Patagonia 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
Magellan to describe the native people
whom his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the
Patagons were actually
Tehuelches with an
average height of 1.80 m (~5'11") compared to the 1.55 m (~5'1")
average for Spaniards of the time.
To the
east of the Andes, it lies south of the Neuquén
River
and Colorado
rivers, and, to the west of the Andes, south of
(39°S), excluding the Chiloé
Archipelago.East of the Andes.
The
Argentine Patagonia includes the
provinces of Neuquén, RÃo
Negro
, Chubut, Santa
Cruz
, and Tierra del
Fuego
, as well as the southern tips of the provinces of
Buenos
Aires
, Mendoza and
La Pampa.
The
Chilean Patagonia embraces the
southern part of the region of Los Lagos
, and the regions of Aisén
and Magallanes. It excludes those
portions of Antarctica
claimed by both countries.
Population and land area
| Country |
Area |
Population |
Density |
| Argentina |
786,983 km2 |
1,738,251 |
2.2 per km2 |
| Chile |
256,093 km2 |
261,289 |
1.0 per km2 |
| Total |
1,043,076 km2 |
1,999,540 |
1.9 per km2 |
Physical geography
- See also: Geography of
Argentina and Geography of
Chile
Argentine Patagonia is for the most part a region of vast
steppe-like plains, rising in a succession of abrupt
13
terraces about 100 metres
(330 ft) at a time, and covered with an enormous bed of
shingle almost bare of vegetation. In the
hollows of the plains are
ponds or lakes of
brackish and fresh water. Towards the Andes the shingle gives place
to
porphyry,
granite, and
basalt lavas,
animal life becomes more abundant and vegetation more luxuriant,
acquiring the characteristics of the
flora of the western coast, and consisting
principally of
southern beech and
conifers.
The high rainfall against the western
Andes (Wet Andes) and the low sea surface
temperatures offshore give rise to cold and humid air masses,
contributing to the ice-fields and glaciers,
the largest ice-fields in the Southern hemisphere
outside of Antarctica.
Among the
depressions by which the plateau is
intersected transversely, the principal are the Gualichu, south of the RÃo
Negro
, the Maquinchao and
Valcheta (through which previously flowed
the waters of lake Nahuel
Huapi
, which now feed the river Limay); the Senguerr (spelled Senguer on most Argentine maps
and within the corresponding region), the Deseado River. Besides these
transverse depressions (some of them marking lines of ancient
inter-oceanic communication), there are others which were occupied
by more or less extensive lakes, such as the Yagagtoo, Musters
and Colhue
Huapi
, and others situated to the south of Puerto
Deseado, in the centre of the country. In the central region
volcanic eruptions, which have
taken part in the formation of the plateau from the
Tertiary period down to the present era, cover a
large part with basaltic lava-caps; and in the western third more
recent glacial deposits appear above the
lava.
There, in contact with folded
Cretaceous
rocks, uplifted by the
Tertiary granite,
erosion, caused principally by the sudden
melting and retreat of the ice, aided by
tectonic changes, has scooped out a deep
longitudinal depression, which generally separates the plateau from
the first lofty hills, the ridges generally called the
pre-Cordillera, while on the west of these there is a similar
longitudinal depression all along the foot of the snowy Andean
Cordillera. This latter depression contains the richest and most
fertile land of Patagonia.
Lake basins along the Cordillera were also
excavated by ice-streams, including Lake Argentino
and Lake
Fagnano
, as well as coastal bays such as BahÃa Inútil.
Image:Pescaquellon2.JPG|View of Corcovado
volcano
and Patagonia from Quellón
, Chiloé
, ChileImage:Coyhaique10.jpg|Panoramic view of
Coihaique
, ChileImage:Llao LLao.jpg|Lake Nahuel
Huapi
, near Bariloche
, ArgentinaImage:Pampas.jpg|Santa Cruz
Province, Argentina
Geology
The geological constitution is in accordance with the
orographic physiognomy.
The
Tertiary plateau, flat on the east,
gradually rising on the west, shows Upper
Cretaceous caps at its base. First come Lower
Cretaceous hills raised by
granite and
dioritic rocks, undoubtedly of Tertiary
origin, as in some cases these rocks have broken across the
Tertiary beds, so rich in
mammal remains;
then follow, on the west,
metamorphic schists of uncertain age; then
quartzites appear, resting directly on the
primitive granite and
gneiss which form the
axis of the
Cordillera.
Porphyritic rocks occur between the
schists and the quartzites. The Tertiary deposits are greatly
varied in character, and there is considerable difference of
opinion concerning the succession and correlation of the beds. They
are divided by Wilckensi into the following series (in ascending
order):
- Pyrotherium-Notostylops beds. Of terrestrial origin, containing
remains of mammalia. Eocene and Oligocene.
- Patagonian Molasse. Partly marine, partly terrestrial. Lower
Miocene.
- Santa Cruz series. Containing remains of mammals. Middle and
Upper Miocene.
- Paranfl series. Sandstones and
conglomerates with marine fossils. Pliocene. Confined to the eastern part of the
region.
Image:Plume from eruption of Chaiten
volcano, Chile.jpg|Ash cloud from the 2008
eruption of Chaitén volcano
stretching across Patagonia into San Jorge
Basin
in the Atlantic OceanImage:Perito Moreno
Glacier - Satelite - NASA - ISS004-E-9707.JPG|Satellite view of the
Perito
Moreno Glacier
(Santa Cruz Province) and the Andean
ice-sheetImage:Perito Moreno Glacier Patagonia
Argentina Luca Galuzzi 2005.JPG|Perito Moreno Glacier, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
The Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits have revealed a most
interesting
vertebrate fauna.
