panyanieyo area, who identified himself as a member of the "Pampa Verdadero". He spoke the Puelche language, which was used by the Guénena-kéne people. Escalada's classification of the Guénena-kéne people coincided with other individuals who encountered the same group such as: Guillermo Cox, a British traveler who traveled through the south of Neuquén in 1863 and referred to the group as the "Northern Tehuelche people";[10] Juan Federico Hunziker, a Swiss missionary who was in Patagonia in 1864 and referred to the Guénena-kéne as the "Genacin";[11] Francisco Pascasio Moreno who in 1876 called them the "Gennaken"; and Tomás Harrington, a rural teacher who went through Chubut between 1911 and 1935 and compiled a vocabulary which he published in 1946 stating that the indigenous peoples who informed him about their almost dead language referred to themselves as "Gününa küne".[12][13] In combination with other neighboring groups the Guénena-kéne were generally referred to as the Puelches (i.e. 'Eastern') by the Mapuches, a name which Alcide d’Orbigny also gave them in his Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale (1826–1833). The Salesian missionary Doménico Milanesio named the Guénena-kéne the "Pampas" in his 1898 vocabulary, published in 1915.[14] In 1922, doctor and German ethnologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche, who traveled through Argentina circa 1900, called them the "Agününa künnü".[15]
  • "Aóni-kénk": The southern component of the Tehuelche complex, located from the Magellan Strait up to the Chubut River in Argentina and the Palena province in Chile. Escalada called their language Aonika áish, the Tehuelche language. He obtained the name from his informant Agustina Quilchaman de Manquel.
  • "Chehuache-kénk": The western or foothill component of the Tehuelche complex, located in the valleys and foothills of the Andean Mountains between General Carrera Lake and Fontana Lake up to Nahuel Huapi Lake in Argentina. In Chile they were in the Andean sectors of Osorno, Llanquihue Province and the Palena Province. Their language was called Teushen. Escalada was the first to suggest they were a separate component, since researchers who identified them before him positioned them as a southern faction of the Northern Tehuelche people: the "Southern Northern Tehuelche people", who Harrington called "Chulila küne" (Cholila People).
• Island Tehuelche People, located on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego:
  • "Selknam": The Onas, who lived on the northern steppe region of the island.
  • "Man(e)kenk": The Haush, an intermixed group of Onas with non-Patagonian Yaghan people. They lived in the Mitre Peninsula on the Eastern part of the island.

Distribution of pre-Hispanic peoples in Southern Patagonia

Argentine historian and paleontologist Rodolfo Casamiquela reviewed Escalada's classifications in his books Rectificaciones y ratificaciones hacia una interpretación definitiva del panorama etnológico de la Patagonia y área septentrional adyacente (Rectifications and ratifications towards a definitive interpretation of the ethnological panorama of Patagonia and the adjacent Northern area) (1965); Un nuevo panorama etnológico del area pan-pampeana y patagónica adyacente (A new ethnological panorama of the Pan-Pampas and adjacent Patagonian area) (1969); and Bosquejo de una etnología de la provincia de Río Negro (Outline of an ethnology of the Río Negro province) (1985), reaffirming the existence of a Tehuelche complex.[16]

Casamiquela proposed the following classification for the continental area circa 1700:

• "Southern Southern Tehuelche people": Or "Aónik'enk" (which in their language means "southern"), also called "Aonik" or "Ch'oonükü". Their distribution was from the Strait of Magellan to the Santa Cruz River and they were nomadic hunters. Their language was "Aonek'o 'a'jen".
• "Northern Southern Tehuelche people" or "Mech'arn": Their epicenter was in the Chico and Chalía river areas in Santa Cruz. Their language was "Téwsün". Casamiquela says they were similar to the southerners and they were absorbed by their southern neighborhoods and the Mapuches.
• "Southern Northern Tehuelche people": Also called "Pampas" and "mountain-dwellers" by historians from Buenos Aires (who lived in the mountains of the Tandilia system and the Sierra de la Ventana). They lived between the Chubut river and Río Negro and Río Limay. Those who lived in the center or east of the Chubut and Río Negro provinces called themselves "Günün a künna" or "Gününa këna" (the excellent people). Those who lived in the foothill region north of the Chubut river and west of the Río Negro were called "Chüwach a künna" or "Chëwach a këna" ("People on the edge of the mountains). The common language to both groups was "Gününa iájech". Although culturally similar to the southern Tehuelche people, they differed from them because they were Pampian without mixing with Fuegians.
• "Northern Northern Tehuelche people": The "Puelches" from north of Neuquén and the group called "Querandí" by the Guaraní people belong to this group. At the time of the Spanish arrival in the Pampas, these nomadic Pampian hunters were based in Mendoza Province, and extended in to the south of Córdoba Province and San Luis Province, to almost all of current Buenos Aires Province and the city of Buenos Aires. The Querandí disappeared as a Tehuelche faction, mixing in colonial times with other groups.[3][17]

