Jemmy Button
Encyclopedia
Orundellico, known as "Jeremy Button" or "Jemmy Button", (c. 1815 – 1864) was a native Fuegian
of the Yaghan
(or Yamana
) people from islands around Tierra del Fuego
, in modern Chile
and Argentina
. He was taken to England
by Captain FitzRoy
in HMS Beagle
and became a celebrity
for a period.
In 1830, Captain Robert FitzRoy, at the command of the first expedition of the famous Beagle, took a group of hostage
s from the Fuegian indigenous people after one of his boats was stolen. Jemmy Button was paid for with a mother of pearl button
, hence his name. It is not clear whether his family willingly accepted the sale or he was simply abducted. FitzRoy decided to take four of the young Fuegian hostages all the way to England "to become useful as interpreters, and be the means of establishing a friendly disposition towards Englishmen on the part of their countrymen." He seems to have shown great concern for the four, feeding them before his own officers and crew and intending them to be educated and Christianised so that they could improve the conditions of their kin.
The names given to the Fuegians
by the crew were: York Minster, Jemmy Button, Fuegia Basket and Boat Memory. Their original names were, respectively: el'leparu, o'run-del'lico and yok'cushly. Boat Memory died of smallpox
shortly after his arrival to England, and so his name is lost.
from her first voyage of exploration in mid-October 1830. The newspapers soon started publishing details of the exotic visitors and they became celebrities. In London
, they met King William IV
. Fuegia Basket, only a young girl, got a bonnet from Queen Adelaide
herself.
, in what was the second voyage of HMS Beagle
.
After initial difficulty recalling his language and customs, Jemmy was soon out of his European clothes and habits. A few months after his arrival, he was seen emaciated, naked save for a loincloth and long-haired. Nevertheless, he declined the offer to return to England, which Darwin conjectured was due to the presence of his "young and nice looking wife", Lassaweea. It appears that he and the others had taught their families some English
.
missionaries from the Patagonian Missionary Society, visited Wulaia Bay on Navarino Island, to find that Jemmy still had a remarkable grasp of English. Some time later in 1859, another group of missionaries was killed at Wulaia Bay
by the Yaghan, supposedly led by Jemmy and his family. In early 1860 Jemmy visited Keppel Island
and gave evidence at the enquiry into the massacre, held in Stanley
. He denied responsibility.
visited Tierra del Fuego and re-established contact with Jemmy, and from then relations with the Yaghan improved. In 1866, after Jemmy's death, Stirling took one of Jemmy's sons, known as Threeboy, to England.
, the German children's book, Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer by Michael Ende
, translated into English as Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver
, was based on Jemmy Button. Ende, who grew up in Nazi Germany
, wanted to write a story that provided a contrast to Adolf Hitler
's racist ideology
and misuse of Darwin's theories of evolution. Ende's 1960 novel became one of the most successful children's books in postwar Germany and won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
in 1961.
A play based on Jemmy's story premiered in Santiago, Chile
on April 8, 2010.
Fuegians
Fuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. In English, the term originally referred to the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego...
of the Yaghan
Yaghan
The Yaghan, also called Yagán, Yahgan , Yámana or Yamana, are the indigenous inhabitants of the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego extending their presence into Cape Horn...
(or Yamana
Yamana
Yamana may mean:* Yámana, an alternate name for the Yaghan language and people, in Chile and Argentina* Yamana clan, a Japanese clan * Yamana Gold Inc., a Canadian-based gold mining company operating in South and Central America...
) people from islands around 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...
, in modern 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...
. He was taken to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
by Captain FitzRoy
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality...
in HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
and became a celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
for a period.
HMS Beagle
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s from the Fuegian indigenous people after one of his boats was stolen. Jemmy Button was paid for with a mother of pearl button
Button
In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, most commonly made of plastic, but also frequently of seashell, which secures two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of...
, hence his name. It is not clear whether his family willingly accepted the sale or he was simply abducted. FitzRoy decided to take four of the young Fuegian hostages all the way to England "to become useful as interpreters, and be the means of establishing a friendly disposition towards Englishmen on the part of their countrymen." He seems to have shown great concern for the four, feeding them before his own officers and crew and intending them to be educated and Christianised so that they could improve the conditions of their kin.
