Editing Jemmy Button

{{Short description|Yaghan native, celebrity in England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2024}}
[[File:Jemmy Button.jpg|thumb|right|Two views of Jemmy Button from FitzRoy's ''Narrative'' (1839)]]
[[File:Familia_Yagán_en_canoa.jpg|thumb|right|A Yagan family inside a canoe]]
'''Orundellico''', known as '''"Jeremy Button"''' or '''"Jemmy Button"''' or '''"Jimmy Button"''' (c. 1815–1864), was a member of the [[Yahgan people|Yahgan]] (or Yámana) people from islands around [[Tierra del Fuego]] in modern [[Chile]] and [[Argentina]]. He was taken to England by [[Robert FitzRoy|Captain FitzRoy]] in [[HMS Beagle|HMS ''Beagle'']] and became a celebrity there for a period.

==HMS ''Beagle''==
[[File:HMSBeagle.jpg|thumb|right|HMS ''Beagle'' (centre), watercolor by Owen Stanley (1841)]]

In 1830, Captain Robert FitzRoy, at the command of the first expedition of HMS ''Beagle'', took a group of hostages from the [[Fuegians|Fuegian people]] after one of his ship's [[Whaleboat|whaleboats]] was stolen.<ref name=CNH/> Jemmy Button was paid for with a [[mother of pearl]] [[Button (clothing)|button]], hence his name. It is not clear whether his family willingly accepted the sale or he was simply abducted. FitzRoy decided to take four of the young Fuegian hostages all the way to England "to become useful as interpreters, and be the means of establishing a friendly disposition towards Englishmen on the part of their countrymen."<ref name=CNH>{{Cite book |author1=Jardine, Nicholas |authorlink2=James A. Secord|author2=Secord, James A. |author3=Spary, E. C. | title=Cultures of natural history | date=1996 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge  | isbn=978-0-521-55894-5 | page=331}}</ref> He seems to have shown great concern for the four, feeding them before his own officers and crew and intending them to be educated and Christianised so that they could improve the conditions of their kin.

The names given to the Fuegians by the crew were York Minster, Jemmy Button, [[Yokcushlu|Fuegia Basket]] (a girl) and Boat Memory.<ref name=CNH/> The original names of the first three were, respectively, El'leparu, O'run-del'lico, and Yok'cushly. Boat Memory died of [[smallpox]] shortly after his arrival in England and his Yaghan name is unknown.

==Arrival in England==
The ''Beagle'' arrived back in [[Plymouth]] from [[HMS Beagle#First voyage|her first voyage of exploration]] in mid-October 1830. The newspapers soon started publishing details of the Yaghan visitors and they became celebrities. In London, they met King [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]. Fuegia Basket was given a bonnet by [[Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen|Queen Adelaide]].

==Return to Patagonia==
One year later, Captain Fitzroy returned the three surviving Fuegians home. He took with him a young naturalist, [[Charles Darwin]], on what was the [[second voyage of HMS Beagle|second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'']].

After initial difficulty recalling his language and customs, Orundellico / Jemmy soon shed his European clothes and habits. A few months after his arrival, he was seen emaciated, naked save for a loincloth, and long-haired. Nevertheless, he declined the offer to return to England, which Darwin conjectured was due to the presence of his "young and nice looking wife".<ref name="beagle">Charles Darwin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KMc6FWMnS6AC&pg=PA139 ''The Voyage of the Beagle''] p.&nbsp;139. Retrieved 1 August 2011</ref> It appears that he and the others had taught their families some English.<ref name="beagle" />

Darwin noted in his [[The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex|''The Descent of Man'']] that Jemmy Button, probably like other Fuegians, did not have any concept of God or Devil. In ''The Descent of Man,'' he suggests that Button never understood the plan to convert Fuegians to Christianity and "with justifiable pride, stoutly maintained that there was no devil in his land."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Toumey |first=Christopher P. |date=1987 |title=Jemmy Button |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003161500073764/type/journal_article |journal=The Americas |language=en |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=195–207 |doi=10.2307/1007290 |jstor=1007290 |s2cid=251414437 |issn=0003-1615|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Wulaia Bay massacre==
[[File:Fuegian people.jpg|thumb|right|''Fuegians going to trade in Zapallos with the Patagonians'' from FitzRoy's ''Narrative'' (1839)]]

In 1855, a group of Christian [[missionaries]] from the [[Patagonian Missionary Society]] visited [[Bahía Wulaia|Wulaia Bay]] on [[Navarino Island]] to find that Jemmy still had a remarkable grasp of English. Some time later in 1859, another group of missionaries was killed at Wulaia Bay by the Yaghan, supposedly led by Jemmy and his family. In early 1860, Jemmy visited [[Keppel Island]] and gave evidence at the enquiry held in [[Stanley, Falkland Islands|Stanley]] into the massacre. He denied responsibility.<ref name=Bridges>{{cite book |last1=Bridges |first1=E. Lucas |author-link=Lucas Bridges |title=The Uttermost Part of the Earth |date=1948 |publisher=Overlook Press |isbn=978-1-58567-956-0 |pages=45–48 |edition=2008}}</ref>

