Tehuelches is a collective name for some native tribes of
PatagoniaPatagonia is a geographic region containing the southernmost portion of South America. Located in Argentina and Chile, it comprises the southernmost portion of the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateaux and low plains to the east. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by...
. They are also called
Patagonians.
It is possible that the stories of the early European explorers about the
PatagonThe Patagones or Patagonian giants are a mythical race of people, who first began to appear in early European accounts of the then little-known region and coastline of Patagonia. They were supposed to have exceeded at least double normal human height, some accounts giving heights of 12 to or more...
es, a race of giants in
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, are based on the Tehuelches, because the Tehuelches are typically tall. According to the , there were 4,300 Tehuelche in the
provincesArgentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...
of
ChubutChubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd Parallel South and 46th Parallel South , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...
and
Santa CruzSanta Cruz is a province of Argentina, located in the southern part of the country, in Patagonia. It borders Chubut province to the north, and Chile to the west and south. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean...
, and a further 1,637 in other parts of Argentina.
The Tehuelche originally spoke
TehuelcheTehuelche is a nearly extinct Chon language spoken by four people in Patagonia out of an ethnic group of 200. They were originally nomadic hunters from Chile. It is also known as Aonikenk or Aonek'o 'ajen. The decline of the language started with the Araucanization of Patagonia, when many Tehuelche...
, a
ChonCHON is an mnemonic acronym for the four most common elements in living organisms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. These four elements are also notable for being the least massive in their group in the periodic table.Sometimes the acronym CHONP is used to include the element phosphorus...
language, but later, with the
AraucanizationThe Araucanization was the process of expansion of Mapuche culture, influence and language from Araucanía into the Patagonic plains. Historians disagree in the time of the expansion but it would have occurred sometime between 1550 and 1850. Amerindian peoples such as the Puelches and Tehuelches...
of Patagonia, many tribes started to speak variants of
MapudungunMapudungun is a language isolate spoken in central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also known as Mapudungu, Mapuche, and Araucanian...
.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Tehuelche' Start a new discussion about 'Tehuelche' Answer questions from other users |
Tehuelches is a collective name for some native tribes of
PatagoniaPatagonia is a geographic region containing the southernmost portion of South America. Located in Argentina and Chile, it comprises the southernmost portion of the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateaux and low plains to the east. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by...
. They are also called
Patagonians.
It is possible that the stories of the early European explorers about the
PatagonThe Patagones or Patagonian giants are a mythical race of people, who first began to appear in early European accounts of the then little-known region and coastline of Patagonia. They were supposed to have exceeded at least double normal human height, some accounts giving heights of 12 to or more...
es, a race of giants in
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, are based on the Tehuelches, because the Tehuelches are typically tall. According to the , there were 4,300 Tehuelche in the
provincesArgentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...
of
ChubutChubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd Parallel South and 46th Parallel South , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...
and
Santa CruzSanta Cruz is a province of Argentina, located in the southern part of the country, in Patagonia. It borders Chubut province to the north, and Chile to the west and south. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean...
, and a further 1,637 in other parts of Argentina.
Language
The Tehuelche originally spoke
TehuelcheTehuelche is a nearly extinct Chon language spoken by four people in Patagonia out of an ethnic group of 200. They were originally nomadic hunters from Chile. It is also known as Aonikenk or Aonek'o 'ajen. The decline of the language started with the Araucanization of Patagonia, when many Tehuelche...
, a
ChonCHON is an mnemonic acronym for the four most common elements in living organisms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. These four elements are also notable for being the least massive in their group in the periodic table.Sometimes the acronym CHONP is used to include the element phosphorus...
language, but later, with the
AraucanizationThe Araucanization was the process of expansion of Mapuche culture, influence and language from Araucanía into the Patagonic plains. Historians disagree in the time of the expansion but it would have occurred sometime between 1550 and 1850. Amerindian peoples such as the Puelches and Tehuelches...
of Patagonia, many tribes started to speak variants of
MapudungunMapudungun is a language isolate spoken in central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also known as Mapudungu, Mapuche, and Araucanian...
. Actually, their own name, Tehuelche, comes from that language.
External links
Christine Papp:
Die Tehuelche. Ein Ethnohistorischer Beitrag zu einer jahrhundertelangen Nicht-Begegnung. A dissertation. Universitãt Wien, 2002. (PDF)