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Concept
Yahgan people
Summary
The Yahgan (also called Yagán, Yaghan, Yámana, Yamana, or Tequenica) are a group of indigenous peoples in the Southern Cone. Their traditional territory includes the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, extending their presence into Cape Horn, making them the world's southernmost human population.
In the 19th century, the Yahgan were known in English as "Fuegians". The term is now avoided as it can also refer to several other indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego, for example the Selk'nam. The Yahgan language, also known as Yámana, is considered a language isolate. Cristina Calderón (1928–2022), who was born on Navarino Island, Chile, was known as the last full-blooded Yahgan and last native speaker of the Yahgan language. Most Yahgans speak Spanish.
The Yahgan were traditionally nomads and hunter-gatherers who traveled by canoe between islands to collect food. The men hunted sea lions and the women dove to collect shellfish.
The Yahgan share some similarities with the more northern Chonos and Alacalufe tribes. These groups share behavioral traits; a traditional canoe-faring hunter-gatherer lifestyle and physical traits such as short stature, being long-headed (dolichocephalic), and having a "low face". Despite these similarities, their languages are completely different.
In 1871, Anglican missionaries Thomas Bridges and George Lewis established a mission in Tierra del Fuego where they raised their families. Bridges learned the Yahgan language when he decided to remain on Keppel Island at the age of 17. Over more than a decade, he compiled a grammar and 30,000-word Yahgan-English dictionary.
Bridges' second son, Lucas Bridges, also learned the language and was one of the few Europeans to do so. In his 1948 book, a history of that period, he writes that in the Yahgan autonym or name for themselves was yamana, meaning person, though modern usage is for man only, not women. The plural is yamali(m)). The name Yaghan, originally and correctly spelled Yahgan, was first used by his father, Thomas Bridges, from the name of their territory, Yahgashaga, or Yahga Strait.
Official source
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