Julius Popper
Encyclopedia
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, adventurer and explorer. He is responsible for the modern outline of the city of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. As a "conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
" of 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 southern 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...
he was a controversial but influential figure.
Life
Popper was born in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, son of professor Neftali Popper, a prosperous antiques merchant. He studied in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
before arriving to 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...
on 1885 hoping to find gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. On 7 September 1886, together with eighteen people, he as captain, chief engineer, mineralogist, journalist and photographer started the "Popper Expedition" and found gold dust on the beach of El Páramo, a Patagonia
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 peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
. The expedition was rigorously and strictly enforced according to military standards with heavily armed men, with Popper in direct command of everything. He succeeded in unearthing great amounts of gold and his Compania de Lavaderos de Oro del Sud realized enormous capital gains at the 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...
stock exchange
Buenos Aires Stock Exchange
The Buenos Aires Stock Exchange is the organization responsible for the operation of Argentina's primary stock exchange located at Buenos Aires CBD. Founded in 1854, is the successor of the Banco Mercantil, created in 1822 by Bernardino Rivadavia.Citing BCBA's self definition: "It is a...
.
Argentine peso
The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...
lost its value in the market crash of 1890, even there his gold coins were regarded as currency.
Popper vigorously fought against his enemies; gold diggers and thieves were castigated according to arbitrary law. However, the most controversial aspect of his life is his involvement in the Selknam Genocide
Selknam Genocide
Selk'nam Genocide is the genocide against the Selk'nam people from the second half of the nineteenth to the early twentieth century.The Selknam, also known as the Ona, were an Amerindian people who inhabited the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego until the death of the last descendant, Angela Loij, in...
, a genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
against the native
Native
The term "native" can have many different social and political connotations in different contexts. In some cases it is a neutral, descriptive term, for example, when stating that one is a native of a particular city or that a certain language is one's native language...
communities in 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...
.
Popper prepared an expedition to enforce the Argentine claim
Argentine Antarctica
Argentine Antarctica is a sector of Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory. The Argentine Antarctic region, consisting of the Antarctic Peninsula and a triangular section extending to the South Pole, is delimited by the 25° West and 74° West meridians and the 60° South...
for parts of Antarctica.
After his sudden death at the age of 35 his empire collapsed. Popper died in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
; the cause of death remains unclear, but sources reveal being assassinated in his hotel room by a stranger.
In fiction
- Daniel Ares wrote a novel about Popper's life called Popper - la Patagonia del oro.
- Patricio MannsPatricio MannsPatricio Manns is a Chilean composer, author, writer, and journalist.-Infancy and youth:Patricio Manns was born in the rural town of Nacimiento, in the south of Chile on 3 August 1937. He is the son of a primary school teacher and an agricultural engineer of German descent...
makes him one of the main characters of El Corazón a Contraluz a novel published in 1996. - He was played by Jorge PerugorríaJorge PerugorríaJorge Perugorria was born on August 13, 1965 in Wajay, Havana. He is known as one of the most famous Cuban actors since his part as Diego in Strawberry and Chocolate Jorge Perugorria (aka Pichi) was born on August 13, 1965 in Wajay, Havana. He is known as one of the most famous Cuban actors since...
in the film Tierra del FuegoTierra del fuego (film)Tierra del fuego is a 2000 Chilean drama film directed by Miguel Littín. It is about the conquest of Tierra del Fuego by Julius Popper. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:...
(2000), where he appears as a Romanian OrthodoxRomanian Orthodox ChurchThe Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
, working for queen Carmen Sylva of Romania. - In a play written by Céline MonsarratCéline MonsarratCéline Monsarrat is a French actress best known for her voice dubbing work. Monsarrat is the French dubbing voice of Julia Roberts in almost all of her films, the voice of Dory in the French dub of Finding Nemo, the French dubbing voice of Anne Heche, and the voice of Anastasia in the animated...
La mère de la mariée, his story is briefly but accurately explained, and emotionally described.
External links
- European Adventurer in Tierra del Fuego: Julio Popper, Bernard D. Ansel, Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Feb., 1970), pp. 89–110
- Popper, el dictador fueguino, Dr. Armando Braun Menéndez
- Pictures from an album presented by Popper in 1887 to the president Miguel Juárez Celman.
- From Argentina's Glaciers to Tierra del Fuego, Cherie and Walter Glaser.
- Julio Popper