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The Tehuelche people is the generic name given to a group of indigenous peoples of Patagonia and the southern pampas regions of Argentina and Chile.
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Tehuelche is a Mapuche language word meaning "Fierce People". They were also called Patagones by Spanish explorers, who found large footprints made by the tribes on the Patagonian beaches. These large footprints were actually made by the guanaco leather boots that the Tehuelche used to cover their feet.
It is possible that the stories of the early European explorers about the Patagones, a race of giants in South America, are based on the Tehuelche, because the Tehuelche were typically tall, taller than the average European of the time. According to the 2001 census [INDEC], 4,300 Tehuelche lived in the provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz, and an additional 1,637 in other parts of Argentina. There are now no Tehuelche tribes living in Chile, though some Tehuelche were assimilated into Mapuche groups over the years.
History
The Tehuelche people have a history of over 14,500 years in the region, based on archeological findings. Their pre-Columbian history is divided in three main stages: a stage with highly-sized rock tools, a stage where the use of boleadoras prevailed over the peaked projectiles, and a third one of highly complex rock tools, each one with a specific purpose. The nomadic lifestyle of Tehuelches left scarce archeological evidence of their past.
They were hunter-gatherers living as nomads. During the winters they lived in the lowlands, catching fish and shellfish. During the spring they migrated to the central highlands of Patagonia and the Andes Mountains, where they spent the summer and early fall, and hunted game. Although they developed no original pottery, they are well known for their cave paintings.,
The Spanish arrived in the early 16th century. On March 31, 1520, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed and made contact with the Tehuelche people. The Spanish never colonized their lands, with the exception of some coastal settlements and a few missions. It took more than 300 years before the Argentine government occupied the southern Patagonia.
Lifestyle
As nomads, the Tehuelche lived with limited possessions, as they had to move across long distances. Their rock tools were usually made of obsidian or basalt, as those rocks were malleable but not so soft that they broke too easily. Those rocks, however, could be found in only certain parts of Patagonia, so the Tehuelche had to make long journeys to renew their supplies.
The Tehuelche hunted many species in the Patagonia, including whales, sea mammals, small rodents and sea birds; their main prey was guanacos and Rheas. Both species were usually found at the same places, as the rheas eat the larvae that grow in the guanaco's manure. Everything from the guanaco was used by the Tehuelche: the meat and blood were used for food, the fat to grease their bodies during winter, and the hide to make clothing and canopies. The Tehuelches also gathered fruits that grew during the Patagonian summer. Those fruits were the only sweet foods in their diet.
Language
The Tehuelche originally spoke Tehuelche, also known as Aonikenk, one of the Chonan languages. Later, with the Araucanization of Patagonia, many tribes started to speak variants of Mapudungun, the Mapuche language. Their name, Tehuelche, comes from that language.