The classification of Chonan languages, according to Roberto Lehmann-Nitsche

In 1864, Hunziker recorded a vocabulary and a collection of phrases from a language called Genakenn in the Viedma region. In 1865, the explorer Jorge Claraz traveled from south of Buenos Aires to Chubut being guided by individuals who spoke Gününa iajëch, collecting the names of places, words and sentences in his Diario de viaje de exploración al Chubut (Chubut exploration travel diary) (1865–1866).

In 1913, Lehmann Nitsche used the data collected by Hunziker and Claraz to create a comparative vocabulary of Tehuelche languages: El grupo lingüístico tschon de los territorios magallánicos (The Chonan Linguistic Groups of the Magellanic Territories).

In 1925, Harrington gathered words from bilingual Tehuelche speakers which he published in 1946 in Contribución al estudio del indio gününa küne (A Contribution to the Study of the Gününa küne Indian), claiming that they called their language Gününa yájitch or Pampa. During the 1950s, Casamiquela collected vocabulary, songs and prayers from various elders, outlining a morphosyntactic analysis.

In 1960, Ana Gerzenstein made a phonetic and phonological classification in her Fonología de la lengua gününa-këna (Phonology of the Gününa-këna Language).

In 1991, José Pedro Viegas Barros outlined a morphosyntactic projection in Clarificación lingüística de las relaciones interculturales e interétnicas en la región pampeano-patagónica (Linguistic Clarification of Intercultural and Inter-ethnic Relations in the Pampas-Patagonian Region), and in 2005 he developed a phonological description in Voces en el viento[20][22] (Voices in the Wind).

Puelche is a dead language. Casamiquela released the first and last name of the last Puelche speaker: José María Cual, who died in 1960 at the age of 90.[23]

Rock art at Cueva de las Manos, Santa Cruz Province

The ancestors of the Tehuelche are probably responsible for the creation of the rock art of Cueva de las Manos, created from about 13,000 to 9,000 years ago up until around 700 A.D.[25][26][27] Six thousand years ago the Toldense industry emerged, consisting primarily of goods such as two-sided sub-triangular projectile points, lateral and terminal scrapers, bifacial knives and tools made from bone. Later, between 7000 and 4000 B.C., the Casapedrense industry appeared, characterized by a greater proportion of stone tools made in sheets, which was most likely a demonstration of a specialization in guanaco hunting,[28] which is also present in the subsequent cultural developments of the Tehuelche people.

From this time and until the European arrival (early 16th century) the Tehuelche people were hunter-gatherers who utilized seasonal mobility, moving towards guanaco herds. During the winter they were in the low areas (meadows, wetlands, shores, lake shores, etc.), and during the summer they moved up to the central plateaus of Patagonia or to the Andes mountains where they had, among other sacred sites, Mount Fitz Roy.

