Selknam Genocide
Encyclopedia
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 1974.They were one of the last aboriginal groups in South America
to be reached by Westerners who hunted them down for money.
After hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years of semi-nomadic life in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego
(literally, big island of land of fire, based on early Europe
an explorers observations of smoke from Selk'nam cooking fires), the introduction of European sheep ranches created strong conflicts between natives and European, Argentinean, or Chilean settlers. The conflicts became a war of extermination. Large companies paid sheep farmers one pound sterling
per Selk'nam dead, which was confirmed by the redemption of a pair of hands or ears, or later a complete skull.
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 Selk'nam people from the second half of the nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
The Selknam
Selknam
The Selk'nam, also known as the Onawo, lived in the Patagonian region of southern Chile and Argentina including the Tierra del Fuego islands...
, 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 1974.They were one of the last aboriginal groups in 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...
to be reached by Westerners who hunted them down for money.
Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego
Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego is an island near the southern tip of South America from which it is separated by the Strait of Magellan...
(literally, big island of land of fire, based on early Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an explorers observations of smoke from Selk'nam cooking fires), the introduction of European sheep ranches created strong conflicts between natives and European, Argentinean, or Chilean settlers. The conflicts became a war of extermination. Large companies paid sheep farmers one pound sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
per Selk'nam dead, which was confirmed by the redemption of a pair of hands or ears, or later a complete skull.
Further reading
- Luis Alberto Borrero, Los Selk'nam (Onas), Galerna, Buenos Aires 2007.
- Lucas BridgesLucas BridgesEsteban Lucas Bridges was an Anglo-Argentine author and explorer. He was the third child and second son of Anglican missionary Reverend Thomas Bridges and "the third white native of Ushuaia" at the southernmost tip of South America...
, Uttermost Part of the Earth, London 1948.