Lecture by Marianne CHRISTENSEN and Dominique LEGOUPIL as part of the 2023 Saint-Dié-des-Vosges International Geography Festival (guest country: Chile).
Man’s adaptation to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego dates back 12,000 years for the land hunters of the Atlantic steppes and foothills of the Cordillera, but only around 6,500 years for the marine nomads occupying the vast territory of the archipelagos, canals and inland seas of the Pacific coast.
These nomads, the canoeros (by canoe), preserved their hunter-gatherer way of life practically until the dawn of the twentieth century. This way of life proved particularly well adapted to a rich but difficult maritime environment. Its particular features (variations in sea levels, biogeographical barriers, seasonality of wildlife resources, etc.) explain the sea routes used and the contacts between the different groups of marine nomads, as well as with land hunters from the steppe.
Association Arkéomedia