Portrait of Chief Junchar by José del Pozo in Puerto Deseado, in 1789, during the Malaspina Expedition (1789–1794)

On 31 March 1520 the Spanish expedition, under the command of Fernando de Magallanes, landed in San Julián Bay to spend the winter there. Here, they made contact with Tehuelche indigenous groups, who they referred to as "Patagones", as told by the scribe, Antonio Pigafetta. Pigaffetta described these people as a mythical tribe of Patagonian giants.[4]

Prior to meeting the Tehuelche groups in person, the explorers had been amazed by the size of their footprints. Enlarged by the animal furs they used as footwear, their feet appeared much larger than those of the Europeans at the time. During the 16th century, the average male height of Europeans at around 165 cm (5 ft 5 in)[29] would have been shorter than the Patagonian men whose height reportedly averaged above 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) by some accounts[6] and around 183 centimetres (6 ft) by other accounts.[30] Thus the Europeans may have considered them to be "Patones" ('large footed') or the Patagonians may have reminded the explorers of the giant Pathoagón from the knighthood novel Primaleón.[6] The Patagonians' large craniometry made them famous in European literature from the 16th to the 19th centuries due to their large stature and physical strength.

Since the 18th century, there was important commercial activity and product exchanges among the native inhabitants of the Pampas plains and the Sierras of the current Buenos Aires Province, the inhabitants of Northern Patagonia, and those of both edges of the Andes. There were two very important trade fairs in Cayrú and Chapaleofú. These trade fairs, called "Poncho fairs" by the Jesuits at the time who recorded their existence (such as Thomas Falkner), were places for the exchange of various types of products: from livestock and agricultural products to garments, such as ponchos. Cayrú was located in the most western part of the Tandilia system (in the current territory of the Olavarría Partido). Chapaleofú refers to the homonymic water stream vicinity, situated in the current Tandil Partido.[31] Both municipalities, or partidos, are located in the interior of the current Buenos Aires Province. The movements of people to participate in the exchanging of products generated certain cultural exchanges between different groups living anywhere from the humid Pampas, the northern Patagonia, the immediate area near the Andes (both on its western and eastern edges), to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This was the start of cultural exchanges and migratory movements, between distinct groups such as the Tehuelche, Ranquel and Mapuche people.[32]

Although Mapuche trade started as a means of fostering commerce and alliances, it was completed by generating a large cultural influence on the Tehuelche and other groups, to the point that it is referred to as the "Mapuchization" or "Araucanization of Patagonia". A large portion of the Tehuelche and Ranquel peoples adopted many of the Mapuche customs and their language, while the Mapuches adopted parts of the Tehuelche way of life (such as living in tolderías) and thereby, the differences between the two groups were blurred to the point that their descendants refer to themselves as Mapuche-Tehuelche people.[33]

During the first half of the 18th century, Chief Cacapol and his son, Chief Cangapol, were the most important chiefs in the regions extending from the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Oceans, and from the Río Negro to the Salado River. Cangapol had a seat in the government in the Sierra de la Ventana region, and their people were known as the "Mountain Pampas". The Pampas knew how to align themselves with the Mapuches from the west, to attack the Buenos Aires Campaign in 1740.

Tehuelches in Río Gallegos

In this process there were also inter-ethnic struggles and by 1820 heavy combat erupted between the Patagones and Pehuenches on the banks of the Senguerr River; other combat occurred at Barrancas Blancas and Shótel Káike.[24] By 1828, the Pincheira Royalist army attacked the Tehuelche group in the Bahía Blanca and Carmen de Patagones area.

The Tehuelche people south of the Río Negro had a female chief: María la Grande. Her successor, Casimiro Biguá, was the first Tehuelche chief to make treaties with the Argentine government. His sons, Chiefs Papón and Mulato, ended up on a reserve in southern Chile.

The Tehuelche people had to live with Welsh immigrants who, since the second half of the 19th century, began to settle in Chubut: the relations were generally harmonious between the two groups. In 1869, Chief Biguá recognized the need to defend the Welsh against a potential attack from Chief Calfucurá.

Little information is known about Tehuelche culture before the use of the horse, although their socioeconomic organization resembled that of the Ona people from Tierra del Fuego. The introduction of the horse by the Spaniards, which they became acquainted with as of 1570, transformed the social organization of Tehuelche people: the introduction caused groups to develop dependencies on horses in their daily lives. Like the indigenous groups in the North American Great Plains, the Tehuelche also worked the thicket steppes of Patagonia, living mainly off of guanaco and rhea meat (ñandú or choique), followed by South Andean deer, deer, Patagonian mara and even puma and jaguar meat, in addition to certain plants (although late, they learned how to cultivate the land). As for fish and shellfish, there were certain cases where their consumption was banned: for example, some groups had prohibited the consumption of fish. Their groups used to consist of between 50 and 100 members.

