Selk'nam genocide

[Dittatore_Signore_Massimo]

In the south america there is an island called "Tierras Del Fuego" it literally means "The Land Of Fire". It got this name from Ferdinand Magellan, since when they crossed the Magellan strait the explorers saw huge Bonfires from the distance and they thougt they were entering hell.



This island was inhabited by an ethnic group called "Selk'nam" or "Ona". This people lived in 4 different clans, totally Isolated from the rest of the world, they never knew about agriculture since they lived in one of the most hostile places in the world, they also did not know about metal tools, since they always used stone.











The first contact this people had with the outside world was actually with Charles Darwin himself, however, Darwin called them "the most miserable form of life". This only damaged their image, since only a few decades later Argentina and Chile colonized that region and rapidly started raising sheep there.
Both argentina and chile decided that the Selk'nam were a problem, so they started a systematic genocide against them. Argentina hired a romanian killer called "Julius Popper" to esterminate them.



At the end, Both goverments tried apologized for all the genociding and tried to convert them to catholicism and integrate them to the country, however, only 10 natives remained by this time, and they died quickly due to disease. The last Selk'nam died in 1974, ending the Selk'nam people for ever.
What's your opinion about this?

[AnthonyBF]

Very awful, it seems that little was done by both Governments to prevent the death of their race in 1974, while i'm sure that they were really apologetic about the genocide and regretted it very much so.

I understand Charles Darwin's description though as they would appear to have a rather miserable life living in such harsh conditions especially to him coming from England and i don't think he meant them any harm himself, overall i think that instead of killing them slow integration of them into society would of been better allowing them to use land that is fertile, introducing them to agriculture and the sort as well as trying to learn more about their culture and history in an effort to try and preserve it.

Yet I do think that it was inevitable seeming as the governments could either do that or kill them have little repercussions and have what they wanted for little cost i presume.

Off topic what information do we have on their history, tools, culture, language, clothing and the sort?

[Dittatore_Signore_Massimo]

Very awful, it seems that little was done by both Governments to prevent the death of their race in 1974, while i'm sure that they were really apologetic about the genocide and regretted it very much so.

I understand Charles Darwin's description though as they would appear to have a rather miserable life living in such harsh conditions especially to him coming from England and i don't think he meant them any harm himself, overall i think that instead of killing them slow integration of them into society would of been better allowing them to use land that is fertile, introducing them to agriculture and the sort as well as trying to learn more about their culture and history in an effort to try and preserve it.

Yet I do think that it was inevitable seeming as the governments could either do that or kill them have little repercussions and have what they wanted for little cost i presume.

Off topic what information do we have on their history, tools, culture, language, clothing and the sort?

They did not have metal tools and they had no writing system so we do not know much about their history or culture, however, an austrian missionary called "Martin Gusinde" who learned their language and became one of them when there were few of them. He helped them hide in his church to avoid the hunters and they converted to christianity, however, they did not last long since sickness killed them.

[AnthonyBF]

Ahhh damn that is a real shame. Where did you find all of this information?

[Dittatore_Signore_Massimo]

Ahhh damn that is a real shame. Where did you find all of this information?

I got some information by just going to museums about the native people, most videos are in spanish, but i think this one has some info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77f9QxIbw10

[AnthonyBF]

Awesome Thanks a lot dude.

[Dittatore_Signore_Massimo]

Awesome Thanks a lot dude.

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