حدائق بشرية human zoos

رجل وامرأة وطفل، من هنود السيلنام الأصليين بأمريكا اللاتينية، أثناء نقلهم عن طريق البحر للعرض في أوروبا في حدائق حيوان بشرية في نهاية القرن التاسع عشر.

Members of the Selk’Nam tribe were kept on display while they were transported to Europe.

إلتقطت هذه الصورة سنة 1899، لكن نقل مجموعات من هنود السيلنام بدأ في 1889 بإذن من الحكومة التشيلية لنقل 11 شخصا للعرض في أوروبا، كان شعب السيلنام يعيش في منطقة بتاغونيا المعزولة بين الأرجنتين وشيلي، اكتشف الأوروبيون شعب السيلنام من خلال نار مخيماتهم التي كانت تظهر من بعيد، كان عددهم صغيرا لا يزيد عن 3 آلاف نسمة حسب إحصائهم سنة 1896، وكانوا يتكلمون لغة تسمى تشون ويعملون بالصيد والجمع ويتمتعون بطول القامة والقوة البدنية والقدرة على التكيف، وتجنبوا الاتصال أو التعامل مع المستعمرين الأسبان الذين استولوا على الكثير من مواردهم الغذائية وقتلوا اكثير من الحيوانات التي كان يتغذى عليها السيلنام، كما أقاموا مزارع خراف واسعة على أراضي السيلنام.

the Selk’Nam natives are now extinct. The Selk’Nam natives were a tribe from Chile, part of 3 or 4 tribes that were taken to Europe to be exhibited. They lived in the Pantagonian region of Chile and Argentina, including the Tierra del Fugo islands (“land of fire”). They were actually one of the last Indigenous tribes of South America reached by the Westerners (when the government decided to explore and make use of Tierra del Fugo).

ولم يستطع هنود السيلنام فهم مسألة الملكية الخاصة التي فرضها الأسبان على مزارعهم فكانوا يصطادون الخراف من أجل الغذاء، وهو الأمر الذي رآه الأسبان قطعا للطريق، فبدأوا يهاجمونهم ويرسلون إليهم العصابات المسلحة لتقتلهم وتأتي بآذانهم كدليل على القتل.

The Selk’Nams spoke a language called Chon and they were hunters and gatherers who were typically tall. They could adapt to any harsh conditions it seems. The Selk’Nam people were people with strong traditions. As in many native cultures, they lived as one with the land. “Mine” did not exist, it was ours. They lived at peace with Mother Earth and had their own ways of life. For example, their initiation ceremony, also called Hain, signified the passage of teenage males into adulthood (some resemblances to the Sunrise Ceremony for girls in the Apache culture). The teenagers had to go through several mental and physical tasks over months at an end, a process that was kept secret. They would paint their body, wear leather masks, emulating the spirits called into the ceremony.

في الربع الأخير من القرن الـ19 تم إرسال ثلاث مجموعان من هنود منطقة بتاغونيا إلى أوروبا للوضع في حدائق الحيوان البشرية بعد وزنهم وقياسهم وتصويرهم، وكان يتم عرضهم على الجمهور من 6 إلى 8 مرات يوميا، كانت الرعاية سيئة لهم ولهذا فبعضهم لم يستطع الصمود والبعض لم يصل حيا إلى أوروبا.

Up until the late 19th century, the Selk’Nams had been left alone. But then the Spanish killed most of their games and took over the Tierra del Fugo to build large estates. The Selk’Nams were not familiar with the Spanish way of life, they did not understand the concept of sheep herd. Therefore, they began hunting the sheep, a gesture the ranchers did not appreciate. That led to Selk’Nams being hunted by the Spanish, who would receive their bounty when they would return with their victim’s ears.

Ultimately, the Selk’Nams became extinct over time. From a population of 3000 in 1896 to a population of 25 in 1945. Yes you read that right, 25! The last full blooded Selk’Nam, Anjela Loij, died in 1974. So there you have it, a whole nation who disappeared over time, killed, hunted and treated like objects to be gawked at. Let’s then look at how that happened.

سنة 1919 لم يتبق سوى 297 شخصا من هنود سيلنام، وفي سنة 1945 انخفض عددهم إلى 25 فقط، وسنة 1974 توفيت أنجيلا لويج، آخر هندية من هنود سيلنام، وانقرضت لغة تشون.

How can someone think it would ever be okay to exhibit human beings in a cage to be gawked at all day? That’s a hard question. But one needs to think about it this way. A more technologically advanced population (who lacks sensitivity it seems) finds a more primitive civilization who lives in ways they have never seen. Well, they must show that civilization to the world, to study them, to look at them, and to prove their superiority over them. Over time, civilizations have often assumed that if another civilization lives in a different manner, in a manner that is hard to understand, then they must be beneath them. Look at how Native people were treated over the years and still are: as being slow, not intelligent and stupid!! Sorry but that is just the truth. The wisdom of the ancestors was not respected. It was assumed they were dumb because they did not live in the same fashion, because they did not speak English well, because they took their time answering, thinking about the question and their answer. Oftentimes, they were treated like savages with nothing to say. So following that logic, putting them in a cage for entertainment is not that farfetched.