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The tribe of the Big Feet
Patagonia owes its name to Spanish sailors who accompanied the Magellano expedition in 1520.
Pigafetta, who accompanied the expedition noted in his “Report” that the name given by the crew to the indigenous Tehuelche was Patagonia or “big feet”, from the Spanish pata (paw or foot).
According to the information that reached Europe at the end of the trip the mythological Patagonians were at least double the height of a normal man and in some cases were over 4 meters tall.
This is Pigafetta’s description:
"One day we suddenly saw a naked man of giant stature on the shore of the port, dancing, singing, and throwing dust on his head. The captain-general sent one of our men to the giant so that he might perform the same actions as a sign of peace. Having done that, the man led the giant to an islet where the captain-general was waiting. When the giant was in the captain-general’s and our presence he marveled greatly, and made signs with one finger raised upward, believing that we had come from the sky. He was so tall that we reached only to his waist, and he was well proportioned..."
This type of image associated with the inhabitants of Patagonia, and of the earth in general, took root deeply in Europe, from where it disappeared only at the end of the eighteenth century, despite the reports of Charles Darwin’s travels, who was greatly passionate about the natural wonders of Patagonia.
There is also another legendary version of the birth of the name of Patagonia, spread by Bruce Chatwin. According to this version Magellano got the inspiration for the name by Patagon, the monstrous main character from a novel of the time. According to the story of the novel, about which there is no clear information, the navigator would have abducted two “monstrous” indigenous Tehuelche to bring then to Spain with him. One of them managed to escape, while the other one died during the trip. This episode also has a famous retelling in the story of Balibano, abducted to satisfy the whim of a European king in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
(20/10/2005)
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