Aborigines in Patagonia
 Different
indigenous races inhabited Patagonia thousands of years before the
arrival of the Spaniards. Their culture was not advanced and this
is the reason why we find only a few traces of these peoples (funeral
deposits, caves, cave paintings, stone or shell work areas)
The best reference of these inhabitants have been obtained in the
archeological sites of El Juncal, near the city of Viedma,
in the east of the Province of Río Negro. The "Black Skulls"
were found there, so called because of the salt impregnation during
their long burial.
Before the Desert Conquest, the area was one of transition between
two completely different indigenous races. One came from the pampas
and the other one from the Pacific Andes: the argentine Tehuelches
and Chilean Mapuches.
The Tehuelches inhabited from the Colorado River to the
Magellanic channels. They were nomads, spoke the Ken group language
and were hunters of guanacos and ostriches. Their physical appearance
was stout, their average height was 6 ft. 10 in., with a thin and
elongated head. They were called Patagones because of their appearance.
Antonio Pigafetta, a member of Magellanīs expedition, described
his encounter with a Tehuelche indian:
"One day, a gigantic man appeared before us. He was so big that
our head would barely reach his waist. His face was wide and painted
in red. His robe was made of skins , of a local animal, and well
sawn. This animal has the head and ears of a mule, body of a camel,
deer legs and the tail of a horse...He was wearing some sort of
shoes made with the same skin.."
His life was conditioned by a very hostile environment: terrible
winds, extremely cold winters and lack of water, which prevented
them from farming.
By contrast, the mapuches were short and robust, with a wide and
round head, with a superior cultural level due to their sedentary
customs.
They were farmers and hunters, with a knowledge of weaving and
pottery.
 The
mapuches (name meaning people from the land) originally inhabited
Chilean territory.
In the 18th. Century, driven by the Spanish invasion,
they learned to ride horses and moved to other lands. The entered
the argentine Patagonia, which marked the beginning of the agony
of the Tehuelche population.
They occupied northern Patagonia and the south of the pampa plains,
and given their more evolved culture and bellicosity, they imposed
their customs and language, and finally overpowered the them.
This, added to the Spanish extermination and the incorporation
of white cultural features, determined the end of the Tehuelches.
Some of the present groups are descendants of the original tribes,
with leaders and chiefs, others were built based on dispersed
families and ethnic mixtures.
The present areas occupied by aborigines correspond in its majority
to arid lands, with low precipitation, scarce and hard grass.
They are poor in organic matter, where there is no meaningful water
resources, neither superficial nor underground.
The climate is cold and harsh, with extreme temperatures most of
the year, seven months of drought and dry and intense winds.
These special geographical and climatic conditions prevented the
development of suitable vegetable species for feeding cattle and
population.
The only possibility is sheep and goat breeding.
Such characteristics induced the white man to postpone the occupation
of those territories, and limiting to the possession of these lands
for the extensive exploitation of the sheep herds. This facilitated
the permanence, until today of those aborigines, which constitute
the most important indigenous groups in the country.
The mapuche population in the region is today estimated at 40,000,
although the young emigrate to the cities in search of economic
welfare.
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