This,
together with the discovery of the perfect cranium of a chelonian of the genus Myolania, which may be said to be almost identical
with Myolania oweni of the Pleistocene age in Queensland
, forms an evident proof of the connection between
the Australian and South American
continents. The Patagonian
Myolania
belongs to the Upper Chalk, having been found associated with
remains of
Dinosauria. One such dinosaur to
be found in Patagonia is
Argentinosaurus, which may be the largest of
all dinosaurs. Other specimens of the interesting fauna of
Patagonia, belonging to the Middle Tertiary, are the gigantic
wingless birds, exceeding in size any hitherto known, and the
singular mammal
Pyrotherium, also of
very large dimensions. In the Tertiary marine formation a
considerable number of
cetaceans has been
discovered.
In deposits of much later date, formed when
the physiognomy of the country did not differ materially from that
of the present time, there have been discovered remains of pampean
mammals, such as Glyptodon and Macrauchenia, and in a cave
near Última
Esperanza Sound, a gigantic ground
sloth (Grypoiherium listai), an animal which lived
contemporaneously with humans, and whose skin, well preserved,
showed that its extermination was undoubtedly very recent.
With the
remains of Grypotherium have been found
those of the horse (Onoshippidium),
which are known only from the lower pampas mud, and of the Arciotherium, which is found, although not in
abundance, in even the most modern Pleistocene deposits in the
pampas of Buenos
Aires
. It would not be surprising if this latter
animal were still in existence, for footprints, which may be
attributed to it, have been observed on the borders of the rivers
Tamangoand Pista, affluents of the Las Hefas, which run through the
eastern foot-hills of the Cordillera in 47°S.
Glaciers occupy the valleys of the main
chain and some of the lateral ridges of the Andean Cordillera.
In
general these glaciers flow into lakes towards the East and into
Pacific
Ocean
fjords towards the
West. Some of the larger lakes located to the east
of the glaciated Cordillera include; General
Carrera Lake
, Cochrane/Pueyrredón Lake
, O'Higgins/San MartÃn Lake
, Lake
Viedma
, Argentino
Lake
and many other smaller lakes. In turn, some of
these lakes, as is the case with the first three mentioned, drain
into the Pacific
Ocean through short mountainous rivers, while others, the
later two lakes, flow to the Atlantic Ocean
through longer and slower moving rivers.
These
glacial lakes are often strewn
with many
icebergs.
In Patagonia an
immense ice-sheet extended to the east of the present Atlantic
coast at the close of the Tertiary epoch, while, during more recent
glaciation, the terminal moraines have generally stopped, 30 miles
(50 km) in the north and 50 miles (80 km) in the south,
east of the summit of the Cordillera. These ice-sheets,
which scooped out the greater part of the longitudinal depressions,
and appear to have rapidly retreated to the point where the
glaciers now exist, did not, however, in their retreat fill up with
their detritus the fjords of the Cordillera,
for these are now occupied by deep lakes on the east, and on the
west by the Pacific
channels, some of which are as much as 250 fathoms (460 m) in depth, and soundings taken in them
show that the fjords are as usual deeper in the vicinity of the
mountains than to the west of the islands. Several of the
high peaks are still active volcanoes.
Insofar
as its main characteristics are concerned, Patagonia seems to be a
portion of the Antarctic continent, the
permanence of which dates from very recent times, as is evidenced
by the apparent recent emergence of the islets around Chiloé, and by the general character of the pampean
formation. Some of the promontories of Chiloé are still
called
huapi, the Araucanian equivalent for "islands"; and
this may perhaps be accepted as perpetuating the recollection of
the time when they actually were islands. They are composed of caps
of shingle, with great, more or less rounded boulders, sand and
volcanic ashes, precisely of the same form
as occurs on the Patagonian plateau.
From an examination
of the pampean formation it is evident that in recent times the
land of the province of Buenos Aires extended farther to the east, and that the advance
of the sea, and the salt water deposits left by it when it retired,
forming some of the lowlands which occur on the littoral and in the interior of the pampas
, are much
more recent phenomena; and certain caps of shingle, derived from
rocks of a different class from those of the neighboring hills,
which are observed on the Atlantic coasts of the same province, and
increase in quantity and size towards the south, seem to indicate
that the caps of shingle which now cover such a great part of the
Patagonian territory recently extended farther to the east, over
land which has now disappeared beneath the sea, while other marine
deposits along the same coasts became converted into bays during
the subsequent advance of the sea. There are besides, in the
neighbourhood of the present coast, deposits of volcanic ashes, and
the ocean throws up on its shores blocks of
basaltic lava, which in all
probability proceed from eruptions of submerged volcanoes now
extinct.
One fact, however, which apparently
demonstrates with greater certainty the existence in recent times
of land that is now lost, is the presence of remains of pampean
mammals in Pleistocene deposits in the
bay of Puerto San Julian and
in Santa
Cruz. The animals undoubtedly reached these
localities from the east; it is not at all probable that they
advanced from the north southwards across the plateau intersected
at that time by great rivers and covered by the ice-sheet.
With the
exception of the discoveries at the inlet of Ultima
Esperanza
, which is in close communication with the Atlantic
valley of RÃo Gallegos, none of
these remains have been discovered in the Andean regions.
Political divisions
Argentine Patagonia
Neuquén
Neuquén covers 94,078 km2
(36,324 sq. miles), including the triangle between the Limay River
and Neuquén River, which extends southward to the northern shore of
Lake
Nahuel-Huapi
(41°S) and northward to the RÃo
Colorado
.
On the upper plains of Neuquén territory thousands of cattle can be
fed, and the forests around Lakes Traful and Nahuel-Huapi yield
large quantities of valuable timber. The Neuquén river is not
navigable, but as its waters are capable of being easily dammed in
places, large stretches of land in its valley are utilized; but the
lands on each side of its lower part are of little commercial
value.
