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It was a sunny morning in January 1833, a strange and magnificent vessel along with a smaller boat is sailing through one of the Southern channels of the Tierra del Fuego. The natives, with screams and smoke, quickly spread the news and dozens of canoes with hundreds of them emerged. Most of them curious and friendly, others quite aggressive watching the smaller boat approaching the shore with some strange-looking men together with three Fuegians (two men and one woman), who were returning to their homeland after a long absence. To their compatriots’ surprise, who were receiving them almost naked and with certain disdain as well as some suspicion, the small boat was filled to the brim with porcelain tea sets, bed linen and mahogany dressing cases, coloured fabrics, hats and dresses that they had been given during their stay in London. The three unknown natives, after almost three years of absence, were returning to their homeland wearing European clothes, with neatly cut hair, gloves, and polished shoes, and speaking a little English. Although it was common for European vessels to take on board natives from visited regions for different purposes, which were in most cases neither noble nor innocent; this was certainly an implausible scene, probably unique in the history of numerous European voyages to the rest of the world since the fifteenth century, a minor picturesque event at that hostile southernmost tip of South America, fated to be forgotten in time.

But owing to at least three circumstances at that time, that episode is still recalled: the relevance that British protagonists have stated about in their own diaries; what happened thereafter with one of the three repatriated Fuegians; that the naturalist on board (on that return journey), after some decades, would become one of the most significant scientists in the modern world: Charles R. Darwin.

This book will consider these events with two main objectives: on the one hand, to review in some detail the extraordinary events these Fuegians experienced. On the other hand, to develop a critical analysis of versions and opinions on facts which, due to replication, have been installed as the standard corpus of the subject, but that a more detailed analysis shows—though the time elapsed—some controversial issues that should be examined. Direct accounts of these events described by some protagonists will be mainly analyzed, though a limitation: there are no Fuegian self-written records. This represents a foundational and irreversible deficiency, though it is still possible to develop a critical analysis of the European testimonies, loaded, as expected, with the epochal prejudices about racial hierarchies, the Eurocentric attitude to colonial expansion, and the typical nineteenth century sociocultural evolutionism.

Between 1826 and 1836, His British Majesty sent two sea expeditions (quite usual in those days) that sailed to different regions of South America, and the second one completed the navigation around the world. Regarding the first, under the command of Captain Philip P. King (1791–1856), and under circumstances that will be later analyzed, four Fuegian natives were taken on board to England. One of them died upon arrival and the other three were repatriated during the second voyage under Robert Fitz Roy’s (1805–1865) command. Our overall hypothesis is that the case of these Fuegians, and particularly one of them, has been exceptional, thus the almost general and traditional concepts used to analyze it have proved to be, at least, limited and partial considerations. Moreover, this exceptional feature invalidates any attempt to infer it as a case study.

The experiences of both extensive journeys were published in London, in 1939, in three volumes under the heading: Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle (1826–1836). The first volume deals with the first expedition commanded by Captain Philip P. King and appears under his name. However, due to health problems (which took him back to his homeland Australia in 1832), Captain Fitz Roy was in charge of the final drafting of this first volume which was completed with the notes taken by King but also with extensive concerns by Fitz Roy himself. The original text clearly states what links to each author. The second volume comprises the second round-the-world expedition under Fitz-Roy’s command on the Beagle. The third volume was written by Charles Darwin (1809–1882), a naturalist on board on this second voyage, and was later individually republished with different headings: in the same year, 1839, it appeared as Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle from 1832 to 1836. In the 1845 edition, the order of subjects was changed in the title and was named: Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of… The final text, in 1860, was named Naturalist’s Voyage Round the World. In addition to the three main volumes, the initial publication includes an Appendix to Volume II, mostly written by Fitz Roy, which includes necessary reports for the trip by different authors. Citations from these three volumes in this book will be detailed as Narrative, Volume I; Narrative, Volume II; Darwin, 1839 (since it corresponds to that individual version published that same year as Journal of Researches), and Narrative, Appendix. In addition to the three main volumes, the first publication includes an Appendix to Volume II also written by Fitz Roy which will be noted here as Narrative, Appendix. Some of Darwin’s letters have also been considered, especially an autobiography written in 1876 and dedicated to his family rather than to be published, except for his son Francis’ decision after his father’s death.

In Chapter 1, two already mentioned voyages, the objectives, and the main personages, Charles Darwin, Robert Fitz Roy, and the four Fuegians, are described. Chapter 2 includes the episodes of the Fuegians capture, their stay in England, and above all, the considerations that Darwin and Fitz Roy have written about them. Chapter 3 is devoted to the repatriation process of the three surviving Fuegians. Chapter 4 reviews what happened to the protagonists after the Beagle journey. Chapter 5 analyzes some of the main features of the European mentality of that time that give sense to Darwin and Fitz Roy’s controversial and even contradictory considerations of evolutionism, racism, and human hierarchies. Chapter 6 shows a reinterpretation of facts, and a critical analysis of concerns that have been installed as commonplace for almost two hundred years.