Aonikenk

The Aónikenk, or Southern Tehuelche, are the people of the eastern Patagonian steppe, from the Chubut River to the Strait of Magellan; their autonym means people of the south, and their Tshoneka language belongs to the Chonan family.

Before horses they were foot nomads, moving in bands of fifty to a hundred with guanaco herds between lowland and plateau, hunting with bolas; the Cueva de las Manos paintings are attributed to their remote ancestors. Magellan's expedition wintered among them at San Julian Bay in 1520, and Pigafetta's tales of their stature made Patagonian giants a European legend.

Horses, known from about 1570, turned them into mounted nomads ranging widely and living on guanaco and rhea. From the eighteenth century Mapuche influence, the Araucanization, spread ponchos and Mapuche speech across the steppe; early nineteenth-century bands fought the Pehuenche and followed chiefs such as the female leader Maria la Grande.