As the
Cordillera is approached the soil becomes more fertile, and
suitable districts for the rearing of cattle and other agricultural
purposes exist between the regions which surround the Tromen
volcano and
the first ridges of the Andes. Chos Malal
, the capital of the territory, is situated in one
of these valleys. More to the west is the mining region, in
great part unexplored, but containing deposits of
gold,
silver,
copper and
lignite. In the
centre of the territory, also in the neighborhood of the mining
districts, are the valleys of NorquÃn and Las Lajas, the general
camp of the Argentine army in Patagonia, with excellent timber in
the forest on the Andean slope.
The wide valleys occur near RÃo Malleo, Lake Huechulafquén
, the river Chimehuin, and
Vega de Chapelco, near Lake Lacar
, where are situated villages of some importance,
such as JunÃn de los Andes and San MartÃn de los Andes.
Close to these are the famous apple
orchards
supposed to have been planted by the
Jesuits in the 17th and 18th centuries.
These regions are drained by the river
Collon Cura, the principal affluent of the river
Limay. Lake Lacar is now a contributory of the
Pacific, its outlet having been changed to the west, owing to a
passage having been opened through the Cordillera.
RÃo Negro
RÃo
Negro covers 203,013 km2 (78,383 sq.
miles), extending from the Atlantic to the Cordillera of the Andes,
to the north of 42°S.
The RÃo Negro River runs along a wide transverse depression, the
middle part of which is followed by the railway which runs to the
settlement of Neuquén at the confluence of the rivers Limay and
Neuquen.
In this depression are several settlements,
among them Viedma
, the
capital of the RÃo Negro territory, Cipolletti, General Conesa,
Choele
Choel
and General
Roca. To the south of the RÃo Negro the Patagonian
plateau is intersected by the depressions of the Gualicho and
Maquinchao, which in former times directed the waters of two great
rivers (now disappeared) to the gulf of San Matias, the first-named
depression draining the network of the Collon Cura and the second
the Nahuel Huapi lake system. In 42°S there is a third broad
transverse depression, apparently the bed of another great river,
now perished, which carried to the Atlantic the waters of a portion
of the eastern slope of the Andes, between 41° and 42°30;S.
Chubut
Chubut, covers
224,686 km
2 (86,751 sq. miles), embracing the
region between 42° and 46°S;
Chubut territory presents the same characteristics as the RÃo Negro
territory.
Rawson, the capital, is
situated at the mouth of the river Chubut on the Atlantic
(42°30'S). The town was founded in 1865 by a
group of colonists from Wales,
assisted by the Argentine government; and its prosperity has led to
the foundation of other important centres in the valley, such as
Trelew and
Gaiman, which is connected by railway with
Puerto Madryn on
Bahia Nueva. Here is the seat of the governor of
the territory, and by 1895 the inhabitants of this part of the
territory, composed principally of Argentines,
Welsh and
Italians, numbered 552,585. The valley has
been irrigated and cultivated, and produces the best wheat of the
Argentine Republic. Between the Chubut and the Senguerr there are
vast stretches of fertile land, spreading over the Andean region to
the foot of the Cordillera and the lateral ridges of the
Pre-Cordillera, and filling the basins of some desiccated lakes,
which have been occupied since 1885, and farms and colonies founded
upon them. The chief of these colonies is that of
16 de Octubre, formed in 1886, mainly by the
inhabitants of Chubut colony, in the longitudinal valley which
extends to the eastern foot of the Cordillera.
Other rivers in this territory flow into the Pacific through
breaches in the Cordillera,
e.g. the upper affluents of
the
Futaleufú River, Palena and
RÃo Cisnes. The principal affluent of the Palena, the Carrenleufu,
carries off the waters of Lake General Paz, situated on the eastern
slope of the Cordillera. RÃo Pico, an affluent of the same river,
receives nearly the whole of the waters of the extensive undulating
plain which lies between the RÃo Tecka and the RÃo Senguerr to the
east of the Cordillera, while the remainder are carried away by the
affluents of RÃo Jehua: the Cherque, Omkel, and Appeleg. This
region contains auriferous drifts, but these, like the auriferous
deposits, veins of
galena and
lignite in the mountains farther west which flank
the Cordillera, have not been properly investigated. At Lake
Fontana there are auriferous drifts and
lignite deposits which abound in fossil plants of
the Cretaceous age. The streams which form the rivers Mayo and
Chalia join the tributaries of the RÃo Aisén, which flows into the
Pacific, watering in its course extensive and valuable districts
where colonization has been initiated by Argentine settlers.
Colonies have also been formed in the basin of Lakes Musters and
Colhué Huapi; and on the coasts near the Atlantic, along
Bahia Camarones and the Gulf of San Jorge,
there are extensive farms.
In addition it is one of the highest critically acclaimed group of
rivers in the world for
fly fishing.
Every year thousands of fly fishermen flock there for the hope of
catching "the big one".
Desert Lake and, in the background,
the emblematic Mt.
Fitz Roy, Santa Cruz Province.
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is the largest province in the Argentinan Patagonia and
the largest political subdivision in the region as a whole,
covering 293,993 km
2.
The province, mostly a cold, windswept
steppe, is well-known for its extensive pebble
beaches as well as for the deep-water lakes and vast glaciers in
the Andes foothills along its western border with Chile.
Santa
Cruz's Atlantic coast is also known for the Laguna del
Carbón
; lying 105 meters (330 ft) below sea
level, it is the lowest geographic point in the Western
Hemisphere.
Mother and Daughter Peaks, Jamarillo
Petrified Forest.
