The Tiremenen giants

 

Tiremenen Indians in Southern Patagonia. Detail of Map. From [1]

The map above [1] by de Moussy, dated 1865, shows on Brunswick Peninsula, just south of Punta Arenas (Chile), a caption stating "Ins. Tiremenen" or Tiremenen Indians.

What is so special about them? Well, they were said to be giants.

These were first described by Dutch Admiral Oliver van Noort in 1599 as “savages of a gigantic stature”[2] who told him that not all Patagonian natives were gigantic, but only one nation out of the five that lived there, the Tiremenen. This apparently happened at the Strait of Magellan.

These Tiremenen were “gigantic people […] who were continually making war upon the other nations”.[3] (I mentioned them in my post on the Patagon Giants).

I had not been able to find any other references to regarding this name until now, and in the mid 1860s. The interesting thing is that the Aonikenk Tehuelche referred to a mysterious people living in that area, but they used another name, not Tiremenen, but Awurwur, I will write about them in my next post.

Sources.

[1] Carte de la Patagonie et des archipels de la Terre de Feu, des Malouines et des cotes occidentales jusqu'au Golfe de Reloncavi. By Dr. V. Martin de Moussy 1865. Engraved by L. Kautz, r. Bonaparte 82 - Paris. Paris, Imp. Lemercier, r. de Seine 57. (Paris Librairie de Firmin Didot Freres, Fils et Cie., 1873).
Online Map Here.
[2] FitzRoy, R., (1839). Appendix v.ii. pp. 102.
[3] Hawkesworth, J., (1773). Account of the Voyages... the Southern Hemisphere. London: Cadell. v.i.: 12+

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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