Under General Roca, the Conquest of the Desert extended Argentine power into Patagonia

The adoption of the horse meant an extensive social change in Tehuelche culture: the new mobility altered their ancestral territories and greatly affected their movement patterns. Before the 17th century east–west movements prevailed in pursuit of guanacos; however, as of the dawn of the equestrian complex, longitudinal movements (from south to north and vice versa) were very important in establishing extensive exchange networks. In the mid-19th century the Aonikenk exchanged their skins and mollusks for cholilas (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, Magellan barberry, Chilean pine tree seeds, Cyttaria, buds and Chilean bamboo buds, etc.) and apples with the Gennakenk people of Neuquén, the upper valley of Río Negro and the so-called 'country of Strawberries', or Chulilaw (the region approximately bounded to the north by Lake Nahuel Huapi, to the east by the low mountains and morraines called Patagónides, to the west by the high summits of the Andes and to the south by Lake Buenos Aires/General Carrera).

The horse, or more precisely, the mare, became a principle part of the Tehuelche diet, leaving guanacos in second place. The Selknam from Tierra del Fuego did not develop a comparable dependency on horses.

Elderly Tehuelche woman smoking a tobacco pipe

Welsh settlers arrived to the Tehuelche lands of the lower Chubut Valley in 1865. Relations were mostly amicable and has been described as mutual feelings of "trust and admiration".[34] Paternalistic attitudes toward the Tehuelche were common among the Welsh. There was a widespread critical view of the Argentine militaries treatment of the Tehuelche and of traders who provided Tehuelches with alcohol and weaponry.[35] Tehuelches were reportedly seen as uncivilized, savage and childlike in nature by the Welsh.[36]

As early as the second half of the 19th century, Tehuelche groups were abducted and displayed against their will in countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, (Germany), France and England. More specific data shows that a chief known as Pitioche and his wife and child were captured. Reports of these shocking facts form part of Christian Báez and Peter Mason's book Zoológicos humanos[37] (Human Zoos).

Anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche was also criticized for having studied members of the Tehuelche people who had been abducted and were exhibited in circuses.[38]

By decree of President José Evaristo Uriburu on 11 January 1898, the Camusu Aike reservation was created for the "gathering of Tehuelche tribes." The reservation is located in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina.[39]

In 1922, President Hipólito Yrigoyen created the following reserves by decree: Lago Viedma (Lots 119–117) between 20,000 and 25,000 hectares (200–250 km²; 77–97 sq mi), Lago Cardiel (Lot 6) and Lago Cardiel (Lot 28 bis). The first two were stripped of their status in 1966 and the third in 1990.[40]

• Inacayal
• Loncopán
• Salpul

In the Chubut Province, there are mixed communities of Mapuche and Tehuelche people, and they call themselves Mapuche-Tehuelche:

Four urban Mapuche-Tehuelche communities also exist in Santa Cruz: in Caleta Olivia (Fem Mapu), Gallegos River (Aitué), in Río Turbio (Willimapu) and in Puerto Santa Cruz (Millanahuel).[54]

The Cushamen indigenous reserve in the Cushamen Department in Chubut was created in 1889 to accommodate Chief Miguel Ñancuche Nahuelquir's tribe, who was removed from the Neuquén mountain area by the Conquest of the Desert. It comprises 1250 km² and 400 Mapuches-Tehuelche families.[55]

The Tehuelche group is nearly extinct in Chile. In 1905 they suffered a smallpox epidemic that killed Chief Mulato and other members of his settled tribe in the río Zurdo valley, near Punta Arenas. The survivors took refuge in Argentinian territory, possibly on the Cumusu Aike reserve.[56] Their memory is present in the name Villa Tehuelches, a Chilean town in the Laguna Blanca commune.

• Williams, Glyn (1975). The desert and the dream: A study of Welsh colonization in Chubut 1865 – 1915. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-0579-9.