One of Santa Cruz's best-known geological curiosities is its
Jamarillo
Petrified Forests National Monument. Incorporated into the
national park system in
1954, the 137 square kilometre (35,000 acre) area includes one of
the world's most significant remains of
Jurassic-era forests. The National Parks
Administration also acquired 600 square kilometres (150,000 acres)
of neighboring land, creating the largest natural
steppe preserve in Latin America.
Santa
Cruz's most notable and most visited geographic feature, however,
is probably Perito
Moreno Glacier (see section above), a national park as
well.
Chilean Patagonia
Palena
Palena
Province is one of the provinces of the Los Lagos Region, Chile.
The
capital of the Province is the town of Chaitén
.
Within Palena Province there are several
parks and natural reserves such as the Palena Lake National
Reserve, of native lenga forrest ,ice caps and high peaks,
which can be visited only in summer because of weather conditions,
it can be access only by horse or trekking routes.The private
PumalÃn
Park
is also located in the province, has ,it is
protected by the State of Chile but owned by Douglas Tompkins,
although it is private can be access by the Caleta Gonzalo, where
lodging and camping is allowed
In the first quarter of 2008, Chaitén Volcano increase its activity
causing damages in the town of Chaitén and spreading volcanic ashes
in several touristic points, specifically in Futaleufú
Aisén
Aisén (also spelled Aysén) is Chile's eleventh
administrative region. It is the least
populated region in Chile and it remains a region with severe
communication problems because of topographical features that make
it extremely difficult to quickly improve its infrastructure. The
region is known for its unique ecological characteristics including
unspoiled habitat for numerous endemic species.
Its terrain and form
are very similar to those of the Alaska Panhandle
, the northern Norwegian coast, and New Zealand's
Milford
Sound
region. Laguna San Rafael National
Park
, reachable only by boat or plane, is one of its
most popular tourist destinations. Until the construction of
Route 7, the
Southern Highway, in
the 1980s, the only overland routes from north to south through the
region were extremely primitive tracks.
The Spanish electric company Endesa has recently proposed building
a series of hydro-electric dams in Aisén in a project named
HidroAysén. HidroAysén project is
based on water rights the company acquired before privatization
during the military rule of
Augusto
Pinochet. The dams would first be built on the
Baker and
Pascua
Rivers, but additional dams have been proposed on a number of other
previously intact rivers in the area, including the
Futaleufú. The power would be
transported north, via a high-tension transmission line through a
number of national parks and protected areas to supply power to the
Santiago area where much of the power is used for heavy industry
and mining.The project involves the installation of over 5000 high
voltage towers, each covering a width of 70 metres and a height of
50 metres, and the deforestation of the native forest within the
trail. The company chosen for the installation is Transelec, which
was responsible of a project of similar characteristics in
Canada.
A number of local, national and international environmental
organizations oppose the dams, claiming they would destroy the
natural heritage of the area and would lead to greatly increased
electrical costs for Chilean consumers.
Magallanes
Magallanes
and Chilean Antártica Region is the southernmost, largest and
second least populated region of Chile.
This
region has many globally known places and geographical accidents
like Torres del
Paine
, Cape
Horn
, Tierra
del Fuego Island, and the Strait of Magellan
. It also includes the Antarctic territory
claimed by Chile.
The low population and vastness makes this region a good place for
many native animal and plant species. It is relatively easy to find
penguins,
ñandú,
guanacos,
condors, and
other animals in their natural environment.
The main economic activities are sheep farming, oil extraction and
tourism. This region is also home to the one of the world's
spectacular adventure races, the
Patagonia Expedition Race.
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del
Fuego
is an archipelago at the
southernmost tip of Patagonia, divided between Argentina and
Chile. It consists of the
47,992 km2 of the Isla Grande
de Tierra del Fuego
, and several minor islands.
NASA satellite image of Patagonia
during the southern winter
Climate
The climate is less severe than was supposed by early travelers.
The east slope is warmer than the west, especially in summer, as a
branch of the southern equatorial current reaches its shores,
whereas the west coast is washed by a cold current.
At Puerto Montt
, on the inlet behind Chiloé Island.
The mean
annual temperature is 11 °C (52 °F) and the average extremes 25.5
°C (78 °F) and −1.5 °C (29.5 °F), whereas at Bahia Blanca
near the Atlantic coast and just outside the
northern confines of Patagonia the annual temperature is 15 °C (59
°F) and the range much greater. At Punta Arenas, in the
extreme south, the mean temperature is 6 °C (43 °F) and the average
extremes 24.5 °C (76 °F) and −2 °C (28 °F).
The prevailing winds
are westerly, and the westward slope has a much heavier
precipitation than the eastern in a rainshadow effect; the western islands close to
Torres del
Paine receive an annual precipitation of 4,000 to
7,000 mm, whilst the eastern hills are less than 800 mm
and the plains may be as low as 200 mm annual
precipitation.
The
depletion of the ozone layer over the
South
Pole
has been reported as being responsible for
blindness and skin cancer in sheep in Tierra del Fuego, and
concerns for human health and ecosystems.
Fauna
The
guanaco, the
cougar, the
zorro or Brazilian
fox (
Canis azarae), the
zorrino or
Mephitis patagonica (a kind of
skunk), and the
tuco-tuco or
Ctenomys magellanicus (a subterranean
rodent) are the most characteristic mammals of the
Patagonian plains. The guanaco roam in herds over the country and
form with the
rhea (
Rhea
americana, and more rarely
Rhea darwinii) formerly
the chief means of subsistence for the natives, who hunted them on
horseback with dogs and
bolas.
Vizcacha (Lagidum spp.) and Mara (Dolichotis) are also
characteristic of the steppe and the Pampas
to the
north.
