Existing comment:
Native peoples settled Patagonia, Gran Chaco, and Tierra del Fuego -- the southernmost reaches of South America -- thousands of years ago. Inspired by ancient stories that recall the creation of their homelands, the Mapuche of southern Chile and Argentina resisted subjugation by the Inka Empire and the Spanish Crown. Living on their ancestral lands, they forged a strong way of life -- admapu -- that has guided their response to outside forces. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Mapuche traded textiles and other goods for Spanish silver coins, which they fashioned into distinctive jewelry and elaborate horse ornaments. Though challenged in the 20th century by the loss of much of their land, more than one million Mapuche continue to live in Chile and Argentina, many in cities, maintaining traditions that connect them to their region of origin.
Farther south, the Yámana and Selk´nam kept constant fires burning on the large string of islands at the tip of South America -- Tierra del Fuego, "land of fire." These two peoples had sporadic contact with Europeans from the time of Magellan's exploration along the coast in 1520. They were less impacted by contact than many Native cultures -- until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when they were virtually annihilated by the sudden and dramatic increase of European settlers. Today, few people identify themselves as descendants of the Yámana or Selk´nam. |