Yaghan

Yahgan, also called Yagán or Yámana, is the extinct language of the Yahgan people, canoe nomads of the islands south of Tierra del Fuego. They called themselves yamana, meaning person, while Yahgan comes from Yahgashaga, their word for the Yahga Strait.

Paddling bark canoes through the channels, the men hunted sea lions and the women dived for shellfish. Fires on boats and shores gave Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire, its European name. Yahgan is treated as a language isolate, since proposed links with Kawésqar and Chono have never been proven.

In about 1830 Captain FitzRoy carried four Yahgan, among them Orundellico or Jemmy Button, to England; Charles Darwin observed their way of life when the Beagle returned them south in 1831. Outside contact in time broke up the canoe-nomad world, leaving Yahgan mainly in recorded wordlists and grammars.