Bird-life is often wonderfully abundant. The
carancho or carrion-hawk (
Polyborus
tharus) is one of the characteristic objects of a Patagonian
landscape; the presence of long-tailed green
parakeets (
Conurus cyanolysius) as far
south as the shores of the strait attracted the attention of the
earlier navigators; and
hummingbirds may
be seen flying amidst the falling snow. Of the many kinds of
water-fowl it is enough to mention the
flamingo, the
upland
goose, and in the strait the remarkable
steamer duck.
Signature marine fauna include the
Southern right whale, the
Magellanic penguin, the
Orca and
elephant seals.
The
Valdés
Peninsula
is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site for its importance
as a nature reserve.
History
- See also: History of
Argentina, History of Chile and
Argentina-Chile
relations
Pre-Columbian Patagonia (10,000 BC-1520 AD)
Human habitation of the region dates back thousands of years, with
some early archaeological findings in the area dated to at least
the
13th millennium BCE,
although later dates of around the
10th millennium BCE are more securely
recognised.
There is evidence of human activity at
Monte
Verde
in Llanquihue
Province, Chile dated to around 12,500 BCE. The glacial
period ice-fields and subsequent large meltwater streams would have
made settlement difficult at that time.
The region seems to have been inhabited continuously since 10,000
BCE, by various cultures and alternating waves of migration, the
details of which are as yet poorly understood.
Several sites have
been excavated, notably caves such as Cueva del Milodon
in Última Esperanza
in southern Patagonia, and Tres Arroyos
on Tierra del Fuego, that support this date.
Hearths, stone scrapers, animal remains dated to 9,400-9,200 BCE
have been found east of the Andes.
The
Cueva de las
Manos
is a famous site in Santa Cruz,
Argentina. A cave at the foot of a cliff, it has wall
paintings, particularly the negative images of hundreds of hands,
believed to date from around 8,000 BCE.
Hunting of
guanaco was the most important
activity, and
rhea (ñandu) to a lesser
extent, it appears from artifacts. It is unclear whether the
megafauna of Patagonia, including the
ground sloth and horse, were extinct in
the area before the arrival of humans, although this is now the
more widely accepted account. It is also not clear if domestic dogs
were part of early human activity.
Bolas are commonly found and were used to catch
guanaco and rhea.
A maritime tradition appeared amongst the
Yámana to the south of the Beagle
Channel
.
The
indigenous peoples of the
region included the
Tehuelches, whose
numbers and society were reduced to near extinction not long after
the first contacts with Europeans. Tehuelches included the
Gununa'kena to the north,
Mecharnuekenk in south central Patagonia and
the
Aonikenk or Southern Tehuelche in the
far South, north of the Magellan channel.
On Isla Grande
de Tierra del Fuego, the Selk'nam (Ona) and
Haush (Mannekenk)
lived in the north and south east respectively. In the
archipelagos to the south of Tierra del Fuego were Yámana, with the
Kawéskar (Alakaluf) in the coastal
areas and islands in western Tierra del Fuego and the south west of
the mainland. These groups were encountered in the first periods of
European contact with different lifestyles, body decoration and
language, although it is unclear when this configuration
emerged.
Around 1,000 BCE,
Mapuche-speaking
agriculturalists penetrated the western Andes and from there across
into the eastern plains and down to the far south. Through
confrontation and technological ability, they came to dominate the
other peoples of the region in a short space of time, and are the
principal indigenous community today. The Tehuelche model of
domination through technological superiority and armed
confrontation was later repeated as Europeans implemented a
succeeding but conceptually identical cycle, essentially replacing
the position of the former dominators with a new, albeit
predominately European class.
Early European exploration and Spanish conquest attempts
(1520-1584)
The
region of Patagonia was to be first noted in European accounts in
1520 by the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, who on his passage
along the coast named many of the more striking features – Gulf of San Matias, Cape of 11,000
Virgins (now simply Cape
Virgenes
), and
others. However, it is also possible that earlier
navigators such as Amerigo Vespucci
had reached the area (his own account of 1502 has it that he
reached its latitudes), however his failure to accurately describe
the main geographical features of the region such as the RÃo de la
Plata
casts some doubt on whether he really did
so.
Rodrigo de Isla, sent inland in 1535
from San Matias by
Simón de Alcazaba Sotomayor
(on whom western Patagonia had been conferred by
Carlos V of Spain), is
presumed to have been the first European to traverse the great
Patagonian plain. If the men under his charge had not mutinied, he
might have been able to cross the Andes to reach the Chilean
side.
Pedro de Mendoza, on whom the country was
next bestowed, lived to found Buenos Aires, but not to carry his explorations to the
south. Alonzo de Camargo
(1539),
Juan Ladrilleros (1557) and
Hurtado de Mendoza (1558) helped
to make known the western coasts, and
Sir Francis Drake's voyage in 1577 down
the eastern coast through the strait and northward by Chile and
Peru was memorable for several reasons; but the geography of
Patagonia owes more to
Pedro
Sarmiento de Gamboa (1579–1580), who, devoting himself
especially to the south-west region, made careful and accurate
surveys.
The settlement which he founded at Nombre de
Dios
and San Felipe were
neglected by the Spanish government, the latter being abandoned
before Thomas Cavendish visited it
in 1587 and was so desolate that he called it Port Famine
.
The district in the neighbourhood of
Puerto Deseado, explored by
John Davis about the same
period, was taken possession of by Sir
John Narborough in the name of King
Charles II of England in 1669.
