'Tehuelches' is the collective name of the native tribes of
Patagonia. They are also called 'Patagonians'.
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 Tehuelches, because the Tehuelches are typically tall. According to the , there were 4,300 Tehuelche in the
provinces of
Chubut and
Santa Cruz, and a further 1,637 in other parts of Argentina.
Language
The Tehuelche originally spoke
Tehuelche, a
Chon language, but later, with the
Araucanization of Patagonia, many tribes started to speak variants of
Mapudungun. Actually, their own name, Tehuelche, comes from that language.
External links
★ Christine Papp:
Die Tehuelche. Ein Ethnohistorischer Beitrag zu einer jahrhundertelangen Nicht-Begegnung. A dissertation. Universitãt Wien, 2002. (PDF)
★
Native Patagonians - Contains primary sources and reference material.
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
