Tierra del Fuego, Retratos y Paisajes

TIERRA DEL FUEGO DEPICTED
HUMANITY “BEYOND THE
BOUNDARIES OF THIS WORLD”
RAFAEL SAGREDO BAEZA
Historian.
Academic of the Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile
Fringe, end, far landscape, south of the south, frontier
territory. Antipodes, adventure, isolation. Infinity,
impregnable territory. Saga and end of the world, the
beauty of emptiness, absolute solitude… These are some
of the adjectives and concepts that are repeatedly mentioned
when chroniclers and authors refer to Tierra del
Fuego, an island that is also considered “a territory outside
of this world” that has remained detached from the
ecumene and from the world as known by Europeans
during the largest part of the history of humanity; this
situation was reinforced by the epic events that took
place in its surroundings. In today’s world, where the
ability to surprise is increasingly rare, this territory
has become very appealing.
According to the accounts Robert Fitz-Roy wrote
in his diary about the journey on the Beagle – which the
British seafarer and hydrographer commanded until
his arrival in Tierra del Fuego in December 1832 – this
territory still remained “unexplored”; this testimony is
an eloquent reflection of the situation and conditions of
Tierra del Fuego and the archipelago it is part of, which,
between 1520 and 1832, had only been traversed by the
selknam, yaganes and kawéqar, native peoples that had
lived there for thousands of years.
Perhaps only the brothers Gonzalo and Bartolomé
Nodal had the chance to explore a little more than the
coasts of Tierra del Fuego when they had to shelter in
1618 in Buen Suceso bay during their attempt to reach
Cape Horn. The territory had previously been discovered
by the expedition of Jacob Le Maire and Willen
Schouten in 1616. But the truth is that they didn’t go
deep into the island that the Dutch explorers had
proven was not actually a continent or Terra Australis –
how it was previously envisioned and depicted on maps
– which shows once more how unusual Tierra del Fuego
seemed to them.
Because of the location and geographical condition
of Tierra del Fuego and its territory, and because of the
mystery that surrounded it for so long, this is a territory
that represents the extreme, and this idea is confirmed
by the telluric landscape that was formed by the movements
of the earth’s crust and agents like the wind, ice,
water and sea, which define its character and make it
relentless and ruthless. This character is also defined
by humanity’s adventures in this severe geography. Its
environmental conditions seem unbearable to many,
but the native peoples of the region, like the selknam,
learned to adapt to them, coping and surviving, something
which impressed the explorers and travelers
that sailed the southern seas from the 16th century
onwards, and which also contributed to increase the
sense of frailty and forlornness imposed for so long by
the remoteness and the harsh natural conditions of the
region. Today, these conditions are an asset that draws
attention to the area, intensified by the impression of
emptiness, isolation and melancholia of a landscape
where humanity is present through material objects,
remains and buildings, but rarely by its permanence,
thus molding a landscape that is sublime for its beauty,
but also for its capacity to evoke a potential drama in
a land that also seems unarmed and defenseless to the
acts of individuals who, successively and motivated by
economic interests, have plundered it.
So, as a consequence of its geography and history,
Tierra del Fuego offers a wide range of possibilities to
illustrate humanity’s endeavors: from the conquest,
the search for beauty and the spirit of overcoming to
confront nature, to ruthless violence and plundering
that is characteristic of our species.
A global geographical landmark, for its condition of
antipode and extreme, end of the world, together with
Patagonia and the Strait of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego
is a historical-geographical heritage of Chile that has a
particular identity, because of its physical characteristics
and the representations that have been made of the
area and its inhabitants from the 16th century onwards.
NATURE AND HISTORY
Associated with exploration and adventure beyond
every known boundary, with wild nature and also history,
drama and the majestic, and even with the wonderful,
fantastic and unknown, from the beginning of
the 16th century the far southern end of America represents
a frontier in the eyes of the west, the finis terrae
of the world, a place where everything is unparalleled, a
mysterious earth. The imaginary about this area of the
planet has its origins in West Europe, during the time
of the discoveries, which begins with transatlantic navigations,
continues with the travels of circumnavigation
and antarctic exploration and now and then draws upon
tragedy, pain and sacrifice, which in turn give rise to
acts of heroism, courage and humanity that make their
way into the history of the region; then, contemporary
times are associated with the violence perpetrated
from the 19th century onwards against the selknam
and which practically led to their extermination.
More recently, humanity’s new unrestricted respect,
its empathy with the persecuted and in summation, a
growing moral conscience of the inherent dignity of
all human beings have contributed to the appreciation,
recovery and conservation of the cultural expressions
of the fueguino peoples as a cultural patrimony.
Some of the elements of Patagonia’s geography like
the Drake Passage, Cape Horn, Tierra del Fuego, the
Pacific Ocean, the strait between oceans, even Antarctica
invoke the idea of adventure and extreme living conditions
which are manifested in the wind, rain, cold, snow,
the sea and waves: nature making itself known relentlessly,
tempestuously, and therefore sublimely because
of its stunning beauty and tragic potential. Even today
some names like Magellan, Cook and Darwin evoke geographic-historical
associations that make it possible to
appreciate the region, give meaning to places and locations
that remind us of humanity’s events; in this area
the toponymy recalls events and moments that are seen
as historical feats of all times, either of an empire, a State
or a man. Words, and among them the names given to the
native peoples of the area like the patagones, that arouse
the imagination, evoke drama or refer to a cultural heritage
that refuses to disappear despite the violence and
plundering they have suffered.
Thus, since it became part of western history,
Patagonia in the far south of America has been regarded
as a space, a concrete and real geography, although persistently
not completely known, from where fantastic,
mythical, glorious, even dramatic representations are
projected, and which have one of its main foundations in
history, in this place far away from everything and difficult
to access, as it has been the setting of many events of
global repercussion. This, linked to the representations
and images of the places where they have taken place,
give it a historical-geographical identity that is impossible
to ignore, and is also reinforced by the promise of the
fantastical, the possibility of encountering something
that never lets itself be captured, which refreshens the
expectations of this region that has a landscape which
is part of history and not only of nature.
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