Patagonian giants: early European perceptions
According to
Antonio Pigafetta,
one of the Magellan expedition's few survivors and its published
chronicler, Magellan bestowed the name
"Patagão" (or
Patagón) on the inhabitants they encountered there, and
the name "Patagonia" for the region. Although Pigafetta's account
does not describe how this name came about, subsequent popular
interpretations gave credence to a derivation meaning 'land of the
big feet'. However, this
etymology is
questionable. The term is most likely derived from an actual
character name, "
Patagón", a savage creature confronted by
Primaleón of Greece, the hero in the homonymous
Spanish chivalry novel (or
knight-errantry tale) by Francisco
Vázquez. This book, published in 1512, was the sequel of the
romance "PalmerÃn de Oliva," much in fashion at the time, and a
favourite reading of Magellan. Magellan's perception of the
natives, dressed in skins, and eating raw meat, clearly recalled
the uncivilized
Patagón in Vázquez's book.
The main interest in the region sparked by Pigafetta's account came
from his reports of their meeting with the local inhabitants, who
they claimed to measure some nine to twelve feet in height
—
"...so tall that we reached only to his waist"—, and
hence the later idea that Patagonia meant "big feet". This supposed
race of
Patagonian giants or
Patagones entered into the common European
perception of this little-known and distant area, to be further
fuelled by subsequent reports of other expeditions and famous-name
travellers like Sir Francis Drake, which seemed to confirm these
accounts. Early charts of the
New World
sometimes added the legend
regio gigantum ("region of the
giants") to the Patagonian area. By 1611 the Patagonian god Setebos
(Settaboth in Pigafetta) was familiar to the hearers of
The
Tempest.
The concept and general belief persisted for a further 250 years,
and was to be sensationally re-ignited in 1767 when an "official"
(but anonymous) account was published of
Commodore John
Byron's recent voyage of global
circumnavigation in
HMS Dolphin. Byron and crew had
spent some time along the coast, and the publication (
Voyage
Round the World in His Majesty's Ship the Dolphin) seemed to
give proof positive of their existence; the publication became an
overnight best-seller, thousands of extra copies were to be sold to
a willing public, and other prior accounts of the region were
hastily re-published (even those in which giant-like folk were not
mentioned at all).
However, the Patagonian giant frenzy was to die down substantially
only a few years later, when some more sober and analytical
accounts were published. In 1773
John Hawkesworth published on
behalf of the
Admiralty a compendium of
noted English southern-hemisphere explorers' journals, including
that of
James Cook and John Byron. In
this publication, drawn from their official logs, it became clear
that the people Byron's expedition had encountered were no taller
than , tall perhaps but by no means giants. Interest soon subsided,
although awareness of and belief in the
myth persisted in some quarters even up into the
20th century.
Scientific exploration (1764-1842)
In the second half of the 18th century, European knowledge of
Patagonia was further augmented by the voyages of the
previously-mentioned John Byron (1764–1765),
Samuel Wallis (1766, in the same HMS
Dolphin which Byron had earlier sailed in) and
Louis Antoine de Bougainville
(1766).
Thomas
Falkner, a Jesuit who resided near forty years in those parts,
published his Description of Patagonia (Hereford, 1774);
Francisco Viedma founded El
Carmen, nowadays Carmen de Patagones
and Antonio settled the area of San Julian
Bay
, where he founded the colony of Floridablanca
and advanced inland to the Andes (1782).
Basilio Villarino ascended the Rio
Negro (1782).
Two
hydrographic surveys of the coasts
were of first-rate importance: the first expedition (1826–1830)
including
HMS Adventure and
HMS Beagle under
Phillip Parker King, and the second
(1832–1836) being the
voyage
of the Beagle under
Robert
FitzRoy.
The latter expedition is particularly noted
for the participation of Charles
Darwin who spent considerable time investigating various areas
of Patagonia onshore, including long rides with gauchos in RÃo Negro, and who joined FitzRoy in a 200 miles
(320 km) expedition taking ships boats up the course of the
Santa Cruz
river.
Chilean and Argentine expansion (1843-1902)
In the early 19th century the
araucanization of the natives of northern
Patagonia intensified and a lot of
Mapuches
migrated to Patagonia to live as nomads rising cattle or pillaging
the Argentine countryside. The cattle stolen in the incursions
(
malones) would later be taken to Chile
through the mountain passes and traded for goods, especially
alcoholic beverages.
The main trail for this trade was called
Camino de los chilenos and
run a length of about 1000 km from the Buenos Aires
Province to the mountain passes
of Neuquén Province.
The
lonco Calfucurá
crossed the Andes from Chile to the Pampas around
1830 after a call from the governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de
Rosas, to fight the Boroanos
tribe. In 1859 he attacked Bahia Blanca in Argentina with 3,000 warriors. As in the case of
Calfucura many other bands of Mapuches got involved the internal
conflicts of Argentina until
Conquest of the Desert. To counter
the cattle raids a trench called
Zanja
de Alsina was built by Argentina in the pampas in the
1870s.
In the mid-19th century the newly-independent nations of Argentina
and Chile began an aggressive phase of expansion into the south,
increasing confrontation with the indigenous
populations.
In 1860, a French
adventurer
Orelie-Antoine de Tounens
proclaimed himself king of The Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia of the
Mapuche.
Occupation of the Strait of Magellan
Following
the last instructions of Bernardo
O'Higgins, the Chilean president Manuel Bulnes sent an expedition to the
Strait of
Magellan and founded Fuerte Bulnes
in 1843. Five years later, the Chilean government
moved the main settlement to the current location of Punta
Arenas
, the oldest permanent settlement in Southern
Patagonia. The creation of Punta Arenas was instrumental in
making Chile's claim of the Strait of Magellan permanent.
Captain
George Chaworth
Musters in 1869 wandered in company with a band of
Tehuelches through the whole length of the country
from the strait to the Manzaneros in the north-west, and collected
a great deal of information about the people and their mode of
life.
