"'The American aborigines, Negroes and Europeans differ as much from each other in mind as any three races that can be named; yet I was incessantly struck, whilst living with the Fuegians on board the "Beagle", with the many little traits of character, showing how similar their minds were to ours.' - Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871)"
"However, he found reason to oppose slavery in his firm belief that all humans were part of a single, unified species, and through his personal experiences, including the cruelties he observed during his travels. The complexities of his views are well captured in his writings on the Indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego - an archipelago at the tip of South America - to whom he ascribed a 'savage' character, yet in whom he recognised a common humanity."
"The first 'Fuegians' he encountered weren't in South America but aboard the first leg of his famed voyage on HMS Beagle in 1831. Two young men and a girl of the Alacaluf people and one Yahgan boy had been kidnapped by the ship's captain, Robert FitzRoy, during an expedition in the previous year and were later brought to England in an attempt to 'civilise' them. One of the men died soon after arriving in Plymouth."
Charles Darwin held contradictory racial views, combining assumptions of European superiority with a firm opposition to slavery and a conviction that all humans belong to a single species. Direct encounters with Indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego led to descriptions of 'savage' character alongside recognition of common humanity and notable survival skills. Early Fuegian captives were taken to England after kidnapping by HMS Beagle's captain, and one captive died shortly after arrival. The Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel's short film Darwin's Notebook reimagines the captives' journey and return, using painterly animation to highlight colonialism, racism and modernity.
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