Selknam

The Selk'nam, also known as the Onawo or Ona people, are an indigenous people in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile, including the Tierra del Fuego islands. They were one of the last native groups in South America to be encountered by migrant ethnic Europeans, mainly British in the late 19th century. In the mid-19th century, there were about 4000 Selk'nam; by 1919 there were 297, and by 1930 just over 100.They are considered extinct as a tribe. The exploration of gold and the introduction of farming in the region of Tierra del Fuego has led to a drastic decline in the numbers of their population, a process that is described as a genocide. Joubert Yanten Gomez, a Chilean mestizo of part Selk'nam ancestry, has taught himself the language and is considered the only speaker; he uses the name Keyuk.While the Selk'nam are closely associated with living in the northeastern area of Tierra del Fuego, they are believed to have originated as a people on the mainland. Thousands of years ago, they migrated by canoe across the Strait of Magellan. Their territory in the early Holocene probably ranged as far as the Cerro Benítez area of the Cerro Toro mountain range in Chile.