The names given to the Fuegians
Fuegians
Fuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. In English, the term originally referred to the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego...
by the crew were: York Minster, Jemmy Button, Fuegia Basket and Boat Memory. Their original names were, respectively: el'leparu, o'run-del'lico and yok'cushly. Boat Memory died of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
shortly after his arrival to England, and so his name is lost.
Arrival in England
The Beagle arrived back in PlymouthPlymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
from her first voyage of exploration in mid-October 1830. The newspapers soon started publishing details of the exotic visitors and they became celebrities. In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, they met King William IV
William IV of the United Kingdom
William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...
. Fuegia Basket, only a young girl, got a bonnet from Queen Adelaide
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her.-Early life:Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany...
herself.
Return to Patagonia
One year later, the Beagle returned the three surviving Fuegians home, still captained by FitzRoy and at great expense to himself. He took with him a young naturalist, Charles DarwinCharles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, in what was the second voyage of HMS Beagle
Second voyage of HMS Beagle
The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after her previous captain committed suicide...
.
After initial difficulty recalling his language and customs, Jemmy was soon out of his European clothes and habits. A few months after his arrival, he was seen emaciated, naked save for a loincloth and long-haired. Nevertheless, he declined the offer to return to England, which Darwin conjectured was due to the presence of his "young and nice looking wife", Lassaweea. It appears that he and the others had taught their families some English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Wulaia Bay Massacre
In 1855 a group of 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 from the Patagonian Missionary Society, visited Wulaia Bay on Navarino Island, to find that Jemmy still had a remarkable grasp of English. Some time later in 1859, another group of missionaries was killed at Wulaia Bay
Bahia Wulaia
Bahia Wulaia is a bay on the western shore of Isla Navarino along the Murray Channel in extreme southern Chile. The island and adjacent strait are part of the commune of Cabo de Hornos in the Antártica Chilena Province, which is part of the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region. There is an...
by the Yaghan, supposedly led by Jemmy and his family. In early 1860 Jemmy visited Keppel Island
Keppel Island
Keppel Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying between Saunders Island and Pebble Island, and near Golding Island to the north of West Falkland on Keppel Sound. It has an area of and its highest point, Mt Keppel, is high. There is a wide, flat valley in the centre of the island with...
and gave evidence at the enquiry into the massacre, held in Stanley
Stanley, Falkland Islands
Stanley is the capital and only true cityin the Falkland Islands. It is located on the isle of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2006 census, the city had a population of 2,115...
. He denied responsibility.
Death
In 1863 the missionary Waite StirlingWaite Hockin Stirling
Waite Hockin Stirling was a 19th century missionary with the Patagonian Missionary Society and was the first Anglican Bishop of the Falkland Islands....
visited Tierra del Fuego and re-established contact with Jemmy, and from then relations with the Yaghan improved. In 1866, after Jemmy's death, Stirling took one of Jemmy's sons, known as Threeboy, to England.
Cultural references
According to Julia VossJulia Voss
Julia Voss is a German journalist and scientific historian. She is a writer and art critic at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.- Biography :...
, the German children's book, Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer by Michael Ende
Michael Ende
Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende was a German author of fantasy and children's literature. He is best known for his epic fantasy work The Neverending Story; other famous works include Momo and Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver...
, translated into English as Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver
Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver
Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver is a German children's novel written by Michael Ende. Published in 1960, it became one of the most successful German children's books in the postwar era after having first been rejected by a dozen publishers...
, was based on Jemmy Button. Ende, who grew up in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, wanted to write a story that provided a contrast to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's racist ideology
Nazism and race
Nazism developed several theories concerning races. The Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy of human race; at the top was the master race, the "Aryan race", narrowly defined by the Nazis as being identical with the Nordic race, followed by lesser races.At the bottom of this...
and misuse of Darwin's theories of evolution. Ende's 1960 novel became one of the most successful children's books in postwar Germany and won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
The Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's literature. It is Germany's only state-funded literary award. In the past, authors from many countries...
in 1961.
A play based on Jemmy's story premiered in Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
on April 8, 2010.