The Conquest of the Desert and the 1881 treaty
Argentine
authorities worried the strong connections araucanized tribes had
with Chile that alledgelly gave Chile certain influence over the
pampas.[10289] Argentine authorities feared an
eventual war with Chile over Patagonia where the natives would side
the Chileans and that it would therefore be fought in the
vicinities of Buenos
Aires.[10290].
The
decision of planning and executing the Conquest of the Desert was
probably triggered by the 1872 attack of Cufulcurá and his 6,000 followers on the
cities of General Alvear,
Veinticinco de Mayo
and Nueve de Julio,
where 300 criollos were
killed, and 200,000 heads of cattle taken.
In the 1870s the
Conquest of the
Desert was a controversial campaign by the Argentine
government, executed mainly by
General Julio Argentino Roca,
to subdue or, some claim, to exterminate the native peoples of the
South. By the mid-1880s the campaign's objectives had largely been
achieved.
While fighting Peru
and
Bolivia
in the War of the
Pacific (1879-84) Chile waived most of its claim over the
Patagonia in the Boundary
treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina, in order to ensure
Argentina's neutrality. Chilean popular belief sees this as
a territorial loss of almost half a million square miles.
In 1885 a
mining expeditionary party under the Romanian
adventurer Julius
Popper landed in southern Patagonia in search of gold, which they found after travelling southwards
towards the lands of Tierra del Fuego. This further opened up some of the area to
prospectors.
European missionaries and settlers arrived
through the 19th and 20th centuries, notably the Welsh settlement of the
Chubut
Valley
.
During the first years of the 20th century, the border between the
two nations in Patagonia was established by the mediation of the
British crown.
But it has undergone a lot of modifications
since then, and there is still one place (50 km long) where
there is no border established (Southern
Patagonia Icefield
).
Until 1902, most of Patagonia was settled by
Chilotes who worked in cattle
farming. Before and after 1902, when the boundaries were drawn, a
lot of Chilotes were expelled from the Argentine side.
These workers founded
the first inland Chilean settlement in what is now the Aisén
Region; Balmaceda
. Lacking good grasslands on the
forest-covered Chilean side, the immigrants burned down the forest,
setting fires that could last more than two years.
Economy
As described above by province, the area's principal economic
activities have been mining, whaling, livestock (notably sheep
throughout) agriculture (wheat and fruit production near the Andes
towards the north), and oil after its discovery near
Comodoro Rivadavia in 1907. Energy
production is also a crucial part of the local economy.
Railways
were planned to cover continental Argentine Patagonia to serve the
oil, mining, agricultural and energy industries, and a line was
built connecting San Carlos de Bariloche
to Buenos Aires. Portions of other lines were built to the
south, but the only lines still in use are La Trochita
in Esquel, the 'Train of the End of the World'
in Ushuaia
, both heritage
lines,and a short run Tren Histórico de Bariloche to Perito Moreno.
Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) sheep
ranch, 1942.
The region's primary activity then, it's been eclipsed by the
decline in the global wool market as much as by petroleum and gas
extraction.
Livestock
Sheep farming introduced in the late 19th century has been a
principal economic activity. After reaching its heights during the
First World War, the decline in world wool prices affected sheep
farming in Argentina. Nowadays about half of Argentina's 15 million
sheep are in Patagonia, a percentage that is growing as sheep
farming disappears in the Pampa (to the North). Chubut (mainly
Merino) is the top wool producer with Santa Cruz (Corriedale and
some Merino) second. Sheep farming revived in 2002 with the
devaluation of the peso and firmer global demand for wool (lead by
China and the EU). Still there is little investment in new
abbatoirs (mainly in Comodoro Rivadavia, Trelew and Rio Gallegos),
and often there are phitosanitary restrictions to the export of
sheep meat. Extensive valleys in the
Cordilleran range have provided sufficient
grazing lands, and the low humidity and weather of the southern
region make raising
Merino and
Corriedale sheep common.
Livestock also includes small numbers of cattle, and in lesser
numbers pigs and horses. Sheep farming provides small but important
jobs located in rural areas where there is little else.
Tourism
In the second half of the 20th century, tourism became an ever more
important part of Patagonia's economy.
Originally a remote
backpacking destination, the region has attracted increasing
numbers of upmarket visitors, cruise passengers rounding Cape Horn or visiting Antarctica, and adventure and activity
holiday-makers. Principal tourist attractions include the
Perito
Moreno glacier
, the Valdés Peninsula
, Torres del Paine national
park
, the Argentine
Lake District and Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego. Tourism has created new markets locally and
for export for traditional crafts such as Mapuche handicrafts,
guanaco textiles, and confectionery and preserves.
A spin-off from increased tourism has been the buying of often
enormous tracts of land by foreigners, often as a prestige purchase
rather than for agriculture. Buyers have included
Sylvester Stallone,
Ted Turner and
Christopher Lambert, and most notably
Luciano Benetton, Patagonia's
largest landowner. His
Compañia de Tierras Sud has brought
new techniques to the ailing sheep-rearing industry and sponsored
museums and community facilities, but has been controversial
particularly for its treatment of local Mapuche communities.