==Death==
In 1863, the missionary [[Waite Hockin Stirling|Waite Stirling]] visited Tierra del Fuego and re-established contact with Jemmy; from then relations with the Yaghan improved. In 1866, after Jemmy's death, Stirling took one of Jemmy's sons, known as Threeboy, to England.<ref name=Bridges/>

==Cultural references==
===Film===
* The 2009 film ''[[Creation (2009 film)|Creation]]'' briefly recounts the story of Jemmy and the other children.
*  A 2015 Chilean documentary, ''[[The Pearl Button]]'', was named in part after the manner in which Jemmy Button was named<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/masters/the-pearl-button |title=TIFF.net &#124; the Pearl Button |access-date=19 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914031200/http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/masters/the-pearl-button |archive-date=14 September 2015 }}</ref>
* Several episodes of the 1978 serial ''[[The Voyage of Charles Darwin]]'' dramatize the Fuegians' capture and their later return to Tierra del Fuego.

===Literature===
* According to [[Julia Voss]],<ref name="faz">Julia Voss, [https://www.faz.net/s/Rub71E8665493FD4CB29D4E0759DF21C32C/Doc~E63B66F19501A41828F6A22377304DC05~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html "Jim Knopf rettet die Evolutionstheorie"] ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (16 December 2008). Retrieved 31 July 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> the German children's book, ''Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer'' by [[Michael Ende]], translated into English as ''[[Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver]]'', was based on Jemmy Button. Ende, who grew up in [[Nazi Germany]], wanted to write a story that provided a contrast to [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[Nazism and race|racist ideology]] and misuse of Darwin's theories of evolution.<ref>Martin Wittmann, [http://www.focus.de/kultur/buecher/jim-knopf-wird-50-nazis-raus-aus-lummerland_aid_539421.html "Nazis raus aus Lummerland"] ''Fokus'' magazine (9 August 2010). Retrieved 31 July 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> Ende's 1960 novel became one of the most successful children's books in postwar Germany<ref name="faz"/> and won the [[Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis]] in 1961.
*Jemmy Button appears in Argentine novelist [[Sylvia Iparraguirre]]'s ''Tierra del Fuego'', which won the 2000 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize.
* Jemmy appears in [[Harry Thompson]]'s debut novel ''[[This Thing of Darkness]]'' (2005).
* Jemmy features prominently in "Notes From the Scientific Record" in [[James Rollins]]' tenth [[Sigma Force]] novel, ''The 6th Extinction'' (2014).
* ''Jemmy Button'' is the name of a novel by the Chilean writer [[Benjamín Subercaseaux]].

===Theater===
* A play based on Jemmy's story premiered in [[Santiago, Chile]] on 8 April 2010.<ref>[http://www.latercera.com/contenido/1453_238336_9.shtml Jemmy Button: el niño yagán raptado por los ingleses llega al Teatro UC] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713191255/http://www.latercera.com/contenido/1453_238336_9.shtml |date=13 July 2011 }}.</ref>

===Music===
* A song entitled ''Jemmy Button'' is featured on the 2009 [[Darwin Song Project]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fishrecords.co.uk/darwinsongproject.html|title=Fish Records - THE DARWIN SONG PROJECT - DARWIN SONG PROJECT|website=www.fishrecords.co.uk}}</ref>

===Podcast===
* Is mentioned as an analogy in [[Case 63]], Episode 7 "Jemmy Button" 2022, [[Gimlet Media|Gimlet]]

==Bibliography==
* ''The Uttermost Part of the Earth'' by [[Lucas Bridges|E L Bridges]] (1948) was republished in 2008 by Overlook Press ({{ISBN|978-1-58567-956-0}}).
* ''[[In Patagonia]]'' (1977) by [[Bruce Chatwin]] includes a fictionalised version of Orundellico's capture.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
* The novel ''Jemmy Button'' by the Chilean writer [[Benjamin Subercaseaux]] was published in the 1950s and translated from Spanish by Mary and Fred del Villar (New York: The Macmilllan Company, 1954).
* ''La Tierra del Fuego'' by [[Sylvia Iparraguirre]] is another fictionalised version of the story. Winner of the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize. Translated into English by Hardie St. Martin (2000) Willamantic, CT, Curbstone Press 2000.
* [[Harry Thompson]]'s ''This Thing of Darkness'' (2005) contains a fictionalised account of Jemmy's time in HMS ''Beagle'' and in England, as well as the massacre at Wulaia Bay ({{ISBN|0-7553-0281-8}}).
* ''Savage: The Life and Times of Jemmy Button'', a full account of Jemmy's life by English writer Nick Hazlewood was published in 2000 ({{ISBN|0-340-73911-8}}).
* ''Three Men of the Beagle'' by Richard Lee Marks ({{ISBN|0-394-58818-5}})
* ''Jemmy Button'' by Jennifer Uman & Valerio Vidali (Words by Alix Barzelay, a children's picturebook version of the story of Jemmy Button's time in England.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.cfh.ufsc.br/~revista/rch44-1/RCH44_artigo_11.pdf The civilization experience of Jeremy Button by Geraldo Salgado-Neto & Aquilea Salgado] {{in lang|pt}}
* [https://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A2458280 H2G2 biography]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Button, Jemmy}}
[[Category:1810s births]]
[[Category:1864 deaths]]
[[Category:Yaghan]]
[[Category:Indigenous people of the Southern Cone]]
[[Category:Ethnological show business]]