Abstract

Between 1826 and 1836, His Britannic Majesty sent two maritime expeditions to South America with different objectives. In the first one (which reached Tierra del Fuego), the young Captain Robert FitzRoy, in command of the Beagle, embarked on four Fuegians. The first three Fuegians were taken aboard as hostages to force the other Fuegians to return a whaling boat they had stolen; the fourth was taken aboard under different circumstances. Finally, FitzRoy changed his mind and decided to take them to England to teach them English, religion, and some trades and return them to their homeland. Unfortunately, one of them died as soon as they arrived. The other three were repatriated on the second Southern Hemisphere voyage around the world between December 1831 and October 1836, with Charles Darwin as the naturalist on board. Darwin deals extensively and in detail in his voyage diary, describing the Fuegians with whom he established a certain relationship and the dramatic and complex process of repatriation. This lesser-known part of Darwin’s voyage has generated multiple opinions and controversies for almost two centuries. This article analyzes the facts from the available direct sources and interprets them differently from the repeated in the historiographical tradition.