Energy
At the urging of the Chilean government, the Spanish company Endesa
hopes to build a number of large hydro-electric dams in the Chilean
Patagonia, which has raised environmental concerns from a large
number of local and international NGOs. The first dams proposed
would be built on the Baker and Pascua rivers, but dams have also
been proposed on others, including the famed Futalefu in Chile and
Santa Cruz river in Argentina. The dams will affect the minimum
ecological flows and threaten the fishing, wilderness-tourism and
agricultural interests along the river. The electricity would be
fed into high-tension lines (to be built by a Canadian company) and
taken north to the industry and mining hub around Santiago. The
lines would cut through a number of previously pristine national
parks and protected areas. The Chilean government considers the
power to be essential for economic growth, while opponents claim it
will destroy Patagonia's growing tourism industry. No evidence has
been produced from the experience in other nations that the
presence of electrical transmission lines has significantly
affected tourism. In fact, opponents of the program have utilized
billboard advertising in Chile which superimposes images of power
lines over scenes of Torres del Paine national park, where no
proposals for such lines have been made.
Cuisine
Argentine
Patagonian cuisine is largely the same as the cuisine of Buenos Aires - grilled meats and pasta - with extensive use of
local ingredients and less use of those products which have to be
imported into the region. Lamb is considered the traditional
Patagonian meat, grilled for several hours over an open fire. Some
guide books have reported that game, especially guanaco and
introduced deer and boar, are popular in restaurant cuisine.
However, since the guanaco is a protected animal in both Chile and
Argentina, it is unlikely to appear commonly as restaurant fare.
Trout and
centolla (
king crab) are also common, though over-fishing of
centolla has made it increasingly scarce. In the area around
Bariloche, there is a noted
Alpine cuisine
tradition, with chocolate bars and even
fondue restaurants, and
tea
rooms are a feature of the Welsh communities in
Gaiman and
Trevelin
as well as in the mountains.
Foreign land buyers issue
Foreign investors, including Italian multimillionational
Benetton Group, Ted Turner, Joseph Lewis and
the
environmentalist Douglas Tompkins, own major land areas.
This
situation have caused several conflicts with local inhabitants and
the governments of Chile and Argentina for example the opposition
by Douglas Tompkins to the planned route for Carretera Austral in PumalÃn
Park. A scandal is also brewing about two
properties owned by Ted Turner –founder of CNN and former Vice
President of AOL Time Warner-: the estancia La Primavera, located
inside Nahuel Huapi National Park, and the estancia Collón Cura.
Benetton has faced criticism from
Mapuche
organizations, including
Mapuche International Link, over
its purchase of traditional Mapuche lands in Patagonia. The
Curiñanco-Nahuelquir family was evicted from their land in 2002
following Benetton's claim to it, but the land was restored in
2007. During discussions with indigenous rights groups it was
pointed out that the Mapuche had only acquired the disputed land
through violence and armed confrontation that resulted in
displacement of earlier tribes, and that a more modern model of
displacement was hardly any more or less defensible than the means
by which the historical Mapuche had acquired the lands during
antiquity.
Further reading
- Patagonia: A Cultural History, 2008, ISBN
9781904955382
- Patagonia : a forgotten land: from Magellan to Perón,
2007, ISBN 9781845640613
- The wild shores of Patagonia: the Valdés Peninsula and
Punta Tombo, 2000, ISBN 0810943522
- Birds of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & Antarctic
Peninsula: the Falkland Islands & South Georgia = Aves de
Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego y PenÃnsula Antártica : Islas Malvinas
y Georgia del Sur, 2003, ISBN 9568007040
- The South American table: the flavor and soul of authentic
home cooking from Patagonia to Rio de Janeiro, with 450
recipes, 2003, ISBN 1558322485
- Chatwin, Bruce "In Patagonia" (1977)
- Theroux, Paul "The Old Patagonian Express" (1979)
- The Last Cowboys at the End of the World: The Story of the
Guachos of Patagonia,2002, ISBN 0609810049
- Moss, Chris "Patagonia: A Cultural History" (2008) ISBN
978-1904955382
See also
References
- Antonio Pigafetta, Relazione
del primo viaggio intorno al mondo, 1524: "Il capitano
generale nominò questi popoli Patagoni." The original word would
probably be in Magellan's native Portuguese
(patagão) or the Spanish of his men (patagón). It
has been interpreted later as "big foot" but the etymology refers
to a literary character in a Spanish novel of the early XVI century
(see text).
- Patagonia: Natural History, Prehistory and Ethnography at
the Uttermost End of the Earth, C. McEwan, L.A. Borrero and A.
Prieto (eds), Princeton University Press with
British
Museum Press, 1997. ISBN 0-691-05849-0
- Argentina: Population Census of 2001.
- Chile: Population Census of 2002.
- Palena lake national reserve article in
Letsgochile.com
- Pumalin Private park articlein
Letsgochile.com
- Turismo retoma actividades en Palena tras erupción
de volcán article La Tercera Newspaper
- Patagonia Chilena without dams de
Patagoniasinrepresas.cl]
- Southern Chile warned of high radiation levels
under ozone hole, CNN.com, October 10, 2000, accessed 2006-08-11
- C. Michael Hogan (2008) Cueva del Milodon, The
Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham [1]
- The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Growth and Development, By
Stanley J. Ulijaszek, Francis E. Johnston, M. A. Preece. Cambridge
University Press, 1998, p. 380: "Patagonian Giants: Myths and
Possibilities."
- Carolyne Ryan, "European Travel Writings and the
Patagonian giants: How Patagonia got its name - among other
things." Lawrence University Today magazine, Fall 2004.
- Coihaique - Ciudades y Pueblos del sur de
Chile
- Luis Otero, La Huella del Fuego: Historia de los bosques y
cambios en el paisaje del sur de Chile (Valdivia, Editorial
Pehuen)
- Time Out Patagonia, Cathy Runciman (ed), Penguin Books, 2002. ISBN
0-14-101240-4
- History of the Old Patagonian Express, La Trochita,
accessed 2006-08-11
- 'The Invisible Colours of Benetton',
Mapuche International Link,
accessed 2006-08-11
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