European Encounters with the Yamana People of Cape Horn, before and after Darwin

A narration of dramas played out from 1578 to 2000 in Tierra del Fuego by the native Yamana, Darwin, explorers, sealers, whalers and missionaries.

Anne Chapman (Author)

9780521513791, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 April 2010

746 pages, 54 b/w illus. 2 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 4.4 cm, 1.09 kg

Review of the hardback: 'The late Anne Chapman's well-written and researched volume chronicles the dramatic, at times deadly, encounters between indigenous people and European scientists, missionaries, and traders in the nineteenth century … many scholars will profit from reading its rich narrative.' William F. Sater, The American Historical Review

This is a documented narration of dramas played out from 1578 to 2000 in the Cape Horn area, Tierra del Fuego, by the native Yamana and Charles Darwin, explorers, sealers, whalers, Anglican missionaries, and three other famous people who made contact with some of the last Yamana. The narration, based on geographical, historical, and ethnographic sources and Anne Chapman's fieldwork with the last few descendants of the Yamana, describes the Europeans' motives for going to Tierra del Fuego and the Yamana's motives for staying there some 6,000 years, what the outsiders gained, and what the Yamana lost. The main objective of this work is to incorporate the hunting-gathering Yamana into world history by evoking their way of life, especially Jemmy Button and Fuegia Basket in comparison with the outsiders they encountered, especially Drake, Cook, and Darwin in their scientific world in the context of their experiences with the Yamana in Tierra del Fuego and nearby areas.

INTRODUCTION
1. 1578–1775: DRAKE ENCOUNTERS THE FUEGIANS: THE FIRST MASSACRE OF EUROPEANS: CAPTAIN COOK INAUGURATES A NEW ERA
2. 1780–1825: MOBY DICKS IN TIERRA DEL FUEGO: THE WHALERS AND SEALERS ARRIVE
3. 1826–30: tHE FIRST VOYAGE OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIPS TO TIERRA DEL FUEGO: FOUR FUEGIANS TAKEN TO ENGLAND
4. 1830–2: FUEGIANS IN ENGLAND: FITZ-ROY AND DARWIN MEET: THE BEAGLE RETURNS TO TIERRA DEL FUEGO WITH DARWIN
5. 1833–6: tHE THREE FUEGIANS WITH DARWIN AND FITZ-ROY IN TIERRA DEL FUEGO: ADIOS FUEGUINOS
6. 1838–43: USA AND GB ANTARCTIC EXPEDITIONS ARRIVE NEAR CAPE HORN AND MEET THE YAMANA
7. 1848–51: ALLEN F. GARDINER SEARCHES FOR HEATHENS AND FINDS THE YAMANA
8. 1852–8: tHE MISSIONARIES CARRY ON, JEMMY BUTTON IS LOCATED
9. 1858–60: YAMANA VISIT THE KEPPEL MISSION: MASSACRE IN TIERRA DEL FUEGO
10. 1860–9: tHE FIRST EPIDEMIC: THE MISSIONARIES SEEK A LOCATION: FOUR OTHER YAMANA VISIT ENGLAND
11. 1869–80: tHE MISSIONARIES SETTLE IN USHUAIA: THE YAMANA ATTEMPT TO ADJUST
12. 1881–2: fIRST SIGNS OF EPIDEMICS IN USHUAIA: ALAKALUFS KIDNAPPED TO EUROPE: NEWS OF FUEGIA BASKET
13. 1882–6: tHE FRENCH ARRIVE, THEN THE ARGENTINES: THE EPIDEMICS BECOME UNCONTROLLED
14. 1887–1900: oTHER FUEGIANS KIDNAPPED: THE NON-ENDING EPIDEMICS: 'IS GOD VERY FAR AWAY?'
15. THE XX CENTURY: THE YAMANAS: USHUAIA, THEIR ANCIENT CAMP SITE, BECOMES A CITY.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Anthropology [JHM], History of the Americas [HBJK], General & world history [HBG]