The last of the yahis: the story of the Ishi Indian, whose people were exterminated by gold diggers

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The history of the Ishi Indian is unique. He became the last member of the Yana tribe living in the Sierra Nevada. Most of his fellow tribesmen were exterminated by gold diggers who arrived in the region in the middle of the 19th century. Isha was 10 years old when he and his relatives went into hiding in the mountains. There he lived for 40 years, until he was completely alone. Suffering from loneliness and hunger, Ishi was eventually forced to surrender to his enemies. The Indian became an "exhibit" of the Anthropological Museum in California, but did not live long in captivity …

The Yakhi group was small - the population numbered only about 400 people (this is part of the Yana tribe that lived in the south). For years the yakhs lived on their own land, engaged in gathering, fishing and hunting.

The measured life ended when the "gold rush" broke out in California and more than 300 thousand gold prospectors came here. They deprived the yakhi of food and water, polluting the rivers and starting to cut down trees, the yakhi, in turn, began to hunt the cattle of white people. The enmity gradually developed into open confrontation, and, of course, people with weapons soon won the victory. Very soon the yakhs were practically exterminated, less than 100 people remained alive.

The tribe almost completely disappeared in some 15 years, 16 representatives of the Yakhi ethnic group managed to escape in the mountains. For many years, not a single yakhi was in California, until August 29, 1911, the last representative of the tribe came into contact with the civilized world. The Indian at that time was about 50 years old, he was looking for food, and in desperation turned for help to white people who worked in a slaughterhouse in the city of Oroville. The man never spoke his name to his enemies, because this is unacceptable for the Indians. Scientists later called him simply Ishi, which translated means "man." Anthropologist Thomas Waterman was called in to talk to Ishi at the local police bureau, he established that Ishi was the last of the yachi, and arranged to take him to the Anthropological Museum at the University of California.

At that time, anthropologists knew the Yang language, which still differed from the Yahi dialect, so the scientist spent a lot of time to recreate Ishi's dictionary. Waterman was able to establish that in 1865 there were massacres of Yakhi, Ishi and several other tribesmen managed to escape, and they lived in hiding for four decades. In 1908, surveyors discovered their camp, Ishi fled, leaving his sick mother. When he soon returned to the camp, he found his mother still alive. The yakha had an agreed meeting place, but none of the other yakhi returned there, so Ishi came to the conclusion that he and his mother were left alone. Mother soon died, Ishi was left alone and for three years wandered through the forests in search of food. When he realized that he was doomed to certain death, he decided to go out to the people.

In California, Ishi was patronized by professor of anthropology Alfred Kroeber. He made sure that the Ishi were allocated a room near the university museum, and over time - and accrued a salary of $ 25. Kroeber also took up teaching the Indian. Over the course of several years, Ishi mastered about 600 English words and was able to talk about the Yakhi culture, show how the Indians hunted, made a fire, and lived their lives. Ishi worked several days a week at the museum, showing visitors how to make arrows and tools.

Isha managed to make friends with the university staff. He developed a particularly warm relationship with the doctor Saxton Pope. Ishi even conducted an excursion for scientists to the places where yakhs once lived, showed how to make mountain crossings and hunt.

Ishi, like many people who have lived their entire lives in isolation, was defenseless against disease. Five years after his first contact with civilization, he contracted tuberculosis and died on March 25, 1916. On Pope's recommendation, Isha's body was cremated after death. In addition, scientists removed Isha's brain, it was stored for 83 years as a museum piece, until a group of Californian Indians demanded that the brain be handed over to them for proper burial.

Another tribe destroyed by European civilization - the Selknam Indians … They were ruthlessly exterminated with the support of the Argentine government: presenting the head of a Selknam, two hands or two ears, one could receive a reward of 1 pound sterling.