A Spot of Patagonian History

It would be a shame not to make any mention of Patagonian history, which is very fascinating indeed. From the bits and pieces we have read in museums, guidebooks, and of course the must-read Bruce Chatwin ‘In Patagonia’ (but by all means not the most reliable source), we have managed to gather the following facts.

Despite the generally held belief that Patagonia was not a very inhabited place, archaeological finds reveal otherwise. Patagonia was, in fact, been home to many and varied indigenous peoples for a very very long time. The idea that it was inhabited by peoples who crossed over from Far East Asia (via what is now Russia and Alaska, when they were geographically connected) is being challenged due to various footprints found (12,000 years old), and evidence that at least some originated from Polynesian islands, having arrived by boat. And of course there are thousands of cave paintings, handprints and archaeological finds to be found all over the place, indicating that Patagonia was actually quite a lively place.

However, along came our colonial ancestors, and not intent on merely decimating natives everywhere else in the Americas, also managed to clear this vast area of most of the locals over several centuries, firstly with the diseases they brought and, secondly, with their greed for gold/silver and the cities made of these allegedly to be found somewhere in this land (apparently fabrications made up by fleeing mutineers and deserters to distract captains and generals from their crimes). The introduction of alcohol into these communities didn’t help much either, and continues not to do so…

To find the names of any Latin American colonial figure, one has only to look at a map of any Argentinian or Chilean town and you’ll see that many of the streets are named after these blood-thirsty and avaricious individuals. They are all men, of whom most were of Spanish origin, except the Chilean hero O’Higgins, who was among other things, an Irish bastard. Any women who feature on these maps are of course the usual spat of virgins that feature in any city of Hispanic origin.

The indiscriminate killing of indigenous people was justified by the idea that the victims were barbaric and savage, and therefore regarded by Europeans as little more than animals. There were ‘biologists’ who thought it worthwhile to examine and measure skulls from different races around the world and list each race according to the size of its brain, and from these fastidious findings, they managed to establish how ‘civilised’ and ‘educated’ each tribe was. Some poor locals were even kidnapped and taken back to Europe to be paraded in front of various members of the public, like some kind of zoo.

Of the native American Indian tribes encountered in Patagonia, the only one to have successfully fought its ground and saved itself from almost complete extinction is the Mapuche, who the Spanish had a hard time dealing with, especially in southern Chile - this was not colonialised until long after the rest of the country. Other tribes only live on through ‘criollos’, those of mixed Spanish/European and native blood. Now and possibly due to these acts of genocide, Patagonia is very sparsely populated indeed, mainly by those who then felt safe enough to settle here, including a significant Welsh community, lots of Germans, a few Spanish and various Brits.

The latter, however, did not stick around for long. Once colonialised and settled, Patagonia thrived with various agricultural industries, especially sheep-rearing (although not from here), and wool was its major export. It also provided for the many ships that passed round this huge hunk of land. The Panama Canal put a firm stop to that, as no one then had to navigate around the whole continent when they could just nip through the gap instead. Many Argentinian and Chilean ports suffered as a result, not to mention the wool industry round here. So the early 20th century brought little but misery for the residents of this area, especially the sheep workers at Estancia Santa Anita in the far south, who were all massacred by the Argentine army for striking, and demanding to be paid and fed (some communist came along and encouraged them to do so). This was just one of the many factors which gave rise to the very fierce Latin American socialist streak that prevailed throughout the 20th century, that the ruling military juntas in Chile and Argentina, along with the US, tried so hard to repress in the 70s and 80s. However, Santa Anita was not to be the last massacre in Patagonia, as a group of ‘prisoners’ were also massacred at Trelew (in heart of Welsh community) having tried to ‘escape’ during the rule of the military junta in the 70s. According to current press reports, most of those responsible for the latter massacre are currently being tried, although one of them is nowhere to be found. Only now, 20-30 years later are laws protecting those members of the military junta who committed atrocities during this time being repealed so they can face justice, but of course many are dying or dead (Pinochet is a good example of this). There are still those who believe it never happened. Then there are the fleeing Nazis (but we’ll tell you about them later on).

Luckily Patagonia is a happier place these days, agriculture and tourism are its major exports and indeed it’s a fantastic place to visit despite its tragic history. Both Chile and Argentina now have female presidents, which might have something to do with the chirpier vibe, but who knows!

This entry was posted on March 31, 2008 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Two for the Road - On the Road. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.